Screen grab from the original Nick Cave website

Perth web development company, Equilibrium, in partnership with the Western Australian Museum scooped the pool at the Australian Web Awards on Friday night winning four major awards for ‘Nick Cave – the exhibition’, including Fast Hit Most Outstanding website.

The site stood out from more than 200 national entries winning the awards for Best Government website, Best Not for Profit website, Best Arts and Events website and Most Outstanding website in Australia.

Commissioned by the WA Museum, the website was designed to showcase the popular exhibition developed by the Arts Centre, Melbourne and displayed at the WA Museum – Perth between 23 May and 19 July, 2009. It consisted of a collection of images, stories, blogs, vodcasts, podcasts, interactive games and quizzes all focused on the career of internationally renowned musician, Nick Cave.

To further support the marketing of the exhibition, the team at Equilibrium also devised a viral email competition to encourage national participation in the interactive quiz which encouraged readers to answer a series of Nick Cave questions for the chance to win an iPod.

Equilibrium director, Stephen Dodge, said he was thrilled with the accolades the site had received.

“We were confident we had created a great site that would be judged well, however this result is beyond our wildest expectations.

“The team worked diligently to combine great design, functionality and usability within the boundaries of the WA Government framework to ensure a really satisfying and unique user experience,” he said.

In accepting the Award, Mr Dodge also paid tribute to the support and assistance provided by the team at the WA Museum, saying it had been a pleasure to partner with such a dedicated group of individuals with a clear vision and plan for the project, as well as the commitment to produce timely and quality content.

Acting chief executive officer of the Western Australian Museum Diana Jones said the awards were a great boost for the Museum and a wonderful end to a successful exhibition.

“The contemporary nature of the Nick Cave exhibition allowed us to develop a new series of creative programs, marketing and online services. Equilibrium and our web team worked tirelessly to deliver a fantastic site and we are delighted we have both been recognised on a national level,” said Ms Jones.

The Awards, held at the Langley Hotel, were attended by over 400 industry professionals from around Australia.

The Australian Web Industry Association said judges were sourced from noted web professionals specialising in a variety of areas from around the country, with each site being judged on a number of criteria of design, usability, functionality, accessibility, and code quality.

According to Canberra-based judge Ruth Ellison, the task of evaluating the sites was not easy.

“Judging was tough. I think it speaks volumes about the great talent we have in Australia – we’re competing on the world stage, ” Ms Ellison said.

http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/exhibitions/NickCave/
http://www.webawards.com.au/

Stephen Dodge
Equilibrium
Tel: +61 [0]8 9218 8622
Fax: +61 [0]8 9218 8633
Email: stephen@equ.com.au
 

Renae Woodhams
Western Australian Museum
Tel: +61 [0]8 9212 3860
Mob: 0439 948 779
Email: renae.woodhams@museum.wa.gov.au