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Judges award BIMA Grand Prix to student entry in an industry first

The BIMAs 2006™ awards the Grand Prix to Hull School of Art & Design student, Nick Goward, for his site- ‘Big Balloon Race’. In an unprecedented decision, the top award for interactivity and creativity sees the student’s website beat brand and agency submissions to take centre stage at last night’s awards ceremony.

Paul Walsh, Chair of BIMA and the Awards, applauds the Grand Prix winner: “What is really remarkable is that one student, working alone, has created a piece of interactivity with so many incredible ideas: setting ‘The Big Balloon Race’ ahead of its peers, regardless of brand or budget.”

The site was deemed by the judges to evoke innocence and excitement resulting in a very accessible game. Simple interactivity creates a compelling and compulsive website that disguises the complex design and coding behind the interactivity. The inclusion of participative web technologies, such as folksonomy, finally clinched the Grand Prix for Goward.

The BIMA awards (known as the BIMAs) aim to recognise and reward creative excellence in interactive design and they are crucial awards for the UK’s new media industry.

It was a great night for agencies and brands: with the industry’s best, winning awards across all twenty-one categories. Unit9 and LBi picked up two awards each, highlighting different skills within their agencies.

Judges said: "While we wish to avoid any awards clichés, it’s true to say that the standard of this year’s shortlist and winners is quite outstanding. The quality of execution was evident in all of the category winners. Most noticeable, and hence worthy of a mention, are the Mercedes-Benz microsite (by Agency Republic), Nike+ training programme (by R/GA) and ‘We Are What We Do’ (by LBi).

The BIMAs, now in its 22nd year, are the only awards in the UK that are significantly focused on creativity. Representing the cream of the creative industry, winners collected their awards at the ceremony, which had the biggest attendance ever, held on 29th November at the Royal Hospital Gardens in Chelsea.

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