The 2011 Satellite Broadband Ireland Digital Media Awards have proved that Ireland is fast becoming the digital hub of Europe. The award winners were announced at a gala ceremony in The Convention Centre Dublin on February 11th with each entry paying testament to the remarkable talent we have here.

A sterling example of this talent is Martello Media, who scooped the 2011 Grand Prix accolade.The firm, run by Mark Leslie, picked up the award for Best Digital Design for a project with the Glasnevin Museum. Martello implemented the world’s first interactive cemetery museum, showing the social, historical, political and artistic development of modern Ireland through the seven generations of people buried there. As Martello Media received the most marks of any entry, from each of the 20 judges, it won the overall top prize.

Well-known design studio CKSK had a very successful evening and picked up four awards for projects with Heineken, Vhi and the Oxegen music festival. A name certainly worth keeping an eye on is Kelley O’Sullivan, who won the Student Digital Award for the second consecutive year. Kelley impressed the judges with ‘Lie out of Life’, a short film highlighting male abuse in relationships. Kelley, who is originally from Co. Kerry, was a student in Animation at IADT in Dún Laoghaire.

Thanks to a large number of leading worldwide tech firms, such as Facebook and Google, investing and locating here, Ireland has developed a reputation for fostering such great talent and we now boast a very high standard of expertise in the digital media sector. These awards recognise that pioneering innovation and cement our commitment to developing our infrastructure, appreciating and improving our talent pool and promoting our highly skilled workforce. It is these factors that will ensure that Ireland is at the forefront of this digital age and poised to reap the rewards.

If you would like any further information on how to organise an event you can contact our Events Director Susan on 00 353 1 432 2200 or email susan.grant@ashville.com .

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As the evenings grow longer and spring rolls into town, we too at Ashville Media Group will be broadening our spectrum. Not content with being the biggest and best in print, we now intend to do the same in digital as we continue our roll-out across all platforms, giving you, the customer, value and choice whatever your requirements may be. Shortly, we will launch our Facebook app for Tourism Ireland, bringing their high-end, glossy brochure away from its origins in print into the realms of social media where its reach will extend far and wide. A first of its kind, the app will complement our Pagesonline service, which allows us to bring publications straight from the printing presses direct to the iPhone and iPad.As the push online continues globally – Condé Nast’s Wired (US) iPad magazine sold 23,000 in November 2010, while Vanity Fair sold 8,700 and GQ sold 11,000 – and with the imminent launch of Rupert Murdoch’s The Daily, the first iPad-only newspaper, we are delighted to bring this digital service to the market in Ireland.

If you’d like to talk about how we can help your magazine content work for you on Facebook, the iPad or the iPhone, contact Brenda at brenda.mcpadden@ashville.com.

Of course, you can’t look forward without looking back and 2010 was also a momentous year for Ashville. We were delighted to welcome Trócaire as a client, producing, amongst other things, their education packs for schools, campaign materials and parish resources. Again, this year, we are privileged to work with and support Trócaire in the invaluable work that they do worldwide.

Ashville also helped the HSE to reboot their achievement awards – a key component in championing innovation and excellence by HSE staff. And last but not least, the Aer Lingus staff newsletter, amongst other projects, also took flight in 2010.

Work with Ashville Media and we’ll make sure your words speak volumes.

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The finalists have been announced for the 2011 Satellite Broadband Ireland Digital Media Awards, recognising the best in digital media in Ireland. The shortlist of nominees will battle it out for top honours in the Convention Centre Dublin on Friday, February 11th 2011, at a gala ceremony hosted by Mark Little.

CKSK heads the list of nominations with an impressive 22, while ICAN, Cybercom, 3, RTÉ and the Irish Film Board all make the final shake-up too. There were a record number of entrants this year to compete in a total of 20 categories including Best Digital Start-up, Best Online News and Best in Social Media. And to reflect the ever-changing digital landscape, three new categories have been added – User Experience Award, Best in Gaming and Best New Application.

Some of the best known campaigns of the year have made it to the final with brands like Audi, Heineken, Sony, Berocca, An Post and Meteor all earning a place on the list. But who will prevail on the night? You’ll just have to wait and see!

BEST WEB DESIGN/DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
Agency.com
Net Affinity
CKSK
Continuum Technologies
esus Web Solutions
ICAN

BEST DIGITAL ADVERTISING/MARKETING AGENCY
Agency.com
CKSK
Cybercom
OnlineAdvertisingAgency.ie
ICAN
Refresh Digital Communications

BEST DIGITAL START-UP
Betpack.com
Furious Tribe
Teamer.net
Webfactory

BEST IN GAMING
Berocca Boost (Cybercom)
‘Journey’, Coors Light (CKSK)
Milk it for all it’s worth (Agency.com)
PopCap Games (PopCap Games)
RBS Six Nations, Ulster Bank (Cybercom)

BEST IN SOCIAL MEDIA
‘The A1 Chase’, Audi (Agency.com)
Berocca Boost (Cybercom)
Oxegen (CKSK)
‘Area 22’, Guinness (Cybercom)
‘The Big Knit’, Innocent Smoothies (ZOO Digital)
‘Your Social Network’, Meteor Mobile Communications (Bluecube Interactive)
Pizza Hut Delivery (ICAN)
‘Send A Ribbon’, Vhi (CKSK)
Westlife Live in Your Place (O2/Brando)

BEST IN E-LEARNING
‘A Night to Remember’, Think Contraception (Refresh Digital Communications)
edcoDigital.ie (The Educational Company of Ireland)
Invincible (Design Partners)
KITE Project (IT Sligo)
Learnosity Voice (Learnosity)
Medieval Dublin (Noho Ltd)
MobiMaths (National Digital Research Centre)

BEST IN FINANCIAL SERVICES
All About Business (eightytwenty/interactive)
Bonkers.ie (Bonkers Money Limited)
Independent Trustee Company (Independent Trustee Company)
Pension Planet Interactive (Irish Life – Corporate Business)
RaboDirect (RaboDirect)
WorldSpreads (Refresh Digital Communications)

BEST DIGITAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN
‘A Night to Remember’, Think Contraception (Refresh Digital Communications)
‘The A1 Chase’, Audi (Agency.com)
‘Think Beyond’ App Campaign (Bord Gáis Energy)
Bulmers Berry (ICAN)
‘Area 22’, Guinness (Cybercom)
Lidl Big Trolley (Bluecube Interactive)
Microsoft (ICAN)
Pizza Hut Delivery (ICAN)
Westlife Live in Your Place (O2/Brando)

BEST DIGITAL DESIGN
All About Business (eightytwenty/interactive)
An Post Museum (Martello Media)
‘The A1 Chase’, Audi (Agency.com)
Heineken Cup (CKSK)
Sony PlayStation Move (CKSK)
Glasnevin Museum (Martello Media)
G-Star, New York Fashion Week (Cybercom)
Oxegen (CKSK)
RTE.ie Homepage Redesign (RTÉ Publishing)

BEST ONLINE NEWS
Heineken Music (CKSK)
Gaelport.com (Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge)
Irishtimes.com (The Irish Times)

BEST SOCIAL IMPACT
‘A Night to Remember’, Think Contraception (Refresh Digital Communications)
ESB Picnic Power (Agency.com)
‘Send a Ribbon’, Vhi (CKSK)
Better Together! (The Wheel)
Defend the State Pension (Red Dog)
b4udecide.ie (HSE Crisis Pregnancy Programme)
Gaelport.com (Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaelige)
GreenYourGoods (GreenYourGoods)
VSO Megadeal (Blinder Ltd)

BEST NEW APPLICATION
ESB Energy Wizard (Agency.com)
Your Heineken (CKSK)
Bonkers.ie (Bonkers Money Limited)
Davy App (Furious Tribe)
Oxegen (CKSK)
RTÉ News Now (RTÉ Publishing)
TV3 App (Furious Tribe)

BEST USE OF FILM OR ANIMATION
‘The A1 Chase’, Audi (Agency.com)
Milk it for all it’s worth (Agency.com)
Invincible (Design Partners)
Paperman (Prickly Pear Productions)
SIGNS (Irish Film Board)

B2B INNOVATION
All About Business (eightytwenty/interactive)
CarTrawler (CarTrawler)
Easy Payments Plus (Feepay Limited)
Pension Planet Interactive (Irish Life – Corporate Business)
tender3d.com (Pixel Lab Ltd)

B2C INNOVATION
Heineken Cup (CKSK)
Oxegen (CKSK)
‘Send a Ribbon’, Vhi (CKSK)
Harp (Touchpoint Interactive Media)
Ireland Pavilion, Shanghai EXPO 2010 (Martello Media)

MOBILE INTERNET INNOVATION
Twittersphere (3)
Heineken Cup (CKSK)
Making the Mobile Internet Available (Cibenix)
Oxegen (CKSK )
‘Think Beyond’ App (Bord Gáis Energy)
MobiMaths (National Digital Research Centre)

ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT AWARD
BetBidder.com (Continuum Technologies)
Dragon’s Den (eightytwenty/interactive)
‘Journey’, Coors Light (CKSK)
Heineken Music (CKSK)
Oxegen (CKSK)
Movies.ie (Movies.ie)
GAA Social TV, RTÉ Sport (eightytwenty/interactive)
This is Irish Film (Irish Film Board)

USER EXPERIENCE AWARD
ESB Energy Wizard (Agency.com)
Heineken Cup (CKSK)
MeetinIreland.com (Frontend)
RTÉ Player XL (RTÉ Publishing)
‘The Spartan Challenge’, Spar (CKSK)
Net Affinity Hotel Booking Engine (Net Affinity)
Three.ie (3)

ULTIMATE DIGITAL PROVIDER
3 Broadband
UPC

The Student Digital Award will also be presented on the night. The purpose of this award, which is open to third level and higher education students, is to encourage those studying multimedia to understand how their chosen medium can be used creatively to tell a compelling story of other people’s lives. Entries are based on stories about global development, the diverse people of the world, and their right to life, prosperity and social justice.

As ever there is an impressive line-up of judges on hand to deliberate and they include respected industry names such as Ronan Harris of Google, Rick Kelley of Facebook, award-winning journalist Kathleen Barrington and Prof. Barry McMullin of DCU.

For further information on the Satellite Broadband Ireland Digital Media Awards 2011 visit www.digitalmedia.ie.
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Ashville Media Group featured strongly at the Magazines Ireland Irish Magazine Awards 2010 walking away with two of the leading gongs on the night. Maria O’Rourke collected Designer of the Year (Consumer Magazines) for her sterling work on Maternity ahead of some of the leading designers in the country.

Designer of the Year Maria O’Rourke receives her award from Bryan Dobson. Image courtesy of Paul Sherwood.

“I am absolutely thrilled to have won the award. Maternity was a challenging and enjoyable magazine to design,” a delighted Maria said after winning her award.Meanwhile, Irish Widlife, which is produced by Ashville on behalf of the Irish Widlife Trust (IWT), scooped Customer Magazine of the Year. Andrew Kelly, the photographer for the magazine, was also honoured on the night being named Photographer of the Year, beating off stiff competition from Joanne Murphy for maternity & infant and Ros Kavanagh for Room to Improve.

Padraic Fogarty of IWT was delighted with the magazine’s success and said: “The Irish Wildlife Trust was delighted to be among the winners at the annual magazine awards and can attribute much of this victory to creativity and professionalism of the staff at Ashville. These are major awards for us and have already served to increase our profile and attract new interest in Ireland’s wildlife.”

Gerry Boylan, Boylan Print Group; Ken Lanigan, Ashville Media Group; Pádraic Fogarty, Irish Wildlife Trust; and host Bryan Dobson.

The awards were presented at a glittering black-tie affair in the Four Seasons Hotel on Thursday, December 2nd 2010. Presented by RTÉ newsreader Bryan Dobson, the ceremony was attended by hundreds of mover and shakers from the Irish magazine industry. Commenting on the awards, Chairman of Magazines Ireland, John Mullins, said, “The winners of awards represent the best of Irish publishing and are very deserving of the recognition they get for their hard work, creativity and competitiveness. It is particularly gratifying to win an award this year given the challenges faced by magazine publishers in the last year.”Ashville featured strongly throughout the night and was nominated in seven categories to give a total nomination count of 17.
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