Australia's online-best honoured

The best of Australia's interactive industry was honoured at the annual AIMIA awards, held 4 February at Sydney's Metro Theatre.

The Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA) presented its annual awards covering 20 categories including entertainment, online advertising and education.

The evening was a lavish success. Hosted by Adam Spencer and opened by the Hon Helen Coonan, Federal Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. Entries for the various categories were up a dramatic 60 percent on the previous year.

AIMIA CEO John Butterworth said the 11th Annual Awards were the most successful to date. "This year boasted so many competitive entries and there is little doubt that it has highlighted the industry's fast growth and increased importance in everyday life," Butterworth said.

Big winners on the night were agency Tequila, winning Best Advertising/Marketing, Best Children's and best Effectiveness award. ABC New Media and Digital Services scored four categories -- Best Cultural, Lifestyle, Arts, Best Inclusion, Best News/Reference and Best Science.

Reaping notable reward was the 2004 V8 Supercars season webcast, which featured streaming live race data exclusively to Bigpond Cable subscribers. Developers Massive Interactive, BigPond and Chief took out three categories -- Best Entertainment, Best Sports Entertainment and the big gong -- Best of the Best Award.

A surprise win was in the Best Game category, which went to Imagine Entertainment's MGM Screen Test, bypassing hot competition from mainstream AAA titles.

The full winners list is available on the AIMIA site www.aimia.com.au