Thursday 18th June saw the 2009 Big Chip awards evening, a hugely successful event rated by many as "the best yet". Nearly 500 guests gathered for the dinner and awards at the Palace Hotel in Manchester. The awards were hosted for the second time by broadcaster Terry Christian and the ceremony was rounded off in style by comedian, actor and musician Bill Bailey, who took to the stage for a 15-minute ‘mini-gig’ following his tour at the Palace Theatre.
The awards attracted a record number of entries with 226 in total from 134 companies – and a shortlist of 55 entries.
The big winners of the night were Manchester’s LOVE and Liverpool’s New Concept Gaming Limited who swept the boards with three awards each. Love won Best Digital Marketing Campaign for Doctor Martens, Best Use of Visual Design for its LOVE website and the Big Chip New Media Agency Award.
New Concept Gaming Limited’s jOG concept won Best Application of Technology, Big Chip International Award for Innovation and the overall Grand Prix Prize.
Lightbox Education from Cheadle, Cheshire took two awards for Best E-Learning Project for Licence to Cook as well as Best Public Sector Project and AHD Imaging took the Best Use of Animation for their ahd 168 animated robot film.
Liverpool’s Mando Group scooped best Public Sector Project for Liverpool Biennial 2008.
The Game of the North Award was snapped up by Runcorn’s Evolution Studios for ‘Motorstorm: Pacific Rift’, and a commendation went to Connect2Media for ‘Guitar Hero Backstage Pass.’
Flashtemple’s Matt Booth was crowned Best Freelancer/Micro Enterprise in the North West for the second year running.
And the newest award – The Tasty Website Award, which was being voted for by the public, right up until the award ceremony began was won by Code Computerlove.
As a special tribute to the late Tony Wilson, a former much-loved compere of the awards, Sue Woodward, of the Sharp Project, and former ITV Granada boss was invited to judge a special award in his name and presented the Anthony Wilson Original Modern Award to AHD Imaging for their ahd168 animated robot film.
The panel of nine judges, chaired by Michael Nutley, editor of New Media Age magazine, and including Alasdair Rawsthorne of Manchester University, Alasdair Scott of The Bright Place and Matt Locke commissioning editor at Channel 4, had the tough job of selecting the winners.
Sponsors of this year’s event were Arts Council England, Business Link Northwest, Creative Manchester, Manchester Digital, Marketing Manchester, Melbourne, MIDAS, Montpelier, NWDA, and Orchard.
Chairman of Manchester Digital, Shaun Fensom, said: “This year once again we had a record number of entries, and the judges were particularly impressed with the standard of the entries, higher this year than ever before. Big Chip is a fantastic showcase for the immense talent that we have within the digital sector in the North and North West.”
Mark Hughes, Executive Director of Economic Development at the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) said: “These are exciting times for the region’s digital and creative sector. Despite the current economic conditions the winners here are testimony to the ‘can do’ attitude of Northwest companies, who continue to produce an innovative range of products and services.
“By recognising and rewarding excellence, England’s Northwest is continuing to raise the bar, demonstrating its position as a global leader for the digital industry.”
