The best overall prize went to Revenue.ie, the Revenue Commissioners' Web site, which beat out a number of big-name competitors, including Aer Lingus and RTE. In a tie for second place, the North Eastern Health Board (nehb.ie) and Waterford City Council (www.waterfordcity.ie) were also recognised. Merit awards were presented to Dublin Bus, Irish Water Safety, RTE.ie, the Patent Office, Meath County Council, the National Gallery, Aer Lingus and Ireland Travel.
An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, TD, who was on hand at the event, commented on the importance of developing strong e-government services. He said that progress in this area, as displayed by these award-winning Web sites, was underway throughout Ireland. "As a former Minister for Finance, I feel sure that the winning projects here this evening hold important lessons about how to deliver public services efficiently and in a way which gives value for money in these tighter economic times," the Taoiseach commented. "Excellence in public services has a vital part to play in keeping the country moving forward and in sustaining economic growth and a high quality of life," Ahern said.
A judging panel for the e-government Web site awards included panel chairman Dr Dan Remenyi, a visiting professor of statistics at Trinity College Dublin; Niall Griffith, sales manager for Adobe Ireland; Daragh Green, project manager of Oasis; and Shay Fitzmaurice, editor of the Public Sector Times. The panel selected Revenue as the winner based on three criteria for which it stood out -- look and feel, as well as navigation and content.
According to Fitzmaurice, the selection of Revenue as the winner was unanimous. "Basically, the site does exactly what it says on the tin," he explained. He noted that Revenue.ie was far more expensive to construct than many of the other sites but said this did not detract from its functionality. "The content was first class and everything was quick and easy to download."
Earlier this week, another Irish Web site was given top marks in a European-funded study. From a field of 24 finalists, Irishhealth.com was described as the best Web site in Europe in terms of user-friendliness and interactivity by a team from Dublin City University, who were conducting an EU-sponsored review of on-line news media and their audiences. Sites from Britain, France, Denmark and Ireland were part of the study.
The 45-page report, part of European Commission-sponsored project Multimedia Developments in the Information Age (MUDIA), noted that on irishhealth.com, "user contributions determine the way in which future stories are dealt with and the creation of richer, more detailed content." After Irishhealth, other notable sites in the study included ananova.com, ireland.com, Football365.com, Netdoktor.com, Sport.fr and RTE online.
MedMedia, promoters and publishers of irishhealth.com, is a Dun Laoghaire-based specialist medical and healthcare communications group. Founded in 1991 by John Gibbons and Geraldine Meagan, the MedMedia Group today employs 27 full-time staff.
Quelle: Electric News
