Digital Media Awards
By Techgirl

Exchange4media specializes in reporting about the marketing, advertising and media sectors in India.  It does a great job and it is on my daily list of websites to be read to understand what is happening in our industry.

Exchange4media has just announced the results of its first ever Indian Digital Media Awards (IDMA). These awards were co-sponsored by Zapak, 160/2 and Bollywoodhungama.  Bloomberg TV was the media partner.

As you can imagine, such awards are always subjective.  In the Hall of Fame Category, the ‘Digital Person of the Year’ was given to serial Twitterer Shashi Tharoor for ‘evangelizing and popularizing the digital medium’. 

Among the other big winners of the Indian Digital Media awards that would be of interest to the IT-ITES sector was the ‘Best Social Blog of the Year’ awarded to the popular WatBlog. Amitabh Bachchan’s blog won the Silver in this category. While the full list can be seen at this link, the ‘Web category’ was as follows

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Web:

Quasar bagged the Gold for ‘Best Corporate Site’ for ApolloDKV, while the Silver award was bagged by G2 Direct & Digital for Singapore Zoo.

RK Swamy Interactive won the Gold for ‘Best Website Debut’ for Human Touch of Chemistry, while Webchutney won the Silver for Tata Tea Jaago Re.

The Gold for ‘Best Use of Online Banner Advertising’ was given to Taproot India for Nirma Bartan, while Madison Communications got the Silver for Airtel DTH.

Pinstorm bagged the Gold for ‘Best Use of Online Banner Advertising in Rich Media’ for CNN and Hungama Digital Media Entertainment won the Silver for Samsung Marine in the same category.

Zapak Digital Entertainment bagged both Gold and Silver awards for the ‘Best Microsite’ for Axeplay and Idiots Academy for the movie ‘3 Idiots’, respectively.

Gold for ‘Best News Site of the Year’ went to Web18 Software Services Ibnlive.com, while the Silver went to Mid-Day Infomedia Limited for Mid-day.com.

Mouthshut.com won the Gold for ‘Best Web Portal of the Year’, while the Silver went to Hungama Digital Media Entertainment for FTV.co.in.
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Each contestant (except for those in the Hall of Fame category) was asked to pay Rs. 1000 as entry fee to be considered for an award.  As Shashi Tharoor won the Digital Person of the Year in the Hall of Fame category, he did not need to shell out a Rs. 1000 entry fee.  There were more than 400 entries and so about Rs. 4 Lakh raised from such fees.

While entry fee could not be given in cash, the rules also stated that ‘Non-Delhi or Non-Mumbai, non-payable at par cheques will NOT be accepted.’

While the exchange4media site lists the Jury and the winners, there are no details about the other digital media which participated but did not win. So, we can not be sure if Times of India also participated in the Best News Site which was eventually won by CNN/IBN.  Or if there were 20 contestants in the Best Web Portal category or only 3 vying for the top prize? 

Techgoss note: Techgirl is a senior Tech journalist who reports on the IT, KPO and KPO Sectors for a leading media house.  In her spare time, she dabbles in satire in her blog http://techgirltalk.blogspot.com