Farmers' site wins web award

NEWS An online marketplace for the farming community picked up the top prize at last night's New Media Age Effectiveness Awards. The judges were particularly impressed by the depth of content to be found at www.globalfarmers.com, from "discounts on products to pricing and weather information". They also praised its cross-platform approach, as users can access the site via WAP phones as well as web browsers. The site provides "everything you could imagine a farmer would need", the judges said. Globalfarmers.com just beat Rivals.net (which ended up winning the Best Portal category) and Domino's Pizza (Best Use of interactive television) to the Grand Prix gong. Bomb Productions picked up the Consumer Products and Services Award for its work on the Lego website. FaxYourMP.com won the Best Use of Web award, a non-commercial site which puts the electorate in direct contact with their local MPs. The judges praised this project for proving that "the internet isn't just about commerce, it can be about creating a community and giving people access to someone or something they can't usually access". The full list of winners can be found at http://www.newmediazero.com/awards/categories.html . silicon.com will be publishing video interviews with some of the award winners later today, and a longer piece next Tuesday looking at the themes to emerge from the evening.