Silicon.com wins ebusiness innovation prize

NEWS Silicon.com picked up a prize at the annual BT Awards for innovation in ebusiness, held in London yesterday. It won the award for innovation in the Media and IT sector, beating challenges from PepsiCo and Photodisc. Anna Russell, Silicon.com's editorial director, said: "It's recognition of what we've achieved in such a short time - we've already built a large, committed user community. But we won't be resting on our laurels." The Media & IT award was judged by Graeme Radcliffe, chairman of Newsdesk International. He said Silicon.com owed its victory to its "intuitive" user interface, and to the fact that "it knows the market, and has a good revenue model. It was set up to succeed, and it will succeed, I have no doubts about that." The awards, now in their sixth year, recognise firms displaying best practice and innovation in the UK electronic business arena. Over 100 European companies entered the event, held at the Electronic Commerce 98 conference at Olympia. Among the other winners were Thomas Cook, which picked up the finance sector award for its Commercial Foreign Exchange online service. Cornwall Healthcare Trust won the healthcare award for using videoconferencing to conduct remote diagnoses, while Emap Online's www.bargainholidays.com site came top in the Retail, Travel & Transport category. A full list of winners will be posted on the special Web site set up by the event's organiser, ABFL, at www.awards.abfl.co.uk.