Regional council website nets two awards

The Northland Regional Council’s award-winning website has scooped two new accolades – one national, the other global – in a fortnight.

The Council’s website – www.nrc.govt.nz – was awarded bronze status in the international Horizon Interactive Awards. The United States-based awards are a global competition recognising outstanding achievement among interactive media producers.

This year’s awards saw an international panel of industry professionals review more than 2000 entries from 32 countries looking for the best blends of creativity and functionality.

Entries are judged on factors including creativity and originality, overall graphic design, appearance and user experience, the way messages are communicated and technical merit.

Judges awarded the Northland Regional Council (NRC) bronze status for a Government website – one of 13 bronze awarded in that category.

The Horizon Interactive Award comes hard on the heels of national success for the NRC website, which was recently ranked second of New Zealand’s 85 Council sites. (The site won the award last year.)

The NRC’s 2009 award was presented by the Association of Local Government Information Management (ALGIM) in Wellington earlier this month.

Jason Dawson, the NRC’s Community Relations Manager, says ALGIM undertook a comprehensive assessment of all 85 New Zealand Council websites earlier this year.

The assessment covered two main areas; a technical assessment and benchmark against Government web standards and a functional assessment looking at each website’s information, ease of use, online services and online feedback responsiveness.

The NRC website was redeveloped in 2007 and is managed in-house by Mr Dawson and the Council’s Online Communications Officer Tracey Morris.

Mr Dawson says the website contains a comprehensive online library including detailed environmental monitoring reports, daily river and rainfall data, Council agendas and minutes and a suite of publications and plans.

“The website also has an email subscription service which allows users to stay in touch about consultation, job vacancies, events, Council meetings and news.”

Mr Dawson says people wanting to sign up for web-based Northland Regional Council services can do so via www.nrc.govt.nz/subscriptions