The Carphone Warehouse 2010 Appy Awards

Last night saw the inaugural Appy Awards take place at the Gibson Hotel at the Point Village in Dublin. The awards celebrate innovation and creativity in the app development industry, rewarding its best practitioners for their hard work and business achievements. The Appys are the only dedicated awards programme in Ireland for app development and design, and are open to anyone who developed or paid for the development of a mobile app, on any platform (iOS, Android, Bada, Symbian, Ovi, etc.). The awards featured 17 categories ranging from Best Branded App to Best Travel/Tourism App, as well as a Grand Prix to the best overall app from the last year.

The first ever Grand Prix winner from last night was the RTÉ News Now iPhone app. RTÉ, who were up against a host of innovative and creative apps, were judged to be the best app out of 170 entries.

“I’d like to congratulate RTÉ and the agency that developed the News Now app, DRG, on the Grand Prix win,” said Stephen Conmy, editor of Digital Times and co-founder of the Appys. “The competition for the top prize was quite fierce, there were some great apps entered and most of the apps that made the shortlist show the creativity and utility now abundant in the Irish app sector. I’d also like to thank all our judges for the hard work they put in.”

The full breakdown of category winners was as follows:

Category App name Company Best Augmented Reality / Location Services app Daft.ie iPhone/iPad App Daft Media Ltd Best Branded app Paddy Power Mobile Paddy Power Best Business Solutions app Smartgrid Redwind Software Best Consumer Experience / Retail app Betfair for iPhone Betfair Best Entertainment / Gaming app Movie Challenge Redwind Software Best Media app RTÉ News Now DRG Best Medical/ Healthcare app Pocket Heart eMedia Interactive Ltd. Best Social Networking app Absolut Fringe eightytwenty/interactive Best Sports app RTÉ GAA Furious Tribe Best Tourism/Travel app Ireland's Blue Book Ireland's Blue Book Best Education / Learning App FIS Training Furious Tribe Best use of the Irish Language in an App Greann Gaeilge Miranda Corp Best Developer Daft - Ciaran Maher Daft Best Andriod app Today FM Communicorp Digital Best Bada app Munster Rugby iMobile Best OVI app Mowbli's Halloween Axonista Best Apple app RTÉ News Now DRG GRAND PRIX RTÉ News Now DRG

While each app was judged on seven different attributes including design, relevance to target market, utility and innovation, Des Doris, founder/organiser of the Appys and MD of Alchemy Events said, “We’ve been really impressed with the standard of entries for such a young media sector, and the app sector is a media sector in its own right now. While this year we’ve concentrated on mobile apps, next year we'd like to see tablet apps, social media apps and even Web TV apps entered. The app sector is changing the media landscape and the way many companies do business and the Appys with The Carphone Warehouse aim to showcase the best Irish apps and their developers.”

Edward Conmy, event director and co-founder, commented: “We’re extremely happy with the response, not just from all those who entered but also from our sponsors and the general digital media/marketing community. The app sector in Ireland is thriving and we hope the Appys will shine a bright light on this creative and energetic media sector. Well done to all those who made the shortlist, who won their categories and of course well done to the Grand Prix winner. For those who are a little disappointed on the night, there’s always next year.”

A huge congratulations to all those who were nominated and especially to all those who won.

Helena Christensen, Baileys & a VIP Party in NYC

Today Baileys announced the launch its new ‘let’s do this again’ campaign. To help out, Baileys enlisted the help of one of the worlds best-known supermodels, Helena Christensen. The campaign sees the renowned liquor brand offering a lucky Irish fan the chance to win an invitation to an exclusive New York VIP party co-hosted by the supermodel.

The campaign revolves around a collection of never-seen-before shots of Helena as she goes about a normal day in her life. Interestingly Helena was also the photographer on the job so the result is a particularly unique reflection of herself hanging out with her close friends at her upstate New York home. To tie in to this, the campaign asks for fans to share their own unique moments enjoying Baileys with close friends by uploading their own photos to the Baileys Facebook page.

“My most memorable moments are often when I’m with friends because everyone is completely at ease, which makes the atmosphere relaxed and enjoyable. Capturing these special moments on camera is very important to me, because those are the ones that stay with you forever, so to be able to look back at them for the rest of ones life is something to be grateful for and look forward to", said Helena about what inspired her to be part of the campaign.

She continued, “Looking at the images also reminds you of how much great friends mean to you and how important it is to get them all together as often as possible. This is what the new Baileys campaign holds at its very heart, encouraging close friends to enjoy time together more often and I’m thrilled that Baileys joined me and my friends at home in New York for the day.”

Jennifer Kiernan, Baileys Brand manager said, “We’re thrilled to have Helena Christensen on board for the Baileys ‘Let’s do this again’ campaign and very excited about being able to give a lucky Irish person the chance to attend a VIP party in NYC co-hosted by Baileys® and Helena. Irish people love getting together and we like capturing those moments on camera so we can continue sharing them. We’re looking forward to seeing some of those moments where friends have come together to do something they enjoy again uploaded onto the Facebook page over the coming weeks!”

The competition runs until the 16th of December 2010 and is simple to enter. Just get over to Baileys Facebook page and upload a picture of you and your friends having fun.

Arthur Guinness Fund: 1,400 Computers For Reuse In Education

Diageo have just announced that Camara Education will be one of the companies to benefit from the Arthur Guinness Fund. Similarly to last year, the fund will be used to recognise the work of social entrepreneurs from all over Ireland. The aim being to highlight the positive and sustainable impact that these people are having on Irish communities.

For Camara Education the fund will be sourcing 1,400 used computers from all areas of Diageo business in Ireland to be reused by the company for educational use in disadvantaged areas both at home and in Africa. The machines, which had reached the end of their lives from a Diageo business perspective, will be cleaned and reconditioned with educational software before being shipped to African countries including Kenya, Lesotho, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Zambia and Uganda.

Earlier this year, €1 million was awarded by the Arthur Guinness Fund in Ireland and in 2011 funding of up to €1 million will again be made available as well as a comprehensive two year support programme for the awardees. The support programme includes additional expertise and practical support from Diageo Ireland and Social Entrepreneurs Ireland’s alumni network.

Applications are now sought for this second phase of the Arthur Guinness Fund and will remain open until Wednesday, 10th November, 2010. Interested applicants can download an application form here.

Kamchatka: Twitter As Your Website

I would have assumed that folks had seen this (or at least heard about it) but following a conversation with some people on Friday on the options for doing a 'website that's not a website', I found out that not everyone has.

Below is the promo vid for Argentinian digital agency Kamchatka's new website which is based entirely around Twitter. The company setup different profiles to represent different sections of their site and Tweets as the content. It's a brilliant idea and definitely way 'out there'. However, from a practicality point of view I'm just not convinced - especially when you consider Twitter's 4 Day Search Window.

Anyway, have a gander and judge for yourself...

Smirnoff 'Be There' - Nightlife Exchange Project

This evening I was extremely lucky to be invited to pop along to the Clarendon Bar for the next steps in the Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project. This evening Smirnoff not only announced which cities had been paired up but also revealed a host of customised Smirnoff Mule cocktails for each location.

The big news is....... Dublin has been sistered with Argentina!

So, on the 27th November 2010, at The Wright Venue Swords, Ireland will receive the best of Argentinian nightlife as selected by the people of Argentina and curated by DJ Ale Lacroix. In exchange, the people of Argentina (Buenos Aires) will be sent the Shane O'Driscoll customised crate, which will be filled with the best of Irish Nightlife.

Of course we're now all wondering what is the best of Irish Nightlife?

Well, thanks to a community of over 40,000 people who made more than 500 suggestions, we can now confirm that the best of Irish Nightlife is...

• To start with there'll be an entertainment extravaganza from DJ Dave DeValera
• Irish food served up in the setting of a traditional Irish pub
• and, a very specially mixed Smirnoff Mule featuring Red Lemonade - a truly Irish phenomenon

Of course the Irish curator, Siobhan O'Dowd, will be putting her expertise into action to ensure that everything that goes into the crate and is shipped to our Argentinian friends will be top notch. Without doubt the South Americans are in for a wild night!

For more information on the crate, and for a chance to win a trip to Argentina to 'Be There', just pop over to the Smirnoff Ireland Facebook Fanpage and get your details in!

The other countries in the Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Project were sistered as follows:

Australia (Sydney) - Brazil (Sáo Paulo & Rio)
Canada (Toronto) - India (Mumbai)
Great Britain (London) - USA (Miami)
Germany (Berlin) - South Africa (Cape Town)
Lebanon (Beirut) - Thailand (Bangkok)
Poland (Warsaw) - Venezuela (Caracas)

I'll also get a full list up of all the delicious, customised Smirnoff Mule recipes in the next couple of days. Until then, start brushing up on your Spanish!