Samsung Digital Media Awards Winners Announced

THE cream of the Irish digital media world gathered on Friday, March 1 at the 10^th annual Samsung Digital Media Awards.  The gala dinner and glittering awards ceremony took place at the iconic Convention Centre Dublin and was hosted by Après Match comedian Barry Murphy.

A record number of entries were received this year demonstrating how critical the medium of digital has become to all organizations from SME’s, NGO’s and multinationals. The range of categories was extended to 25 for 2013, reflecting the ongoing evolution of the digital media sector in Ireland.

An exciting addition to this year’s event was the Trailblazer Award, which was presented to the Dublin-based Digital Marketing Institute. The award is presented to a company which has helped showcase Ireland on the international digital stage.   The Digital Marketing Institute recently signed a €3milllion contract with the largest training body in Asia – NIIT India – to offer digital marketing education overseas. Some 25,000 students in India will be unskilled in this area over the next three years.

Accepting the award Ian Dodson, Chief Executive Officer with the Digital Marketing Institute said: “We are absolutely delighted to accept this inaugural Trailblazer’s Award. It is a true honour to be recognised at the Samsung Digital Media Awards which are such a prestigious event in the annual business calendar.”

Innovative, Dublin-based business Wolfgang Digital beat off stiff competition to scoop the 2013 Grand Prix accolade last night. This coveted award is presented to the most highly acclaimed project of the year.  Wolfgang Digital’s winning entry ‘Maximising Mega Monday” was given the top grade by the esteemed judges across all 25 categories. This was an outstanding achievement and indeed, a significant victory for a company that has continued to buck the recessionary trend and grow its business exponentially year on year.  Wolfgang Digital also picked up the new award for Best integrated Media Campaign and Best Search Marketing Campaign.

Another new addition to the list of awards, Best Online Marketing Campaign, went to OMD- one of the country’s leading media agencies- for its innovative “Dacia” campaign while Best Digital Media Agency went to Cybercom, a creative digital agency which employs 50 people in Dublin and London.

An innovative SME, Funky Christmas Jumpers, who are now in their fifth year of producing Christmas jumpers and socks, beat off stiff competition to take the coveted Best SME Using Digital prize.

Gary Twohig, General Manager, Samsung Telecommunications and Networks Ireland commented “Through the Samsung Digital Media Awards, we have recognized inspirational industry success stories.  The standard of this year’s nominees is exceptional and it is a testament to the strength of the evolving digital media sector.  We are delighted to have played our part in recognizing the enormous talent that we have in Ireland in the digital arena.

Full list of finalists available below or at www.digitalmedia.ie