Microsoft recognises developer for post-quake web sites

Prestigious global Microsoft award recognises local developer for post-quake websites

Thursday 12 July, 2012

Websites developed by NV Interactive following the February earthquakes earned the company two Microsoft Worldwide Partner of the Year awards at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto yesterday (NZ time).

NV Interactive won the Web Development Partner of the Year category for the Share an Idea website and the Humanitarian Response of the Year award for the Recover Canterbury website.

The Share an Idea website was launched as a Christchurch City Council initiative just 10 weeks after the February 22 quake to encourage residents to contribute ideas about how the city would be re-shaped following the disaster. In the six weeks that the campaign ran, the website engaged 21% of the Christchurch population, attracted around 60,000 visits and generated 45,000 ideas.

CEO of NV Interactive Matt Pickering, who was in Toronto to accept the award said, "After being a finalist last year in the Web Development category, we are thrilled to go one step further and win this highly competitive category this year.”

The awards are presented by Microsoft each year to honour Microsoft partners delivering innovative solutions that address customer challenges Nearly 3000 entries were collected from nearly 200 countries.

NV Interactive was a finalist in the Web Development Partner category last year for its work with New Zealand Cricket which includes the website www.blackcaps.co.nz, live scoring systems, mobile delivery and video analysis tools used by the organisation.

“It is fantastic to be benchmarked on the world stage like this Perhaps more importantly though is the recognition this gives to our Christchurch team for their frankly super-human efforts supporting the post-quake recovery efforts. We are extremely proud to have played such a key role in supporting our community through this unimaginable time," Pickering says.

NV Interactive digital strategist in Christchurch Tim McConnell led both award-winning projects: “Like so many other Christchurch-based businesses, we have endured our fair share of hardships, frustration and more than one move, but in the midst of it all, we've been inspired to carry on do some of our best work yet. It's really great for our little company to be recognised by a giant like Microsoft.”

© Scoop Media