June 2010: Best in Show winner announced !

Best in Show, launched by The Digital Hub last March, asked final-year digital media college students to submit examples of their ‘best’ work for assessment by a team of industry experts from companies located in The Digital hub and beyond.

Almost 80 students responded to the call and submitted a wide variety of work - in the categories of Animation; Film & Video Production; Interior Design; Multimedia and Visual Communication

Best in Show Winner 2010 - Diarmaid Keane, Shane Brennan, Shane Doyle & Aaron Chalke for ‘Pashli – Make A Difference’ in the Film & Video Production category. During Christmas of 2009, the team of four DCU Multimedia students travelled to Belarus to film a series of web shorts on the work the charity Pashli does. A website was built, www.pashli.org, on which the short films could be viewed and a new logo for Pashli was also created by the students as part of the rebrand. An important element of the web shorts is the original soundtrack, which was recorded in DCU.

Cathy Grieve, Red Diamond Media, DCU Team & Dr. Stephen Brennan, Director of Marketing & Strategy, DHDA

The judge of the Film & Video Category was Cathy Grieve, Owner and Director, Red Diamond Media

Read more about the winners here

Watch an interview with the winning team and the other category-winners in Best in Show on Digital Hub TV

View all the shortlisted entries below

Animation Category: ‘Olinda’, Bruno Palma, Ballyfermot College of Further Education.
Film/Video Production Category:‘Pashli – Make A Difference’ Team of four: Diarmaid Keane, Shane Brennan, Shane Doyle, Aaron Chalke, Dublin City University
Interior Design Category:‘Greenlife – Office for Sustainable Design’, Katrine Westum, Griffith College Dublin
Multimedia Category: 'i-Discover', Stefan Paz Berrios, Dublin Institute of Technology Aungier St.
Visual Communications Category: ‘Shake in the City’, Edel Flynn, Athlone Institute of Technology

The Digital Hub would like to thank all the students who submitted their work to Best in Show this year. We also acknowledge the support of college tutors in promoting Best in Show to students and making them aware of the opportunities participation in Best in Show offers.

Best in Show is also strongly supported by the digital media industry and in particular the companies and industry experts who took time and great care in reviewing the submissions: Kavaleer; Fluid Rock; Pixel Soup; Red Diamond; Design Squared; Made* and Red Dog.

Participating companies of 2010 are:

Kavaleer Productions was founded in November 2001. The studio’s early work in filmmaking garnered awards from Portugal to China and secured official selection in 100 international festivals on five continents. In 2004, Kavaleer moved to their current home at Dublin’s Digital Hub, placing the studio at the heart of Ireland’s digital media sector and giving the studio a highly competitive edge through a number of strategic technological partnerships. Over the past five years Kavaleer has married an ever-expanding list of commercial activities with a strategic IP development slate.

Kavaleer’s client list includes Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for whom they produce interactive e-learning content and Playfirst Games, who they support on their enormously successful ‘Dash’ games apps. In 2007, the studio co-produced the RTE children’s series ‘Lifeboat Luke’ (52 X 5 min) with Straandlooper Animation and in 2009 their first full length TV series ‘Garth and Bev’ (26 x 11 min) in co-production with Copernicus Studios which is currently being broadcast on CBeebies.  Kavaleer started 2010 with an IFTA nomination and won Best Animation / Film and the Grand Prix at the Digital Media Awards for their film ‘Hasan Everywhere’.  A recent collaboration with Yowza Digital (Toronto) seeks to bring Mort Walker’s well known and much loved comic strip ‘Hi & Lois’ to the small screen for the first time.

www.kavaleer.com

Fluid Rock is an interactive agency that provides digital solutions for their clients.  With a strong cross-disciplinary team of designers, technologists and project leaders, ideas are realised for clients from concept to design to implementation.  At the centre of all we do is the audience or user of our work.  A strong focus on making designs and technology work for the audience is a key objective.  We also design and build applications that last for our clients, ensuring the initial investment is something that can be built upon year on year.

Fluid Rock excel in the delivery of websites and other Internet applications, usually backed up by a robust content management system. We strive to make the designs work seamlessly for the client and their audience, while customisation to deliver these unique solutions is also carried out by our experienced team.

Fluid Rock was set up in July 2002 by Ruth Mac Partlin and Liam Twomey and was one of the first companies to locate in The Digital Hub.  Both Liam and Ruth have been active Digital Hub Citizens, with Ruth serving three years on the board of The Digital Hub and Liam currently serving on the board of South West Inner City Local Employment Centre. We are delighted to endorse the 'Best in Show' initiative and feel it is a great way for students and the industry to interact.

www.fluid-rock.com

PIXELSOUP is an award winning digital production company. Established in 2001 Pixel Soup offer full digital design for delivery on multiple media platforms. Their services include Digital Design, 3D Modelling & Animation, Compositing & Effects, DVD & Video Compression, Interactive CD ROM Production, Flash & Web Services, and Wireless Application Development [SMS / WAP / JAVA].

Pixel Soup’s exceptional creative & technical resources are well respected by clients, partners & press alike.

Clients include RTE, STAR Newspaper, Eontec, Windmill Lane LTD, Meath Tourism, Chaos Design and Photogenic .

www.pixelsoup.ie

Red Diamond Media is a new and exciting digital media company offering expertise in TV/radio and web production and all aspects of digital media, including social media, digital content creation and channel management.

We provide a full range of communication services, media training and talent management. Red Diamond Media can match experienced professionals to work with you and your business on your specific communication needs.

Our team are all experienced in the industry and bring a wide range of skills in both the editorial, PR and technical arenas.

Red Diamond Media services the mainstream broadcast industry, the corporate world and the educational and voluntary sectors.

www.reddiamondmedia.ie

With offices in The Digital Hub, The Institute of Designers in Ireland is the professional body representing the interests of Irish designers. Its function is to promote high standards of design, to foster professionalism and to emphasise designers' responsibility to society, to the client and to each other.

The Institute represents designers from different disciplines who practice in Ireland. Formed in 1972, the Institute is recognised at national, EU and international level as the representative body for the Irish design profession. The members, whether they be in private practice or in salaried employment, work in the fields of consumer and capital projects, interiors and exhibitions, textiles and fashion, all aspects of visual communication, new media, design management and design education.

www.idi-design.ie

The IDI have kindly partnered with the Digital Hub Development Agency to lend their skill in selecting relevant design companies to come on board to place the winners of the Visual Communications, Interior Design & Industrial Design categories for this year’s ‘Best in Show’ competition. The companies are:

designsquared are a design led studio that encompasses a group of experienced individuals who believe that good design can continue to make a difference. A young, dynamic, imaginative team is focused on providing innovative and commercially correct, design solutions, with a knowledge and commitment across the Hotel, Spa | Wellness, Retail, Leisure and Workplace sectors. 

We provide a full Interior Design | Architectural service, across all forms of branded environments:  working independently and in collaboration with selected partners or as part of a team. designsquared occupies studios in London and Dublin operating in the UK, Ireland, Europe and internationally.

www.design-squared.eu

Made* is creative, multi disciplinary design consultancy.

We believe in Design as process, and in Design Thinking as a tool.

We are known mostly for designing high volume furniture and lighting, but have found that the creative process of designing these products can be successfully applied to other disciplines too.

Our work has ranged from designing kitchen and bathroom tap ranges for UK Manufacturer company Triflow, to creating User Interactions for ticket truck’s  Facebook app, to height adjustable office furniture for Italian manufacturer GGA, and to developing new workplace concepts for US company Herman Miller.

Made* was set up by John Walsh in 2006. Since then we have worked with international manufacturers to develop several successful products and along the way have won many high profile international design awards.

www.made.ie

Red Dog takes a no-nonsense approach to graphic design. Clients talk. Red Dog listen. They then deliver appropriate, creative and cost-effective solutions that strive to exceed expectations. By helping clients talk to their audiences more clearly and memorably, they can make a real difference to an organisation's objectives. And this they offer with best-possible client service at all times, characterised by professionalism and informality.

Red Dog has a proven track record in the delivery of distinctive, professionally executed projects over a range of disciplines. Branding, visual identities, annual reports and other corporate communications, book and catalogue design, websites, conferences and exhibitions are just some of the areas in which they work. Nothing's off-the-peg, however. Every client brief is approached with originality and appropriateness in mind.

www.reddog.ie