HKIRC Announces Fifth Top 10 .hk Website Competition Results

Number of entries reaches new record
Winning websites demonstrate outstanding dedication to community

HONG KONG, 17 April, 2014 – Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation Limited (HKIRC) announced the results of the fifth Top 10 .hk Website Competition 2013 (the Competition) at the Award Presentation Ceremony in Cyberport today. This year, HKIRC received an overwhelming response with 403 entries in total, representing a 25% increase compared to last year. To recognize the increasing importance of website security, consideration of security has been added in the screening process.

“We are very pleased with the quality and diversity of the entries this year and delighted to see how different sectors in the community have developed well designed and creative websites to market their products and services.” said Mr. Jonathan Shea, CEO of HKIRC. ”We are also glad to see that this year’s winning websites demonstrate best practice in the use of the Internet and .hk domain name for their business success, making themselves excellent role models for others to learn from.”

Mr. Daniel Lai, BBS, JP, Government Chief Information Officer, was the guest of honour at the ceremony. He said, “The Top 10 .hk Website Competition is one of the many exciting ICT events of International IT Fest 2014. The Competition sets new benchmarks in outstanding website development for driving the continuous development of the Internet for the benefits of the local community.” He added, “Nowadays, online presence is a business imperative for companies across the world, including SMEs. More and more organisations have successfully used “.hk” domain names to build their Internet branding, improve their sales and create value for their business and customers.”

The Competition attracted a wide range of contestants among the four categories, including 272 entries from the Commercial and Non-commercial categories, 82 entries from the Government Departments category and 49 entries from the LegCo Members category. All of the entries were evaluated according to four judging criteria: overall design and functionality, engagement, use of social media and web accessibility.

Gold Award Winners of Commercial and Non-commercial categories

  • Commercial (corporate group): www.kmb.hk of The Kowloon Motor Bus Co. (1993) Ltd, the first website from a public bus service company, has a bus route search function with strong interactions and web accessibility functions to let them strike gold for the second consecutive year.
  • Commercial (SME group): www.dealshongkong.hk, the “one-stop-shop” e-platform of Deals Hong Kong offers over thousands of group-buying deals from various daily deal sites. This year, the company further enhanced their website with great accessibility elements, taking them from a silver to gold award this year.
  • Non-commercial (Corporate group): the elderly-friendly website, www.e123.hk of The Hong Kong Society for the Aged has an intuitive way of presenting information, with more web accessibility features added this year, making them a gold award winner again.
  • Non-commercial (SME group): a new local website, www.foodangel.org.hk of Bo Charity Foundation, which was launched just less than a year ago with the mission of “Waste not Hunger not,” has been successful in raising awareness about excessive food wastage in Hong Kong. The website demonstrates the pursuit of excellence in its use of social media and using creativity to generate user interaction. As a result, the website won a gold award.

Gold Award Winners of Government Departments category
The entries under the Government Departments category have shown high standards. There was intense competition and the final scores were close to one another. There are two joint winners of the gold prize this year, they are:

  • Hong Kong Observatory’s, www.hko.gov.hk, committed to providing world class weather information, is offering instant weather checks and frequently updated information. It was highly acclaimed by our panel of judges for its on-going development of new services and products on the website, meeting diversified needs of users in the local community.
  • Radio Television Hong Kong’s website, www.rthk.hk, stands out from the rest as it allows audiences to listen to their radio programs anytime at their convenience. It also demonstrates a good use of multi-media on the website.

In the same category, three other government websites warranted special mention as they also set good examples for other government departments to follow. They are www.housingauthroity.gov.hk of The Housing Department, www.ofca.gov.hk of The Office of the Communications Authority and www.police.gov.hk of The Hong Kong Police Force.

Outstanding Websites of LegCo Members category
Four websites were awarded with the title of Outstanding Website. They are:

“The definition of what makes a good website depends partly on its purpose,” said Mr. David Chung, Chief Technology Officer, Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited, who was on the judging panel of the Commercial and Non-commercial categories. “Whether it be a commercial or non-commercial website, a good website should meet a variety of different characteristics to be considered of quality. I am glad to see that the winning websites of both categories can serve as role models, showcasing best-in-class website practice in the industries and for the general public, as they have met some basic agreement on what constitutes quality in website function and design, particularly on its useful, easy to navigate, relevant and updated content, accessibility and meet its purpose.”

“These websites were selected based on their comprehensive information, new look and feel, unique professional style as well as their use of website engagement and interaction through the inclusion of social media such as Facebook and Youtube,” said Dr. Robin S Bradbeer, Deputy Chairman of HKIRC, Chair of the judges for the Government Departments and LegCo Members categories. “Among the total 70 LegCo members in Hong Kong, 21 of them do not have a website. Some of the websites that did not provide English or other minority language support were given low scores in the Design and Functionality column, as it makes it difficult for the non-Chinese reading community to access their content,” she continued.

Open Cloud Supported by Rackspace

For the competition, HKIRC relied on Rackspace’s public cloud powered by OpenStack, the open source cloud computing platform, to support the voting for the Top 10 .hk Website Competition.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to support HKIRC’s public voting of the Competition, a meaningful initiative that raises awareness of building the best practice of .hk websites,” Ajit Melarkode, Managing Director of Rackspace Asia Pacific. “As thousands of users are visiting HKIRC’s website on a daily basis, it’s critical that they have the right infrastructure and support in place to manage traffic spikes and deliver robust website performance. We’re glad that they came to us as eCommerce specialists who back-up the cloud with a human face, timely advice and support.”

“With Rackspace’s public cloud in place, HKIRC has successfully managed an almost six-fold increase in traffic volume, avoiding any downtime and latency caused by unexpected traffic spikes,” Jonathan Shea, Chief Executive Officer. “We chose Rackspace’s public cloud for its scalability and flexibility, enabling HKIRC to host over 15,000 votes during the voting period and scale according to demand.”

To learn more about the award-winning websites, please visit www.top10award.hk

Result announcement of lucky draw winner for public voting

Public voting for favourite .hk / .香港 websites closed in early March with over 15,000 votes. The lucky draw result was announced in Sing Tao Daily and The Standard on 17 April 2014 and the winner will be notified separately by mail. The results can also be found on the official website: http://www.top10award.hk

The ceremony is one of the signature events of the International IT Fest 2014 organised by the HKSAR Government.

A group photo of all gold winners

Sponsors and partners of Top 10 .hk Website Competition 2013

About HKIRC
Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation Limited (HKIRC) is a non-profit-distributing, non-statutory company limited by guarantee designated by the Government of the HKSAR to undertake the administration of Internet domain names under the .hk and .香港 country code top level domain. HKIRC provides registration services for English domain names ending with .com.hk, .org.hk, .net.hk, .edu.hk, .gov.hk, .idv.hk, .hk and Chinese domain names ending with .公司.香港, .組織.香港, .網絡.香港, .教育.香港, .政府.香港, .個人.香港, .香港, and other domains to be introduced from time to time in Hong Kong.

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