HKIRC Announces Winners of Fourth Top Ten .hk Website Competition
Hong Kong websites make good use of social media and are more accessible to the disadvantaged

Hong Kong websites make good use of social media and are more accessible to the disadvantaged

HONG KONG, 18 April, 2013–Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation Limited (HKIRC) today announced the winners of the fourth Top Ten .hk Website Competition at the Award Ceremony held at Cyberport. The ceremony is one of the signature events of the first ever International IT Fest organized by the HKSAR Government.

Mr. Daniel Lai, Government Chief Information Officer, who attended the event as guest of honour, said, “Through the competition, we are very encouraged to see how different sectors in the community have developed innovative and creative domain names and websites to enhance and market their products and services. The winners of this year’s competition have once again set a very high standard in the development of their outstanding ‘.hk’ websites.”

2012 “Top 10 .hk Website Competition” includes four categories, which are “commercial”, “non-commercial”, “Government departments” and “LegCo members” websites. The entries were valuated according to four judging criteria, namely overall design and functionality, engagement, use of social media and web accessibility. This year, the Competition has received more than 300 entries, the highest participation received so far. The overall performance is also better than last year. Nearly 80% of commercial websites have made good use of social media, such as Facebook to communicate with their customers, while over 80% of the government websites have incorporated “accessibility” elements to cater for different needs of the public.

“Entering the fourth year, we have introduced two new categories, namely ‘Government department’ and ‘LegCo member’ websites, for the Top 10 .hk Website Competition, in view of the increasing expectation that more government information and services should be available online and that local politicians should not just use traditional channels to reach out to their supporters. At the same time, we want to commend outstanding websites which can be role models for others with a view to enhance the overall standard and quality of locally built and run websites. The Competition also encourages winners to share their success stories with the community, and further promotes Hong Kong as a leading digital city,” said Mr. Jonathan Shea, CEO of HKIRC.

As the first website of a public bus service company with a bus route search function and web accessibility elements, websitewww.kmb.hk of The Kowloon Motor Bus Co. (1993) Ltd. struck gold in the “Commercial” category (100 staff or above); while the interactive online wedding platform, www.darizi.hk of Darizi Limited, which provides comprehensive and useful content with latest online applications won the gold award of “Commercial” category (less than 100 staff) for the second consecutive year.

Under the “Non-commercial” category, website www.e123.hk of Hong Kong Society for the Aged struck gold award (100 staff or above), with its elder-friendly design as well as the intuitive way of presenting information. And www.help4suicide.org.hk of The Samaritan Befrienders Hong Kong, a website offering online instant relief service, won the gold award for “Non-commercial” category (less than 100 staff).

In general, the website entries under the “Government departments” category are outstanding and their scores are close to each other. With its Asia’s largest Podcast library, frequently updated and diversified online services, Radio Television Hong Kong’s website www.rthk.hk stands out from the rest and successfully won the best government website award in this category. Hong Kong Observatory’s instant and frequently updated weather information www.hko.gov.hk, good use of social media ofwww.investhk.gov.hk by Invest Hong Kong, high accessibility designs of www.housingauthority.gov.hk by Hong Kong Housing Department and the well-organized website design of www.icac.org.hk by ICAC are all highly appreciated by our panel of judges.

As for the websites under “LegCo members” category, no award will be given this year after going through a holistic assessment of their websites based on all the judging criteria. It is hoped that websites in this category will be enhanced over time in the areas of overall design and functionality, engagement, use of social media and web accessibility. However, there are eight websites which are worth special mention. Details are given below.

Dr. Robin S Bradbeer, Deputy Chairman of HKIRC pointed out, “Only about 60% of the LegCo members have their websites, of which some are only the website for the political party rather than their personal websites. Among them, only 30% provide bilingual content. We hope local LegCo members can take references of good websites from their counterparts in the UK and the US, to build and make good use of outstanding websites to communicate with the public.”

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

The Top Ten .hk Website Competition Winners

The five outstanding websites in the “Government departments” Category (in alphabetical order)

• http://www.hko.gov.hk/ (Hong Kong Observatory)
• http://housingauthority.gov.hk/ (Housing Department)
• http://www.icac.org.hk/ (ICAC)
• http://www.investhk.gov.hk/ (Invest Hong Kong)
• http://www.rthk.hk/ (Radio Television Hong Kong) – Best Government Website

The eight websites which warrant special mention in the “LegCo members” Category (in alphabetical order)

• http://www.adpl.org.hk/ (Hon Frederick FUNG Kin-kee, SBS, JP)
• http://www.cheungchiuhung.org.hk/ (Dr Hon Fernando CHEUNG Chiuhung)
• http://www.cheungkwokche.hk/ (Hon CHEUNG Kwok-che)
• http://www.cydho.org.hk/ (Hon Cyd HO Sau-lan)
• http://www.longhair.hk/ (Hon LEUNG Kwok-hung)
• http://www.michaeltien.hk/ (Hon Michael TIEN Puk-sun, BBS, JP)
• http://www.reginaip.hk/ (Hon Mrs Regina IP LAU Suk-yee, GBS, JP)
• http://www.yukman.hk/ (Hon WONG Yuk-man)

Result announcement of lucky draw winner for public voting

Public voting for favourite .hk/. 香港 websites also attracted active participation by more than 22,000 voters. The lucky draw winner will be notified separately by mail. The lucky draw result will be announced in Sing Tao Daily and The Standard on 25 April 2013. The result can also be founded on the official website: http://www.top10award.hk

Major Sponsors of the Competition:

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.

Media Contacts:

HKIRC
Dorothy Chow
Tel : + 852 2319 3883
Fax : + 852 2319 2626
Email : marketing@hkirc.hk

LEWIS PR
Annie Ho / Belle Pei
Tel : + 852 3944 5016 / 3944 5013
Fax : + 852 3944 5001
Email : annie.ho@lewispr.com / belle.pei@lewispr.com