PINKUN PICKS UP WEB AWARD

May 2006

Archant Norfolk’s Pink Un website has brought home the top award for the Best Electronic Weekly Newpaper at the 2006 Newspaper Awards at a prestigious ceremony in London.

The Pink Un site is regularly used by 44,000 fans the world over, who click on more than 1.5 million pages each month.

The award was collected on behalf of the Pink Un team by chief executive John Fry at the London Hilton, before being passed onto staff the following day at a champagne reception in Prospect House, Norwich.

It was the second award picked up by the website this year after winning the EDF Energy 2006 award for East of England Website of the Year.

The Pink Un site was set up with the aim of developing a site which is easy to use, fun and interactive, and which reflects the character of the Pink Un. However it has now taken on a life of its own with special features including a bulletin board, online polls, screensavers, wallpapers and ring tones, blogs, news stories, and a local football section with local leagues results, fixtures and tables.

Archant chief executive John Fry said: “Congratulations to everyone involved. The Pink Un is a great community site with lots of audience interaction.”

Head of sport at Archant Norfolk, Richard Willner, said: “I am absolutely delighted – it is a real honour to be judged the best in the country. We have a very hard working team and they really deserve this.”

Special thanks were given to web assistant Peter Raven whose love of Norwich’s team the Canaries has helped fuel the website’s success.

Peter, who has worked on the site for four years, said: “I was quite surprised to win this. I’m a big Norwich City fan which I think has definitely helped because I am very passionate about the site. We have worked very hard to develop the message board and get as much audience participation as possible.”

CDA CEO Clare O’Brien, a member of the judging panel, said: "Lovely site, absolutely packed with what every football fan loves – news, commentary, gossip and the opportunity to have their say – in one fast to load and easy to access site. So much better than anything I’ve seen from the mainstream clubs themselves. Every premiership team should have a Pink ‘Un.com of their own. The site is obviously a main destination for Norwich City fans – the message boards are hot with entries – what a brilliant user base it’s created and a fantastic commercial property that is clearly in profit with terrific scope for growth.

"The people running this site have really understood the nature of the internet, user expectation and most importantly, the value of user-generated content. Tempering my gushiness just a little, with a single topic and main focus on a single club to get to grips with, I think the editorial and production team on The Pink ‘Un have been more easily able to focus their development attention than some of the broader-based competitors in this section. Perhaps that’s something others can learn from: take one section at a time – get good at it, introduce across the rest of the site."

PINKUN WEBSITE SCOOPS TOP AWARD

January 2006

PinkUn.com also scooped website of the year at the EDF Energy East of England Media Awards, beating off competition from sister site EDP24 and the Cambridge Evening News site.

Pinkun.com's Peter Raven with the Website of the Year award presented by EDF Energy chief operating officer Paul Cuttill (left) and champion swimmer Karen Pickering (right).

The Pink 'Un - which registers more than a million page impressions per month - was singled out for its creativity and good use of submitted video and pictures. It also merited praise for its mix of big news and local detail.

Pink 'Un editor Richard Willner said: "It's always nice to be honoured for the hard work that goes into maintaining such a quality product. The editorial and web teams work very well together and we plan to keep improving the site to give football fans the best coverage of the sport in Norfolk."

The Pink 'Un previously won the best niche site in the Newspaper Society awards.

The awards were presented on Monday (January 30) by champion swimmer Karen Pickering with EDF Energy chief operating officer Paul Cuttill, and the event compères were Ipswich Evening Star editor Nigel Pickover and broadcaster Kevin Bentley.