The theme was Redefine the web. So set out our participants of the Fourth Annual WAVE Web Winner contest 2005 to redefine. And now, we've discovered six web whizzes whose sites were judged by four IT savvy judges:
Kiran Awal of Simrik Solutions who won the Best Site – Content Award in 2002; Marina Shrestha, voracious surfer who hosts Surfin' on Hits FM 91.2; Samyem Tuladhar, software consultant of US-based Yomari Information Services; and Sarahana Shrestha, multimedia designer at Interactive Agency in New York who also runs samudaya.org, accessible through everybodybreed.com.
Sponsored by Interface Nepal, supported by D&D International and XtremeNepal, the winners of the WWW 2005 contest are:
Best Site – Content: Vinayak Kumar Shrestha for www.welcomenepal.com
For those of you who have visited Nepal Tourism Board's official site, here's more info, it was built by an electronics engineer who won the Best Site – Content award at the WWW 2005 contest. Vinayak is also the site developer at Muncha House. Says he, "Young people need to participate in competitions like these."
Comment: Concise information but with some heavy copy editing and new materials, it could be a bigger hit.
Best Site – Visual Appeal: Nisha Gurung www.multimedia.com.np/nisha/ngdesign.html
Nisha Gurung did her post graduate in designing and has a degree in multimedia. She works as concept designer at Digital Max Solutions. Says she: "Girls need to come forward and participate in such competitions."
Comment: Great paintings but bigger pictures would be more effective. The loading symbol is impressive. Pop-up links are distracting.
Best Site – User Friendliness: Pranav and Pranay Shrestha www.hamrobazar.com
This is like our own local ebay. It promotes products from mobile phones to cars, and was built by the twin brothers Pranav and Pranaya Shrestha. Pranav is currently studying BBA in Pune, India. Prabal, their brother told us: "They were so good at computers that they would even teach their teachers at school."
Comment: Useful sight, easy to navigate but excessive use of borders and strokes.
Editor's Choice Award: Sujan Ratna Bajracharya www.pharping.com.np
A community school site, www.pharping.org.np has good content and is user-friendly. Bajracharya has been working as a web developer at Yomari for two years. Says he: "It took me a month to develop the site."
Comment: This site redefines the outreach ability of the web and gives all the information required in Nepali. More pictures and student works would make it even more interactive and interesting.
Best Site – Technicality and WAVE Web Winner 2005: Swapnil Acharya www.himmasters.net/nepali
Swapnil Acharya, the title winner who also bagged the Best Site – Technicality award, is a talented 20-year-old. Currently preparing for his GCE exams, Acharya works as freelance web designer. Says he: "I entered last year too but didn't win. The award this time is the outcome of all my hard work. It took me seven months to conceptualise the site." Now, he's readying to participate in international contests like the FWA as he says, "I want to do something for Nepali designs through websites."
Comment: Certainly redefines the web. Customisation feature is awesome but there are compatibility issues which make it ineffective for a non-portal site.
