A Canberra digital agency could be sharing the stage with teams from Apple, Uber, Airbnb and even Beyoncé after being announced as a finalist in the The Webby Awards.
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NewActon-based agency ED. were announced as a finalist in the 'best homepage' category of the international awards for their work on the website for NewActon itself.
Agency director Eric Di Cuollo said the news was somewhat bittersweet for the ED. team, as the site's designer Chris Halloran died in August 2016.
"It was one of his last projects before he died. And Chris was always of the opinion that if we made it to The Webbys, that's how we'd know we've made it," said Di Cuollo.
"And with the NewActon project, he said himself, 'this is what will win us a Webby Award'. So I'm glad the NewActon site is the one that made it as a finalist."
The ED. team created the site just over a year ago, using a clean design that incorporated dynamic and interactive illustrations.
"We wanted to capture the quirkiness and the artsy side of NewActon. We've done that using illustrations that are very dynamic in the way they move. And they change colour depending on the real-time weather."
Started in 1996, The Webby Awards recognise excellence on the internet across a number of categories in areas including websites, advertising, social media, podcasts and apps.
In their category, ED. is up against homepages for the Milwaukee Ballet, New York website designers Huemor, Paris creative agency FCINQ and Californian virtual reality studio Wevr.
Across the whole competition, other finalists include Apple, HBO, Squarespace, Netflix, Uber, Airbnb, Spotify and a video clip for Beyoncé.
There's around a dozen other Australian finalists in 2017, but none from Canberra.
Winners will be notified on April 25, giving them just enough time to book flights to get to the finals in New York on May 16.
Only the winners are invited to the event, and Di Cuollo said if they get the good news, they whole team will be heading to the Big Apple.
As a finalist, ED. is also up for the People's Voice Awards, with voting open to the public, and they're calling on Canberrans to help them win. Voting is free and open until Thursday April 20. You can vote here.
