Best Creative and Innovative Web Designer Competition 2013

The students Association of Business and Technology (ABT) of the University of Kelaniya is always renowned as the undergraduates who are constantly striving to come up with innovative plans and actions. 05^th of December 2013 was an exceptionally special day for ABT as well as for the Department of Commerce and Financial Management (DCFM) of the University of Kelaniya as ABT was able to organize a prominent and unique event, the Best Creative and Innovative Web Designer Competition 2013, for the first time. The specialty and uniqueness remains due to the fact that web developers were management and commerce undergraduates despite not having prior proficient background and knowledge in software engineering and web development.

‘Best Creative and Innovative Web Designer Competition 2013’ was a unique and innovative competition organized by the Association of Business and Technology, the students association under the Bachelor of Commerce Special Degree in Business Technology programme. Competition has been initiated to showcase the web development skills of Business Technology undergraduates hence the competition offered recognition to outstanding achievements of 3^rd year Business Technology undergraduates who have contributed to the development of web sites.

Unlike many web design awarding competitions, finalists weren’t selected based solely on their design, but how well they were using the technology to serve and communicate to their audience thus it name implies “Creative and Innovative”. Further, the competition also aimed to foster aesthetics such as website design, content, and etc. with entries being evaluated in line with the site’s technical attributes, design, content and interaction. Particularly contestants’ websites were mainly judged based on the criteria such as innovativeness, design creativity, user convenience, content, marketing orientation and depth of knowledge. Web site evaluation was carried out by two phases where initially web sites were judged prior to award ceremony by the panel of judges consisted of three lecturers attached to the Bachelor of Commerce Special Degree in Business Technology programme and a software engineer representing the industry. During the initial evaluation, judges gave their feedbacks and recommendations for further enhancement of the web sites. The final phase of the competition and the award ceremony was held on Wednesday, the 05th of December 2013, at the Auditorium, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies (FCMS) of University of Kelaniya. Dreamers (Click 2 Shop) dominated the competition by bagging two awards at the award ceremony, including the 1^st Place (Gold Medal) for the Best Innovative and Creative web site and the trophy for the Most Popular Web site. Seven group contestants (undergraduates) from 3^rd year Business Technology stream competed for this competition. The final phase of the evaluation was scheduled on the competition day and the evaluations were carried out by the audience, hence the Most Popular Web site Award was given based on the spot SMS voting system while the web sites were being presented by the contestants. Winning entries were chosen as the best in show, Gold, Silver and Bronze Winners. Those who excelled in their overall performance had the opportunity to grab winner's package, which included medals as well as a commemorative certificate for respective achievement. Further, additional certificates were provided to all the participants to commemorate the honor of effective participation for such event. The respective award winners were;

1^st Place – Gold Medal

Group Name	Web Site Name	Category
Dreamerz	Click 2 Shop	Online Retail Store

2^nd Place (1^st Runners Up) – Silver Medal

Group Name	Web Site Name	Category
C-Creators	Ceylon Holiday Partner	Hotel & Tourism

3^rd Place (2^nd Runners Up) – Bronze Medal

Group Name	Web Site Name	Category
Magenta	Aquatic Fashion	Online Retail Store

Most Popular Web site – Trophy

Group Name	Web Site Name	Category
Dreamerz	Click 2 Shop	Online Retail Store

Best Innovative Brand & Logo – Trophy

Group Name	Web Site Name	Category
Beyond the limit	Lesi Ticket	Traveling

The entire programme, from the initiation, was guided by the lecturers of DCFM; Dr. C.N. Wickramasinghe, Ms. L.C.H. Jayarathna, Ms. B.C.P Jayarathna and Mr. H.A.H. Hettiarachchi with special commitment of ABT alumni Mr. M.A.P Wimukthi as a resource person. Helping hand from the beginning by Dr. C. Pathirawasam, Head of the DCFM and Dr. D.M Semasinghe, Dean of the FCMS was an immense encouragement for enormous success of the event. Initiated by the Students Association of Business and Technology (ABT), the competition was designed to elevate the standards of learning excellence on E-Commerce Technology knowledge and to recognize them for their utmost commitment. Importantly, it was proven that even management and commerce students were indeed capable of web designing thus embracing the ICT for modern day business studies. The competition was sponsored by the following leading organizations; Ensiz Pvt Ltd, IBS Kandy Campus and Senok Trade Combine Pvt Ltd. It has been a highly successful competition and has been met with much enthusiasm by participants as well as the audience.