12 Canoes was awarded Best Indigenous Resource and a finalist place for Best Multimedia at the 2009 Australian Teachers of Media (ATOM) awards. ATOM is a professional organisation of media educators and industry professionals who are dedicated to the ongoing development of an innovative and diverse screen and media culture in Australia. The ATOM Awards were established in 1982 by the Australian Teachers of Media (ATOM) – an independent, non-profit association promoting media education and screen literacy in primary, secondary and tertiary education and the broader community.

Each year, the ATOM Awards recognise excellence in over thirty categories of Film, Television, Animation and Multimedia and celebrate the very best of Australian and New Zealand production.

Australian website 12 Canoes takes on the media giants at 13th Annual Webby Awards.

The Northern Territory and Australia take on some of the biggest media giants in the world next month at the prestigious Webby Awards. The Webbys are the Oscars of the online world; the highest accolade that Internet material can receive.

Nominated as a finalist in the Webbys Broadband category is the Australian site 12 Canoes. This beautifully presented site is the web-based sequel to the international award-winning film Ten Canoes, directed by Rolf de Heer. Like the film, the website stars members of the Yolngu People of Ramingining, in the Northern Territory’s Arnhem Land reserve. After the success of 10 Canoes, the Yolngu wanted to explore other ways of communicating their unique culture and traditions to the wider world. The result was the 12 Canoes website, which presents a dozen stories that cover various aspects of Yolngu life, history and culture.

The 12 Canoes site was produced by Australian digital agency Wanted Digital. When the site launched last year, it gathered immediate accolades. The pinnacle so far was winning two Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA) awards in March 2009 for Best Culture Lifestyle or Sport and Best Learning & Education.

In April 2009 12 Canoes received global recognition, being honoured as a winner of a World Summit Award (WSA). The WSA is a global not-for-profit activity in the framework of the United Nations and recognises the most outstanding examples of creative and innovative e-Content in the world.

The nomination as a Webby finalist is further testament to the site’s power, its artistic design and its achievement in adapting a modern, Western communications medium to give voice to a people with 50,000 years of heritage and kinship with their country.

This year’s Webbys attracted nearly 10,000 entries from 60 countries. Making the shortlist of five nominees in any category is a truly world-beating effort in its own right. For an Australian website presenting the Indigenous culture of Arnhem Land, making the cut is exceptional.

Indeed, the other finalists in the Broadband category are all global media behemoths: The BBC, CNN, MTV and NBC.

Whilst the official awards are conferred by a professional judging panel, there is also a People’s Choice award that goes to nominees with the most public votes. Everyone involved with 12 Canoes would appreciate the help and voting power of all Australians as they take on the giants from America and Britain. To register to vote please go to http://pv.webbyawards.com Voting closes on April 30.

www.12Canoes.com.au not only scored the nomination in the Broadband category. They also qualified as an Official Honoree in the Art category. This distinction is awarded only to the top 15% of all work entered.

“Twelve Canoes has been developed with the aim of showcasing Yolngu culture, in particular the people of the Arufura Swamp, to the world. They are proud of their culture and homelands, and they are proud to invite the world to share this knowledge,” said project director Molly Reynolds.

Contact details Cora.Spear@wanteddigital.com.au