Storm ID has scooped the top prize at the 2015 Herald Scottish Digital Business Awards.
The Edinburgh-based digital agency collected the award at a packed prizegiving and dinner at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Glasgow last night.
It was one of 11 winners announced from the stage by comedian Des Clarke, as the seventh Herald Digital Awards recognised excellence across a host of categories in the digital sector.
This year’s awards, sponsored by Enigma People Solutions, Jumpstart, SCVO, Business Gateway, City of Glasgow College and FanDuel, drew a record number of entries.
Judges hailed the impact Scottish digital businesses have made in international markets and in harnessing the latest technology as the sector continues to innovate and evolve.
Storm ID lifted the Digital Agency Award, sponsored by Enigma People Solutions, in recognition of its continuing growth, client base, investment in technology and its focus on growing its business.
David Mains, director of Enigma People Solutions, said: “These awards are an important recognition of their hard work and dedication that makes the digital industry in Scotland truly world-class.”
The main individual award went to Andrew Duncan, of SwarmOnline, who received the Digital Professional of the Year Award. Andrew delivered a video message from Silicon Valley in California where he has been building revenue at the business since 2011.
The Business to Business Award, sponsored by Jumpstart, went to LendingCrowd, the Edinburgh-based peer-to-peer lending platform, in recognition of its support for Scottish SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises). It was praised by judges for its forward-thinking processes.
Jumpstart managing director Brian Williamson said: “It was impressive to see the talent coming through the industry and celebrate their achievement and innovation with so many others on the night.
“Awards don’t come easy, and it was obvious on the night, that the hard work and dedication has been worth it.”
A new prize was introduced this year, the Charity and Social Enterprise Award, sponsored by SCVO.
It went to Euan’s Guide, which provides venue reviews from a disabled access perspective and also has an app. The judges also commended Carr Comm for its ClickGo campaign in this category.
Sally Dyson, head of digital participation at SCVO, said: “This year’s awards have shown the huge breadth of digital talent that Scotland’s charities and social enterprises have to offer. SCVO is proud to be part of this community.”
Meanwhile, as well as rewarding established digital companies, this year’s awards recognised the next generation of talent with a student award category sponsored by FanDuel. This was won by Chris Hughes for his Estendio project, an app for dyslexic students.
Eileen McLaren, vice-president of engineering at FanDuel, said: “The awards were a brilliant opportunity to celebrate the achievements of the businesses and individuals that are putting Scotland on the international map for digital excellence and innovation.”
The Education and Training Award, sponsored by City of Glasgow College, was awarded to eCom Scotland and RNIB for their online leaning portal for blind and partially-sighted people. NSDesign was also commended for its work on Working Digital 2014, a training and development event.
The E-commerce Award, sponsored by Business Gateway, went to Digital Six for the site it designed for client ETB Technologies. Judges ruled that the site had long-term potential and was easy to use.
Hugh Lightbody, chief officer of Business Gateway, said: “Scotland has a long-standing reputation for innovation and creativity and the finalists demonstrated that this continues to be the case.
“E-commerce and the evolving digital world opens up many new global business opportunities for our SME community.
These awards provide a focus for the sector and we must do all we can to encourage and support its growth and the growth of those businesses based in Scotland working within it.”
Margaret Darroch, head of skills academy and development at City of Glasgow College, said: “This was our first year supporting the awards. We thoroughly enjoyed the evening, which brought together the very best in digital media across Scotland.
“Congratulations to all the winners and finalists. The quality of the entrants was fantastic.”