McFarlane Prize comes back to Equilibrium

Equilibrium won Australia’s most coveted web development award for excellence, The McFarlane Prize, at the Australian Web Awards held in Sydney recently.

The agency won the prestigious prize for ‘Get on Track Challenge’, a cutting-edge website developed on behalf of Diabetes WA.

The project, is a highly interactive website allowing users to form teams and compete against other teams to complete virtual tracks. Competitors are asked to visit the website daily and log how much exercise they undertook during the day. It uses an algorithm to move teams along virtual tracks in real-time, unlocking geographical, motivational and health related information along the way. The website integrates Google maps extensively and allows users to create their own virtual tracks and share these with the community.

This year a record 220 entries were received, each judged in their own categories, with winners then eligible for The McFarlane Prize. Sites are judged on validation, accessibility, visual design, content, user experience and development coding.

This is the second time in five years that Equilibrium has been recognised as the developer of the most outstanding website in Australia, having previously won in 2009 for a site created for WA Museum’s Nick Cave exhibition.

As winners, Equilibrium gets to hang the perpertual of the McFarlane Prize award  canvas in the agency before passing it on to the next winner in 12 months’ time.

Australia Web Industry Association Chairman, Bret Treasure, complimented Equilibrium on visual design, development and user experience. He said it was an imaginative site that used gaming elements to engage people interested in lowering their risk of developing diabetes.

“It showcases the ability of the web to actively, rather than passively impart information.

“Although the client is a Not for Profit, the approach taken here applies equally to other categories. Much can be achieved by creatively extending a web presence beyond a single, static site,” he said.

Equilibrium Managing Director, Warren Gibbs, said the whole agency was thrilled with the win.

“This was a very large and complicated project that was certainly not without its challenges. In many ways our business had to grow and develop sophisticated information gathering and project management processes in order to ultimately achieve the result we did. I’m very proud of the result, and thank Diabetes WA for their hard work and immense contribution to the website, and also the Department of Health for funding such a worthwhile and innovative project,” he said.

According to Helen Mitchell, Diabetes WA General Manager – Health Services, the Get on Track Challenge is great way for workplaces to promote a healthy lifestyle to their employees in a fun and engaging way, keeping health at the forefront of their minds.

“Diabetes WA is grateful for support from the joint Australian, State and Territory Government initiative under the National Partnership Agreement on Preventive Health, which enabled the development of the new technology.

“Having an interactive and creative website platform has proven to be an excellent way to reach our target audience and contribute to improving the health of workers in Western Australia,” she said.