3 October 2011

Creative talent rewarded by Mix and Mash

The digital creativity of New Zealanders, from individuals to entire school classes, has been recognised in the prize list of the second annual Great NZ Remix & Mashup* Competition, announced today.

Mix and Mash is run by DigitalNZ in association with the National Library of New Zealand, and challenges people to build something completely new by reusing existing NZ digital content and data.

This year over 100 entrants, including an entire primary school class, vied for $50,000 in cash and prizes.

National Librarian and Mix and Mash sponsor, Bill Macnaught said, “The quality of the entries this year has been spectacular. All of those who submitted should be very proud of themselves and their efforts.”

The $10,000 award for the ‘Supreme Data Mashup’ went to Alex Gibson and Graham Jenson for their entry, 100 Companies (http://mixandmash.org.nz/2011-entries/mashup/anything-goes-mashup/100-companies/).

Their website makes use of various government data sources to present a view of the economy and allow people to adjust determining factors that affect our nation’s prosperity.

Nat Torkington, creator of Open New Zealand and the lead judge for the category said: “This mashup lets you interactively say ‘what if’ to scenarios like investing more in tourism or mining the conservation estate. It’s a fantastic use of interactive technology and public data to make sense of topical problems.”

Candy Elsmore’s video story, A Grand Mother (http://mixandmash.org.nz/2011-entries/remix/digital-story/a-grand-mother/) won the grand prize for ‘Supreme Creative Remix’.

Inspired by the discovery that her great grandmother signed the Suffrage Petition over 100 years ago, Candy’s film was described by Lawrence Lessig, co-founder of Creative Commons and special judge as: “simple, clean, unbelievably compelling.”

School Student Prizes went to: Otahuhu College, Casey Carsel (St. Margaret’s College), Marsden Collegiate, Karori, Wellington, Amanda Tauber (Diocesan School for Girls), Luke Davia (Tawa College), and the entire Year 5 class at Point England School, Auckland, whose entry made the judges “laugh and clap.”

Other winning entries include a website that interactively displays New Zealand On Air cultural investments over the last 20 years, a Christchurch-inspired photo remix that creatively incorporates 23 different photographs, and an original web comic that remixes the works of artists Dylan Horrocks and Renee Liang.

All winners and their entries are available for viewing on the Mix and Mash NZ website (http://www.mixandmash.org.nz/A).

*Mash-up: a web page, site or application made by combining data or functionality from two or more sources to create something new.

Remix: a new version of a song, book, picture, video – you name it – made by adding to, or otherwise changing the original version (licence permitting).

ENDS

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