NZ's Top Web Sites Named in People's Choice Awards

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New Zealand's Top Web Sites Named in 2007 People's Choice NetGuide Web Awards

Online community site SmileCity has been named Site of the Year in the 2007 People's Choice NetGuide Web Awards.

"SmileCity is a great example of a community site," said NetGuide Editor Jorin Sievers. "By encouraging user feedback and participation and providing users with the chance to earn online reward points and complete online surveys it enhances the community feel of the site."

Repeating its success of last year, Trade Me dominated the awards, winning three categories: Best Trading Site, Best Real Estate Site (Trade Me Property) and Best Motoring Site (Trade Me Motors).

Other notable winners were Stuff (Best Media Site, Best Home Page), Gameplanet (Best Games-Related Site, Best Online Shopping Site) and NZ Dating (Favourite Social Networking Site, Best Lifestyle Site).

There was a rare dead heat in the Best Financial Services category, with the honours being shared by ASB Bank and Sorted.

The top New Zealand web sites in 25 categories were decided by tens of thousands of votes cast by NetGuide readers and online users and other Kiwi internet users.

The awards were presented at an Auckland function attended by New Zealand's internet industry leaders. The guest speaker on the evening was Scott Bartlett, General Manager of Orcon internet limited.

This was the second year that the awards were decided entirely by public vote, and this year's awards featured seven new categories: Best Employment Site, New Zealand's Favourite Search Engine, Favourite Social Networking Site, Best Real Estate Site, Best Web Ad Campaign, Best Motoring Site and Best Regional ISP.

"These new categories acknowledge the fast-changing nature of the Web, for instance, the growth of social networking sites," said Jorin Sievers.

"The awards are also a useful source of feedback from the New Zealand public. Web site creators can determine whether their efforts are being appreciated, which allows them to more effectively target the needs of New Zealand users."

It's the ninth year that New Zealand's most respected Internet awards have been run, and next year's 10th anniversary promises to be an even bigger occasion.

The full list of winners and finalists appears on the next page.

ENDS

2007 People's Choice NetGuide Web Awards Winners

SITE OF THE YEAR
Winner: SmileCity: www.smilecity.co.nz
FINALISTS:
Trade Me: www.trademe.co.nz
NZ Dating: www.nzdating.com

BEST FINANCIAL SERVICES
Joint Winners:
ASB Bank: www.asb.co.nz
Sorted: www.sorted.org.nz
FINALIST:
RaboPlus: www.raboplus.co.nz

BEST TRADING SITE
Winner: Trade Me: www.trademe.co.nz
FINALISTS:
Zillion: www.zillion.co.nz
Sellme free: www.sellmefree.co.nz

BEST EMPLOYMENT SITE
Winner: Seek: www.seek.co.nz
FINALISTS:
Trademe: www.trademe.co.nz
Search4jobs: jobs.search4.co.nz

BEST HIGH-SPEED INTERNET SITE
Winner: TVNZ: www.tvnz.co.nz
FINALISTS:
Vorb: www.vorb.org.nz
TV3: www.tv3.co.nz

BEST NEW SITE, RELAUNCH, INNOVATION
Winner: New Zealand Herald: www.nzherald.co.nz
FINALISTS:
Stuff: www.stuff.co.nz
Air New Zealand: www.arinewzealand.co.nz

BEST ONLINE SHOPPING SITE
Winner: Gameplanet Store: www.gpstore.co.nz
FINALISTS:
Ferrit: www.ferrit.co.nz
Ascent: www.ascent.co.nz

NZ'S FAVOURITE SEARCH ENGINE
Winner: Google: www.google.co.nz
FINALISTS:
Yahoo: www.yahoo.co.nz
NZSearch: www.nzsearch.co.nz

BEST SPORTS AND RECREATION SITE
Winner: Vorb: www.vorb.org.nz
FINALISTS:
Allblacks.com: www.allblacks.com
Kiwi Biker: www.kiwibiker.co.nz

NZ'S FAVOURITE SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE
Winner: NZ Dating: www.nzdating.com
FINALISTS:
MySpace: www.myspace.com
Bebo: www.bebo.com

BEST REAL ESTATE SITE
Winner: Trade Me Property: www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-me-property/index.htm
FINALISTS:
Realestate.co.nz: www.realestate.co.nz
Open2view: www.open2view.com

BEST PARENTING SITE
Winner: Huggies: www.huggiesnz.co.nz
FINALISTS:
Treasures: www.treasures.co.nz
Kidspot: www.kidspot.co.nz

BEST TRAVEL SITE
Winner: House of Travel: www.houseoftravel.co.nz
FINALISTS:
Air New Zealand: www.airnewzealand.co.nz
AA Travel: www.aatravel.co.nz

BEST YOUTH SITE
Winner: Radiochick: www.radiochick.co.nz
FINALISTS:
Gameplanet: www.gameplanet.co.nz
247 Girl: www.247girl.co.nz

BEST WEB AD CAMPAIGN
Winner: Air New Zealand/MTV "Pimp My Plane":
http://erequest.airnz.co.nz/nz/promotions/mtv
FINALISTS:
Air New Zealand Grabaseat: http://flightbookings.airnewzealand.co.nz/vgrabview
42 Below: www.42below.co.nz

BEST MEDIA SITE
Winner: Stuff: www.stuff.co.nz
FINALISTS:
NZ Herald: www.nzherald.co.nz
TVNZ: www.tvnz.co.nz

BEST GOVERNMENT OR COMMUNITY SITE
Winner: Donate NZ: www.donatenz.co.nz
FINALISTS:
IRD: www.ird.govt.nz
Auckland City: www.aucklandcity.govt.nz

BEST MOTORING SITE
Winner: Trade Me Motors: www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-me-motors/index.htm
FINALISTS:
AA: www.aa.co.nz
Kiwi Biker: www.kiwibiker.co.nz

BEST ENTERTAINMENT SITE
Winner: Biggie: www.biggie.co.nz
FINALISTS:
Stuff: www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment.html
Radiochick: www.radiochick.co.nz

BEST GAMES-RELATED SITE
Winner: Gameplanet: www.gameplanet.co.nz
FINALISTS:
NZGamer.com: www.nzgamer.com
ICONZ Arena: www.iconzarena.co.nz

BEST HOME PAGE
Winner: Stuff: www.stuff.co.nz
FINALISTS:
NZ City: http://home.nzcity.co.nz
Google: www.google.co.nz

BEST BLOG
Winner: Public Address: www.publicaddress.net
FINALISTS:
Kiwiblog: www.kiwiblog.co.nz
Radiochick: www.radiochick.co.nz

BEST ISP – Nationwide
Winner: Slingshot: www.slingshot.co.nz
FINALISTS:
Ihug: www.ihug.co.nz
Orcon: www.orcon.net.nz

BEST ISP – Regional
Winner: Airnet: www.airnet.net.nz
FINALISTS:
Tasman Solutions: www.tasman.net
iGrin: www.igrin.co.nz

BEST LIFESTYLE SITE
Winner: NZ Dating: www.nzdating.co.nz
FINALISTS:
Taste: www.taste.co.nz
SmileCity: www.smilecity.co.nz

Sample comments from voters on the winners are available on request.

About NetGuide

NetGuide is New Zealand's biggest-selling technology magazine. It's a user-friendly guide to today's fast-changing technology world, and aims to simplify and demystify the world of technology into bite-sized, fun and easy-to-read chunks of news, tips, advice and entertainment.

The magazine annually holds the Internet industry's premier event, the NetGuide Web Awards and holds an annual Web site contest for schools and students in conjunction with the Ministry of Education.

ACP Media

ACP Media is New Zealand's leading magazine publisher. The company's ACP Magazines division publishes some of the country's most popular magazines, including Woman's Day, The Australian Women's Weekly and Next, newer titles Taste and FQMen, and iconic titles such as Metro and North & South. ACP Media's Trader Group includes Auto Trader, Deals On Wheels, Motorcycle Trader & News, Trade-A-Boat and Buy Sell & Exchange. ACP Media's Property Magazines division publishes a range of real estate advertising titles including Property Press and Real Estate magazines. ACP Media operates a national distribution network through its division Netlink Distribution Company, which distributes publications to retailers across the country. ACP Digital includes a number of websites including taste.co.nz, netguide.co.nz, magshop.co.nz, sellmefree.co.nz, autotrader.co.nz and runwayreporter.co.nz. ACP Media is a subsidiary of ACP Magazines Limited in Australia, a division of PBL Media Limited. www.acpmedia.co.nz

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