Design businesses from across the South West have been celebrating after winning Media Innovation Awards.

The prizes were given at a gala dinner held in Bristol on 12th March and the awards recognise the innovative use of media and design in the region.

Mytton Williams was nominated in the print graphics category and in the branding category and came away with the top prize for both of them. Their entry Pencil Calendar won the print graphics award for its innovative use of print marketing and was printed by Opal Print (Bath) on paper supplied by James McNaughton Group Packaging. The judges thought that the “re-interpretation of the calendar format was a witty, original, ‘out of the Box’ solution”. The branding award was won by British Glass Biennale, which was produced by Mytton Williams for the Ruskin Glass Centre and the British Glass Biennale Project. Its strong, modern and striking design on both print and exhibition materials beat nominations from Exeter and Plymouth.

‘Britain from Above’, produced by 422 South for Lion Television and BBC1, took the award for the screen graphics category for its innovative use of GPS data to visualise and communicate the dynamic nature of modern life in the UK. The judges thought that it was “visually stunning with well considered graphic imagery”.

‘Tales From The Porth’ produced by Leap-Design for Change, based in St Austell, won the DVD/CD category award for its beautifully shot work with strong narrative. The Interactive CD rom was produced for MAGA the Cornish Language Partnership in association with Matt Hocking, Kieran Holden and Will Coleman. The judges were impressed by the high level of production values for the nominations in the DVD/CD category but chose Leap-Design for Change “for producing an accessible piece that used technology in an interesting way”.

Gendall Design based in Falmouth won the award for the corporate website category for the website ‘Visit Newquay’ created for Restormel Borough Council. Gendall was awarded the prize for creating a well-built site that was deep and rich in content.

The evening was introduced by Mark Hawkins, chairman of the Media Innovation Awards, and hosted by international sports reporter Rob Walker.

The judges awarded the 2009 trophy to Twofour Broadcast for the television project ‘Make My Body Younger’ which was produced for BBC3 and was “a truly innovative concept that was well executed using high impact digital technology to create a health programme with a difference”.

For a full list of the awards and to see streamed highlights go to: www.mediainnovationawards.com