Preston City Council scooped a prestigious award for its e-innovations scheme at a special national Computing Awards for Excellence ceremony held in London last week.
The council battled it out against other public, private and voluntary sector organisations to win the IT in the Community award category.
The e-innovations scheme uses cutting-edge technology to improve services for local people and bring communities closer together.
Preston’s e-innovations scheme includes:
- Free video e-mailing from 14 internet kiosks around the city
- Wireless access to the internet from over 100 locations around Preston
- SMS text messaging to enable local people to access council services using mobile phones
- Making free community websites available for local community and voluntary sector organisations
- Making Preston FM, a new community radio station available via the internet
Councillor Harold Parker, Executive Member for Resources, said:
“This is great news, we’re using the latest technology to improve services for the whole community and I’m pleased that our achievements have been recognised with this award.
“We recently became the first city in the UK to offer free video e-mailing and other projects like free websites for community and voluntary organisations are really helping to provide better services for local people.
“The award is tremendous news and now we want to build on our achievements so we can continue to use cutting edge technology to deliver even better services for local people.”
NOTES TO NEWSDESKS
The Computing Awards for Excellence ceremony took place on Wednesday 16 November at the Battersea Park Events Arena, London.
The awards, now in their 13th year are sponsored by Computing Magazine.
Around 109 public, private and voluntary sector organisations were short listed under 22 categories in this year’s event.
Other organisations competing with Preston City Council for the Computing awards include British Airways, Computer Associates Digital Schoolhouse Federation, British Telecom and Tesco.
Preston’s e-innovations scheme was also commended by the National IT Good Communication awards in a ceremony held in the Bafta Theatre, London on 7 November 2005.
Preston’s e-innovations scheme is funded through the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
The e-innovations programme is delivered by Preston City Council together with its partners including: Preston Strategic Partnership, British Telecom, University of Central Lancashire, Preston Community Network, Preston Learning Together Partnership, Preston College, Preston Community Arts Project, Web Labs and Telegeneration.
