The Herald Scottish Digital Business Awards are always marked with a gold star on the Enigma calendar. For one night the biggest digital names in Scotland gather in a lavish hotel, dine on exquisite food and drink and wait to hear if their year of success will be topped off with the cherry that is a Digital Business Award.
I don’t keep it a secret that I am relatively new to the business world, previously splitting my time between pressing shutter buttons and pouring the perfect pint of Guinness. So this event was particularly exciting for me, seeing how these businesses interact and becoming a part of something new. As somebody who had lived in 8 houses in four cities across two continents by the age of 17 I’ve become pretty adaptable to new environments, so I welcome the digital business community with open arms and hope they do the same in return!
Dinner was a fantastic opportunity to meet the interesting characters on our table and enjoy some fine food (the salmon in particular I was a very big fan of). Chatting about life, travels, work, sport, music… and knee surgeries, the conversation flowed with as much ease as the wine.
After a delightful speech from Catriona Shearer, host for the evening, the awards were underway!
Business to Business Award
Front Page Design – Cruising For Excellence
Consumer Engagement Award sponsored by s1
Screenmedia – Simple Audio
Retail/E-Commerce Award sponsored by Highlands & Islands Enterprise
Kotikan – Edinburgh Festival Fringe App
Financial Services Award
Line Digital – Scottish Friendly
Lifestyle/Leisure Award
Equator –Macdonald Hotels & Resorts
Public Sector Award (Inc. Charity/Not-for-Profit)
Blue Square Design – Dundee City Council Development Team for the Dundee Waterfront Project
Commendation – Blackwood Foundation – bespoken
Games Award
Chunk Games – The Bank Job
Best Mobile Application Award
FreeAgent – Earnest
Best Client Campaign
Front Page Design – Cruising For Excellence
We were proud to sponsor the Digital Supplier Award for the third year running, as it’s always an honour to be able to support innovative digital companies. Presenting the award was one of the judges for the evening – our very own director and digital recruiting extraordinaire, David Mains. Hoping to go home with the award this year were Alienation Digital, Dog Digital and, trying for a hat trick, Screenmedia.
And Screenmedia did what they thought was the impossible! For the third year in a row they walked away with the Digital Supplier Award. Congratulations!
After the dinner and ceremony came the part of the evening enjoyed by all, even those leaving without an award – the networking bar. An opportunity to meet those you haven’t seen in a year and those you weren’t familiar with until tonight, but are glad you are now! Conversation steered away from work and towards fake bands, real interesting bands and partying with Bob Dylan’s band. The dancefloor filled with the hyped up winners, one of whom managed to impress us all by dropping down into the splits – we’re more than just a bunch of pretty faces!
As all of the colours in the kilts began to blend into one the guests said their goodbyes, sunk into their carriages (the nearest taxi) and returned to their homes.
Thank you to The Herald Scotland, Herald Events and Enigma People Solutions for giving me the opportunity to experience this event – it was magnificent. All of us at Enigma hope we see everybody again sooner rather than later and look forward to coming back to the awards next year, and for many after!
L-R: David Mains, Christina Marie Riley, Ramassa Khan
Enigma People Solutions 