Who we are

New media - 2nd April 2008: Illumina launch mass-participation science experiment

During this year's Science Week, Illumina Digital produced a ground-breaking mass-participation online psychology experiment for school children. Led by Teachers TV, the 'Ready to Learn' project provides a huge amount of data about children's behaviour before school and its effect on their mental alertness during school. Completed by 80,000 children over the week, the experiment logged whether the children get a lift to school or walk, eat cereal for breakfast, go to bed early and their physical activity during school. The participants were then all tested on their working memory, cognitive inhibition and planning respectively. Illumina Digital produced the editorial, design and development for 'Ready to Learn' using key research and rigorous user-testing.

New media - January 18th 2008: Prize winning film wins Northern Art Prize

Illumina Digital would like to congratulate Karen Guthrie and Nina Pope on winning the first Northern Art Prize last night. Their installation included the acclaimed documentary film, co-produced by Illumina Digital: Bata-ville. Bata-ville follows passengers on an English coach trip to the origins of the Bata shoe empire - the Moravian town of Zlin. Against the backdrop of economic regeneration in their communities, former employees of two, now closed, UK Bata factories are led by Pope and Guthrie on a unique journey through Bata's legacy and across a changing Europe. Illumina Digital worked with Pope and Guthrie co-producing and delivering the final documentary film.
New browser window: Bata-ville film website|
New browser window: Northern Art Prize website|

New media - January 11th 2008: Focus on Film wins at BETT 2008

The National Archive's online editing tool "Focus on Film" won a prestigious BETT award on Wednesday evening (9th January) for Best Secondary Digital Content (Other Curriculum Areas). The Editor's Room on "Focus on Film", created by Illumina Digital, allows users to browse through and edit video clips, audio clips and still images taken from the national archives collection. Visitors can choose clips of historical events such as Battle of the Somme, The Korean War and The Prague Spring. The BETT awards encourage and recognise outstanding education sector resources and learning solutions. Judges were impressed with the way "Focus on Film" helps teachers and pupils understand the process of filmmaking.
New browser window: Focus on Film website|
New browser window: BETT Awards 2008 website|

New media - November 26th 2007: Random House launch ecommerce website

Illumina Digital worked with Random House to raise the bar for publishing houses online. As well as finding and purchasing books online, visitors to the website can access a wealth of rich media content gaining exclusive insight into Random House publications and associated authors. Whether it's hearing Stephen Hawkin read an excerpt from"A Brief History of Time", watching Jaqueline Wilson describe the idea behind "Girls in Tears" or listening to Betty Boothroyd share her story about what first drew her to politics, there is something to tempt the interests of all readers, whatever age.
New browser window: Random House website|

New appointment - November 9th 2007: Illumina are delighted to announce the appointment of Carlton Reeve as an Executive Producer

Carlton Reeve joins Illumina Digital from the BBC. A Commissioner for the BBC's ground-breaking £150m education service BBC jam, Carlton was responsible for secondary level Maths, Science, Religious Education and Design & Technology. Before jam Carlton was the Editor of BBC Worldwide Interactive Learning (WIL), the BBC's commercial e-learning department. In this role Carlton led projects with Becta, British Council, BSA, DfES, DfID, NCSL and OU producing resources for children, undergraduates, adult basic skills and Continuing Professional Development.

New media - October 24th 2007: Get Cooking received a special mention at the UK Association of Online Publishers

Get Cooking received a special mention at the UK Association of Online Publishers Awards this month which took place on October 3rd at the London Hilton, Park Lane. Acknowledged for its commitment to good design and usability, the judges remarked on Illumina's "excellent use of technology" and said they were looking forward to future developments. Now in their sixth year, the AOP Online Publishing Awards are designed to celebrate and reward excellence in all aspects of digital publishing and are established as a showcase of the most innovative and high-quality online content in the UK.
New browser window: AOP Awards website
New browser window: Get Cooking website|

New media - October 23rd 2007: Illumina Digital has won a Golden Ladle at Le Cordon Bleu Food Awards

Get Cooking has won a Golden Ladle at Le Cordon Bleu Food Awards for the Best Cooking Website in the World. A prestigious award with A-list company, Nigella won best TV show while Rick Stein received a special Gold Ladle Award for outstanding achievements. The "foodie" equivalent of the Oscars, Le Cordon Bleu World Food Media Awards acknowledges the work of food and drink professionals, writers, educators, TV presenters and producers, and recognises excellence across publishing platforms.
New browser window: Le Cordon Bleu Food Awards Website
New browser window: Get Cooking website|

New media - October 17th 2007: 17 October 2007: Illumina Digital has been nominated for three BIMA 2007 awards

Illumina Digital has been nominated for three BIMA 2007 awards. My Mini Movies as part of the Summer of British Film season is on the shortlist for Best Community website or Campaign, Breaking the News II is in the Education and Learning category and Get Cooking is up for the Best Website Award. The BIMAs celebrate creative excellence and best practice in interactive design.
New browser window: BIMA Awards Shortlist|
New browser window: Summer of British Film website|
New browser window: Breaking the News II website|
New browser window: Get Cooking website|

New media - October 16th 2007: Empire's Children has been nominated for an RTS Innovation Award

Great news for the project, and the team that worked so hard to produce this already award winning website! A real honour, the RTS Innovation category recognises outstanding achievements in the development of new technologies in video production, manipulation and distribution, and outstanding creativity in the enhancement of content.
New browser window: Empire's Children website|
New browser window: RTS Innovation Awards|

New media - September 20th 2007: Empire's Children won best Community website at the Y Design Awards 2007

Congratulations Illumina Digital! Empire's Children won Best Community Website at the Y Design Awards 2007. Hosted at the Royal Festival Hall in London on Tuesday 18th September, Empire's Children was up against tough competition from some of the UK's leading design agencies. The awards celebrate creativity and originality in design and technology.
New browser window: Empire's Children website|
New browser window: Y Design Awards website|

New media - September 10th 2007: Get Cooking nominated for the Best Food and/or Drink Website in the world

Nominated for the Best Food and/or Drink Website in the world by the World Food Media Awards, Get Cooking is so HOT right now. A popular website with audiences ranking well in terms of time spent per visit, since it launched in April 2007 users have been spending more and more time on the Get Cooking website, watching our celebrity chefs and getting inspired by food. Yummy stuff!
New browser window: Get Cooking website|
New browser window: World of Food Media Awards website|

New media - September 10th 2007: Get Cooking nominated for two Online Publishing Awards

Get Cooking has been nominated for two Online Publishing Awards (AOP), 'Design and Usability' and 'Best Video.' Since launching in April 2007 'Get Cooking' has helped boost traffic to the BBC Food site and usage is continuing to rise. Now that's what I call good news.
New browser window: Get Cooking website|
New browser window: AOP UK website|

New media - July 16th 2007: Focus on Film

Primarily for teachers and students and available to the general public, this rich media tool enables online visitors to search, view and play around with National Archive audio visual content. Including clips from the history of film users can search and engage with otherwise unseen footage and edit their own video sequences online.
New browser window: Focus on Film Editor's Room |

New media - June 22nd 2007: Empire's Children goes Live

A user driven video rich website to accompany the Channel 4 show, Empires Children online offers specialist guides and hints and tips for investigating your family Empire history. With information on the key historical events surrounding Empire countries and 16 celebrity stories about their personal connections, Empires Children is seeded with broadcast quality content that extends the television experience online - allowing viewers to engage further. As well as following their own countries and stories of interest, users can contribute their own Empire chronicles for others to view and comment on.
New browser window: Channel 4 Empire's Children|
Empire's Children press release

New media - June 1st 2007: BBC Summer of British Film goes Live

A celebration of British film - British Film Forever offers the General British Public the chance to explore, create and share their passion for filmmaking. Inspired by BBC 2's British film season British Film Forever invites budding amateur filmmakers and actors to re-make scenes from their favourite British films and upload them online. A place for people with a passion to share their filmic efforts with an audience of film lovers, British Film Forever is a fantastic platform for new British talent! Did we find the next Ridley Scott or Ken Loach?
New browser window: Summer of British Film website|
Summer of British Film press release

New media - May 31 2007: Get Cooking shortlisted for RTS Award

Already shortlisted for a Broadcast Digital Channel Award and BAFTA TV Craft Award, Get Cooking produced by Illumina Digital for the BBC has just been nominated for a Royal Television Society RTS Education award too!

Featuring a team of six leading TV chefs and 20 hours of interactive cookery programming, Get Cooking is a personalized cooking experience for the modern home kitchen. Whether it's Mexican Style Bean Soup with Sophie Grigson, Red Cooked Pork Belly with Mike Robinson or Baked Lime Cheesecake with Lesley Waters - Get Cooking includes culinary delights to tempt all palettes.
New browser window: Get Cooking website|

New Media - April 20th 2007: Further awards for Stagework

Stagework, winner of 2 BAFTAs and a UN World Summit Award, has been voted the best education site and best overall website by 800 delegates at the Museums and Web Conference in San Francisco last week.

Comments from the judges included:

• "This is an amazing site that is most engaging"
• "I loved the accessibility options that enabled me to choose my text colour preference"
• "very innovative, instructive, educational... pure excitement... oh, and did I tell you that I'm standing... as in OVATION!!!"

New browser window: Best Educational Use|
New browser window: Best Overall Winner|
New browser window: Stagework website|

New media - April 12th 2007: Webby Honour for My Science Fiction Life

My Science Fiction Life, developed by Illumina Digital in conjunction with BBC Wales, has been selected as an Official Honouree for the Television category at the 11th Annual Webby Awards. This distinction is awarded to work that scores in the top 15% of all work entered for the Webby awards..
New browser window: Webby Honourees|
New browser window: My Science Fiction Life|

New media - March 26th 2007: Two BAFTA nominations for Illumina Digital

Illumina Digital has received two of the four nominations in the New Media Developer category of the BAFTA TV Craft Awards.
The nominations are for the Breaking the News project for ITN/Channel 4 and Get Cooking for the BBC.
New browser window: BAFTA nominations|
New browser window: Get Cooking|
New browser window: Breaking the News|

New media - March 14 2007: Centre of the Cell goes Live

Last week Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry launched Centre of the Cell, a dynamic online resource for information, quizzes and interactive games about cells and their role in medical research. Content for the site has been provided by more than 60 leading scientists and doctors at Queen Mary, University of London and its Medical School. The site was designed and built by Illumina Digital and will be followed in the new year by the Centre of the Cell interactive science centre.
New browser window: Centre of the Cell website|

New media - February 5 2007: La Bohème for English National Opera

This week the English National Opera launches Inside Out a new project designed and built by Illumina Digital to coincide with a new staging of la bohème. The site, which is part of the Sony PlayStation Season, features a behind-the-scenes guide to the life of the opera house and the new production of Puccini's Parisian love story together with an interactive singing lesson featuring actor and playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah.
New browser window: ENO Inside Out website|