AWIA seeks out individuals who are recognised as experts in their field to judge the awards. To help ensure impartiality, judges are mostly sourced from other states. Judges are on the lookout for any conflicts of interest, and also report any contact from entrants.

The panel of experts who will be evaluating the entries in 2008 is made up of:

• Sonja Bernhardt
• Ben Buchanan
• Nick Hodge
• Marc Lehmann
• Russ Weakley
• Simon Eder

The Bios

Judging Chairperson: Helen Burgess

Helen Burgess started as the Judging Assistant in 2006. Helen is a lecturer in IT specializing in Website Design and Development at Central TAFE in Perth, WA. Helen is a dedicated proponent of all things web and teaches her Certificate IV and Diploma Web Students to Industry Standards especially Coding, Usability and Accessibility.

Helen is a member of AWIA, and on the committee as the Education Sector Liaison, where her position is used for the Industry to influence training within the Vocational Education and Training sector and providing feedback on the National Training Package for the Web Industry Qualifications.

Sonja Bernhardt

With more than 20 years experience in the technology industry and over a decade of active involvement in judging award programs, Sonja brings significant background and experience to the judging table, in particular her reality and reason philosophy, enquiring mind and focus on a good user’s web site experience brings value.

Sample judging experience includes:

• Overall Chair of the Australian Judging Panels for the Asia Pacific ICT Awards
• Australian representative on the International ICT Awards Judging Panel
• One of a select group of judges in the prestigious 2002 World Congress “Secrets of Australian IT Innovation” Awards
• Judge in numerous WiT (Women in Technology) awards
• Judge in the prestigious National “Secrets of Australian IT Innovation” Competition
• Chief Judge for Queensland in the Australian Institute of Project Management - Project Managers Awards
• Judge on the inaugural WA Web Awards.

Ben Buchanan

Ben Buchanan started creating web pages more than ten years ago, while completing a degree in everything but IT. He has worked in both the public (university) and private sectors; and worked on the redevelopment of major websites including The Australian and three generations of Griffith University’s corporate website.

He now works as Frontend Architect for News Digital Media and writes at http://weblog.200ok.com.au.

Nick Hodge

Nick has over 21 years of IT industry experience in a variety of sales, technical, management, semi-marketing and strategic roles. He is an excellent presenter, prolific communicator and closet workaholic.

Online since 1987, working with the Internet more years than there have been browsers, Nick has a strong belief that the current revolution of connection, collaboration and communication is going to have dramatic and unforseen effects on the human condition. After a 6 month sojourn from the industry, Nick saw the world from a different perspective, and has joined Microsoft thinking that this software company has the best chance of being at the cornerstone of the forthcoming revolution of technology.

Marc Lehmann

Marc is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Saasu. Previously Director of Principal Finance Trading at Deutsche Bank, Marc has extensive investment banking and financial technology experience. A pioneer in SaaS in Asia since 1998, Marc is committed to building web applications that save people time, money and increase the sustainability of businesses. Saasu.com’s web finance engine is the result of this passion and is now a leading Software as a Service (SaaS) utility in Asia.

A naturalist and a minimalist at heart, Marc believes the human race should be spending more time building, exploring and discovering and less time dealing with the paperwork of life.

Russ Weakley

Russ Weakley has worked in the design field for over 18 years. He has a detailed knowledge of web design and development, and co-chairs the Web Standards Group which was set up to assist web developers learn about new technologies and accessibility issues.

Russ has produced a series of widely acclaimed CSS-based tutorials as well as a book, SAMS Teach Yourself CSS in Ten Minutes.

Simon Eder

Simon Eder is a colourful character who brings a new flavour to the web industry. He is crazy about open source software, online communities, usability and the internet. His Certificate IV Web Design students at Central Tafe are taught the finer points of visual design, copyright, protocols and standards. Simon loves visually stunning usable websites and believes sites do not have to be boring to be easy to use.

Simon has a passion for dynamic visual design and brings a wealth of industry knowledge to his lectures as well as a rich repertoire of worldly experience having had 12 years as a commercial helicopter pilot. His flying took him to places such as Antarctica, Cambodia and North West Australia. These remote places are what inspired Simon to capture beauty and vibrancies in the visual design medium. His next great adventure is into website marketing and SEO.