24 November 2011

The Rt Hon David Miliband MP has won the Social Media category in the BCS MP Web Awards 2011 run by BCS, The Chartered for IT.

This year, the Institute’s MP Web Award for social media was won by Rt Hon David Miliband, MP for South Shields. Hosted by the Rt Hon Alun Michael MP, the awards were presented during a reception at the House of Commons on 23 November. The annual Awards recognise MPs who embrace web technologies, and are using them to engage effectively with their constituents.

Other finalists in the MP Web Award for social media included Labour Leader Rt Hon Ed Miliband, MP for Doncaster North, and James Morris, MP for Halesowen and Rowley Regis.

Rt Hon David Miliband MP says: “I’m delighted to have been recognised for my use of social media and davidmiliband.net. Social media enables politicians to communicate and build a two-way conversation with their constituents and the public - and that communication is vital. I’m looking forward to embracing the next wave of apps and online media and would like to thank BCS for this award.”

“The standard for this year’s social media award was exceptionally high and there was a marked improvement by MPs using social media to engage with their constituents in a two-way conversation,” says David Clarke, MBE, Chief Executive Officer, BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT. “We are delighted that David Miliband has won this award, his use of social media is well integrated across his website and our judges felt David’s diverse use of social media made him a clear winner.”

The Awards were presented by Jim Norton, President of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, along with Kate Russell, presenter and journalist. All MPs’ sites are automatically entered and judges look for MPs who are using their websites and web technology to communicate with their constituents effectively. The Awards were judged by an independent panel of guest judges including: Mark Say, Editor of Guardian Government Computing; Oussama Kardi, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament for Hillingdon; and Ian Dunt, Editor of politics.co.uk.

Other categories included:

Usability Award:

• Winner: Andrew Mitchell MP
• Finalists: George Freeman MP and Emily Thornberry MP

Engagement Award:

• Winner: Jim Murphy MP
• Finalists: Robert Halfon MP, Luciana Berger MP and George Freeman MP

Accessibility Award, presented in conjunction with AbilityNet:

• Winner: Chris Grayling MP
• Finalists: Jim Fitzpatrick MP, Tony Cunningham MP and John Bercow MP

Overall Award:

• Winner: George Freeman MP
• Finalists: Dan Byles MP and Luciana Berger MP

George Freeman MP was a strong overall winner with Dan Byles MP and Luciana Berger MP also highly commended for their websites having scored well for engagement, social media and usability.

Rt Hon Jim Murphy, MP for East Renfrewshire, is a back-to-back winner for the Engagement category having collected the same award last year.

David Clarke concludes: “I would like to extend my congratulations to all winners and finalists. Our MP Web Awards demonstrate the way MPs communicate online with their constituents today. I would also like to thank all the judges who took part in the Awards, their efforts ensure that we encourage MPs to improve their websites and celebrate those who are doing well.”

This is the fourth time the Institute has held the awards and the most successful year for Conservative MPs to date. This year, for the first time in the history of the awards, there were no finalists from the Liberal Democrat party.

For more information on the Institute’s MP Web Awards, please visit: www.bcs.org/mpawards

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