We did it again: this time for Tepilo. The company that we started last year with TV's Sarah Beeny has been ranked as a top start-up business by Smarta.

A judging panel that included Dragons Den's Deborah Meaden and the Founder of Bebo, Michael Birch, has ranked our property selling website as one of its top 100 in their inaugural awards.

According to the blurb:

"The Smarta 100 is the ultimate business accolade, recognizing the UK’s smartest small businesses. Smarta.com has uncovered remarkable companies who have gone the extra mile to differentiate themselves from the market or found clever ways to compete, from their marketing plan to their ethical stance. The result is a fascinating insight into the unique business ideas that are thriving in the current economic climate. The finalists proved to the judges that they have what it takes to run a successful venture, from spotting a new opportunity to making it a reality."

Tepilo really has gone from strength to strength since we launched it in the summer of 2009 and we've got some great initiatives that will be revealed this year. Not just a pretty face...

Great news at codegent towers this week as we learned that we had won not one, but two Silver W3 Awards for our work on 40|30 at the Gherkin!

This was in addition to the FITC award and Webby nomination that we also received for this project. Champagne corks all round :)

No sooner had the Alka-Seltzer kicked in then we heard that Tepilo had been shortlisted for The Good Web Guide Website of the Year award. Fingers crossed for that one and thanks to everyone who voted for us.

Well... actually a Vice Chair. At the BIMA (British Interactive Media Association) AGM last week, David was successfully elected to Vice Chair and will serve with Justin Cooke as Chair. Justin is Managing Director of agency, Fortune Cookie. The executive committee saw 9 new members joining the team.

David said: "We were amazed at the calibre of people standing for election for this year's executive committee. The experience and the will is there to enable us to make some significant changes and re-engage with everyone involved in the industry. This year we want to really push the idea of the UK being a world-class centre for digital innovation and build on the superb work that has been done by BIMA already in fostering future talent among schools. We're also going to really look at how we can bring more benefits to members in the areas of publicity, networking and education."

David joined the BIMA executive committee a year ago. It's great that one of our own has received this accolade from his peers and whilst it means that he'll have to spend less time doing Codegent stuff, we all think that improving the industry in which we all work is a worthy cause and well worth the effort.

BIMA

Is that a Jeroboam of champagne in your pocket or are you just pleased to see us?!!

Last night codegent scooped the FITC Award for Motion Graphics for our work with 40|30 at The Gherkin.

We beat off some really strong competition to win this award as we were short-listed with Coca-Cola and Warner Brothers so a huge congratulations to the codegent team for an amazing job – it makes me really proud!

Next up: the Webbys! You can help us put our trophy cabinet under further strain as there is also People’s Choice Award - you can cast your vote at http://pv.webbyawards.com. Our nomination section is Website » Ballot » Marketplace » Restaurant or click this link to go direct (you have to login first).

I'm off to iron my tux...

Wow! We are one of only a few UK based agencies to be included in this year's prestigious Webby Awards for our work on 40|30 at The Gherkin.

Hailed as the "Internet's highest honor" by the New York Times, The Webby Awards is the leading international award honouring excellence on the Internet.

"Nominees like Codegent are setting the standard for innovation and creativity on the Internet," said David-Michel Davies, executive director of the Webby Awards. "It is an incredible achievement to be selected among the best from the nearly 10,000 entries we received this year."

In a similar vein to our FITC Award nomination, we also eligible to win a Webby People's Voice Award, which is voted online by the global community. From now until 30 April, you can cast your vote at http://pv.webbyawards.com.

Our nomination section is Website » Ballot » Marketplace » Restaurant or click this link to go direct (you have to login first)

I can't believe it's the second time I am asking this in a month but if you could take a few minutes out to vote for us then I think you improve your chances of a place in Heaven ever so slightly :)

It's an amazing time for us right now and I cannot think of a better way to celebrate our 5th birthday on 1 May! We are so proud of the team that worked on this project.

We fly out to Toronto on Monday for the FITC awards...

The following email snippet was joyous music to our ears...

Congratulations!

You are one of the finalists for the FITC 2009 Awards!

Your project: 40|30, The Gherkin, 30 St Mary Axe
Has been nominated in the Category: Flash Motion Graphics

Our Awards show is on April 27th in Toronto and it will be during the show that the winners will be announced. So good luck!

To say we are a bit pleased would be an understatement. It's a great honour to be shortlisted at the awards for such a major flash event but we are up against some pretty stiff competition in Coca-Cola and Warner Bros. Fingers firmly crossed!

But you can help!

In addition to the formally judged categories there is a people's choice award - you could do us a massive favour and vote for us here. We will love you forever and ever if you do!

We have just launched our latest CBS Outdoor campaign promoting Bus advertising. You have probably seen promotional adverts for it driving around!

The 2009 Creative Challenge runs until July and features a different creative agency every two weeks. Each agency showcases their best work on some actual buses, in Campaign Magazine and our site. Users can review and vote on the designs and influence which pieces will feature in the "Grand Prix" final, where the winner will then be selected.

This campaign is the latest in a series promoting the benefits of bus advertising that we have worked on for CBS Outdoor and so far the results have been really encouraging with some great ROI for the client.

We are also busily working on a large international project for CBS Outdoor's main website so look out for that when we launch in the Spring.

Up Everyone's Street »

Our work on Ben10 - My Favourite Alien was showcased as part of Cartoon Network's showreel entry into the shortlist of this year's BAFTA Kids' vote. The showreel highlighted the best creative work from across Cartoon Network this year so it was an honour for our project to be included.

The BAFTA Kids' Vote embraced all media platforms and celebrated the rich diversity of children's media. For the first time, children got to have their say in a nationwide poll to choose their favourite film, television programme, website and video game.

A big shout should also go to the glorious Aidan from Sheffield whose "flaming" antics in his back garden were the standout highlight of the campaign :)

Codegent's designs for the British Library's Sacred Exhibition (their main exhibition for 2007) has won an award for Outstanding Achievement in Website Development. This honour was bestowed on us by the Web Marketing Association, which was very nice of them.

To find out more, you can read our Case Study or visit the Web Marketing Association's site.

We had to keep our mouths shut until after the event, but our very own David Hart was among the illustrious panel of judges for this year's British Academy of Film and Television Awards. David sat on the "Interactive Innovation - Service/Platform" category.

Whilst the calibre of the entries was really high, we're delighted that the BBC iPlayer picked up the award on the night.

Congratulations to Tony Ageh, Anthony Rose and Ian Hunter (pictured above).

BAFTA Televison Craft Winners 2008