Sikh Youth Australia’s website is making waves all over the world after garnering a top design award and is now scoring hits from unexpected quarters.

The website recently won a Silver Award at the 40th Creativity International Awards in the Public Service or Non-Profit Sector. The award can be viewed here.

Established in 1970, the Creativity Annual Awards are based in Louisville, Kentucky, in the United States of America. The competition is one of the longest running independent international advertising and graphic design competitions in the world. It is a print, web, advertising and media design competition. Each year the judges choose the best designs from all over the world to be reproduced in the 400-page Creativity Awards Annual book published and distributed by HarperCollins. This year the Media division garnered hundreds of entries received from all over the world. Entrants into the competition represented 16 countries, 4 Canadian Provinces and 23 US states. Award levels were as follows: Platinum, Gold, Silver and Honourable Mention.

The SYA website competed against designs from the US and the rest of the world submitted by organisations like Seaworld in the US, MTV in New York, and Rutgers. All these organisations had enormous resources and deep pockets behind them, making the SYA effort and triumph all the more outstanding.

Saranpaal Calais, SYA Website Project Co-ordinator, said that the award was earned through a lot of hard work on the part of many people and was appreciative of the work put in by Jacob Cass and the website design team.

“This project was a large undertaking and involved the organisation of a lot of functionality and content, whilst keeping the website design clean, fresh and modern,’’ said Saranpaal.

“Right from the get go, Jacob impressed us with his commitment to the project and insightful research and analysis of our requirements. His design process demonstrated a high level of professionalism, flair and sophistication. At the same time he was also able to communicate effectively and work very closely with the project team, responding constructively in interpreting and working with our feedback.

“The end product was a website that exceeded our expectations in regards to creating a fantastic brand image / feel, whilst also maximising functionality.’’

Saranpaal also said that visitation on the SYA website since redevelopment had increased by over 500 per cent.

“We can safely say we are the most popular Sikh website in Australia, most probably in the Southern Hemisphere,” he said.

So, all those of you in SYA who helped get the website off the ground, take a bow. You deserve it.

Now let’s push on with great articles, blogs and stories on Sikhs in Australia and worldwide to make the website one of the leading, if not the best, Sikh website in the world.

We can do it!