Imperial's news site wins design award

Just six months after launching, Imperial College London's news website has won an eduStyle award.

The eduStyle Higher-ed Web Awards celebrate the best work in college and university websites.

Imperial was the only institution outside North America to be nominated for any of the 19 award categories and the site was chosen by judges as Best News Site. 

Launched in March 2013, the newly designed site was modelled closely on established news websites such as the BBC but it remains unique in the UK university sector.

One feature of the site is that it is responsive. This means that the pages are easy to read on a variety of platforms including smartphones and tablets.

Karsten Seipp, Senior Digital Designer, said: “This is great news and a nice recognition of the team who has worked very hard to make this happen through the many stages of the project. The award is even more noteworthy because this is Imperial’s first responsive website. Looks like we haven’t done too badly!”

The site also has an adaptable layout, with a variety of column designs and lead story layouts that gives it the flexibility to respond to daily news. It allows readers to browse a series of themed sections on science, engineering, health, business, and college and campus, and to comment on stories.

Since March, the site has received an average of more than 86,000 visitors per month.

Head of Communications, Caroline Davis, said: “Sharing news of Imperial discoveries and life on campus has always been core to our team’s work, but without this site we were missing the digital showcase to do justice to these stories.

“The eduStyle award is fantastic recognition of the hard work of many people involved in building the College’s news site and bringing it to life. Many congratulations to all of you!”