Australian Interactive Media Association
Encyclopedia
The Australian Interactive Media Industry Association or AIMIA is the peak Australian body representing the Interactive Media and Digital Content sectors in Australia.
AIMIA membership comprises individuals (more than 3,000) and organizations (more than 300). Members range from Australia's top Interactive Media companies including the ABC, Sensis, Yahoo!7, BigPond, Foxtel, Disney Australia, News Digital Media, ninemsn and Fairfax Digital to the country's best known interactive advertising, mobile content, web development, games design, and special effects companies. Members also include developers, creators, producers, investors, service providers, educational institutions and students.
AIMIA is best known for its annual awards that recognise the best work in Digital Media in Australia. Now in their 16th year, the Awards are the longest-standing new media awards in Australia, and possibly the world. Winners for the 2009 awards are listed here
The AIMIA Awards are the peak Awards for the Interactive Media and Digital Content sectors in Australia, and year after year continue to deliver a strong and innovative showcase of award winning Australian digital content creations. Over 500 industry leaders, international and national interactive media celebrities, as well as federal and state ministers attend the ceremony.
The idea for AIMIA came from a conversation between Richard and Michael Gale who at the time was the CEO of the Authorware distributorship in Australia. Michael's commercial network afforded the opportunity to invite interested parties to an initial meeting in Sydney. At this meeting Richard Heale brought a Perth lawyer, Martin Haas of Murie Edward, to draft an initial constitution and AIMIA was born.
Richard Heale was the first AIMIA President, a position he held for the first two years of the organizations life. Paul Campbell of ICE Media in Brisbane was elected Treasurer and John Caitlin of Applied Learning in Sydney it's Vice-President, other board members included Stephen Schwalger, Marius Coomans & Kevin Karp.
AIMIA's initial primary focus was not on creating awards and their associated ceremonies but on creating federal government support for the fledgling New Media industry. AIMIA did organize awards and ceremonies the first taking place in Perth in 1992. However, at the time the AIMIA board realized that New Media had a significant role to play in Australia's mixed economy. New Media had both export potential and the opportunity to make certain aspects of the economy more efficient and effective.
In 1994 the AIMIA board gained funding from the Department of Industry and Technology to appoint the organizations first permanent national CEO and subsequently state based officers. Interviews were conducted in Sydney & Melbourne, by federal government and AIMIA officials, and from a strong list of candidates Stephen Schwalger was appointed.
The appointment of Stephen Schwalger (CEO 1994-1997), who had been a member of AIMIA's first national board, gave AIMIA the everyday horsepower it needed to develop appropriate foundations for the New Media industry in Australia.
After considerable lobbying of the federal government by the AIMIA board & CEO, significant funds were allocated to AIMIA and the New Media industry as part of the 'Creative Nation' initiative from the Keating labour government. Creative Nation was launched in each Australian capital city in 1994 by the Hon Simon Crean and Richard Heale AIMIA's president.
Significant components of the Creative Nation initiative included:
The Multimedia Enterprise - A funding bank for the creation of CD titles (there was no internet at that time for content commercialization)
Australia on CD - Where Australian cultural institutions and New Media companies were encouraged to collaborate and bid for a pool of funds to create CD titles that reflected Australian history and culture.
Over the next three (1994 - 1997) years AIMIA grew from a membership of 40 companies to over 800, set up State and federal structure for the association and negotiated state federal funding for industry development staff in 4 states, developed and managed a three year export strategy in conjunction with Austrade which resulted in Australian companies entering markets in UK, USA, Europe, Canada, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Exports generated in this period exceeded $250 million dollars on Austrade figures and introduced the AIMIA national conference program and the annual industry awards for excellence.
Previous venues, VIP guests include:
The Current National Committee of AIMIA (as at January 2011):
The Current AIMIA State Presidents (as at January 2011):
AIMIA membership comprises individuals (more than 3,000) and organizations (more than 300). Members range from Australia's top Interactive Media companies including the ABC, Sensis, Yahoo!7, BigPond, Foxtel, Disney Australia, News Digital Media, ninemsn and Fairfax Digital to the country's best known interactive advertising, mobile content, web development, games design, and special effects companies. Members also include developers, creators, producers, investors, service providers, educational institutions and students.
AIMIA Awards
The AIMIA Awards are the peak Awards for the Interactive Media and Digital Content sectors in Australia, and year after year continue to deliver a strong and innovative showcase of award winning Australian digital content creations. Over 500 industry leaders, international and national interactive media celebrities, as well as federal and state ministers attend the ceremony.
History of AIMIA
AIMIA was founded by Richard Heale the CEO of the Perth based New Media company Interactive Logic and a group of other invited CEO's from companies in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.The idea for AIMIA came from a conversation between Richard and Michael Gale who at the time was the CEO of the Authorware distributorship in Australia. Michael's commercial network afforded the opportunity to invite interested parties to an initial meeting in Sydney. At this meeting Richard Heale brought a Perth lawyer, Martin Haas of Murie Edward, to draft an initial constitution and AIMIA was born.
Richard Heale was the first AIMIA President, a position he held for the first two years of the organizations life. Paul Campbell of ICE Media in Brisbane was elected Treasurer and John Caitlin of Applied Learning in Sydney it's Vice-President, other board members included Stephen Schwalger, Marius Coomans & Kevin Karp.
AIMIA's initial primary focus was not on creating awards and their associated ceremonies but on creating federal government support for the fledgling New Media industry. AIMIA did organize awards and ceremonies the first taking place in Perth in 1992. However, at the time the AIMIA board realized that New Media had a significant role to play in Australia's mixed economy. New Media had both export potential and the opportunity to make certain aspects of the economy more efficient and effective.
In 1994 the AIMIA board gained funding from the Department of Industry and Technology to appoint the organizations first permanent national CEO and subsequently state based officers. Interviews were conducted in Sydney & Melbourne, by federal government and AIMIA officials, and from a strong list of candidates Stephen Schwalger was appointed.
The appointment of Stephen Schwalger (CEO 1994-1997), who had been a member of AIMIA's first national board, gave AIMIA the everyday horsepower it needed to develop appropriate foundations for the New Media industry in Australia.
After considerable lobbying of the federal government by the AIMIA board & CEO, significant funds were allocated to AIMIA and the New Media industry as part of the 'Creative Nation' initiative from the Keating labour government. Creative Nation was launched in each Australian capital city in 1994 by the Hon Simon Crean and Richard Heale AIMIA's president.
Significant components of the Creative Nation initiative included:
The Multimedia Enterprise - A funding bank for the creation of CD titles (there was no internet at that time for content commercialization)
Australia on CD - Where Australian cultural institutions and New Media companies were encouraged to collaborate and bid for a pool of funds to create CD titles that reflected Australian history and culture.
Over the next three (1994 - 1997) years AIMIA grew from a membership of 40 companies to over 800, set up State and federal structure for the association and negotiated state federal funding for industry development staff in 4 states, developed and managed a three year export strategy in conjunction with Austrade which resulted in Australian companies entering markets in UK, USA, Europe, Canada, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Exports generated in this period exceeded $250 million dollars on Austrade figures and introduced the AIMIA national conference program and the annual industry awards for excellence.
History of AIMIA Awards
- 12th Annual awards, Adelaide, Adelaide Convention Centre
Special Guests included: Honorable Paul Holloway MLC, South Australian Minister for Industry and Trade
The Honorable Stephanie Key, South Australian Minister for Employment, Training and Further Education
Mr Kym Richardson MP, Federal Member for Kingston (SA) - 11th Annual awards, Sydney, Metro Theatre
Special Guests Included: Helen CoonanHelen CoonanHelen Lloyd Coonan is a former Australian politician, who was a Liberal member of the Australian Senate representing New South Wales from July 1996 to August 2011.-Early life:...
, Minister for Communications, IT and the Arts
Adam SpencerAdam SpencerAdam Barrington Spencer is an Australian radio presenter, comedian, and media personality. He first came to fame when he won his round of the comedic talent search Raw Comedy in the mid-1990s...
, AIMIA Awards Ceremony MC, Triple J radio host - 10th Annual awards, Sydney, ABC Ultimo
Special Guests Included: Daryl WilliamsDaryl WilliamsDaryl Robert Williams AM QC , Australianpolitician, was a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives from March 1993 to October 2004, representing the Division of Tangney, Western Australia.-Biography:...
, Federal Minister for Communication, IT & the Arts
Adam SpencerAdam SpencerAdam Barrington Spencer is an Australian radio presenter, comedian, and media personality. He first came to fame when he won his round of the comedic talent search Raw Comedy in the mid-1990s...
, AIMIA Awards Ceremony MC, Triple J radio host
Professor Peter A. Bruck, Head of the United Nations World Summit AwardWorld Summit AwardThe World Summit Award is a global initiative for selecting and promoting the world's best electronic media and applications. It sees the bridging of the digital divide and narrowing of the "Content Gap" as its overall goal and, as of 2006, involves representatives from 168 countries on each...
s - 9th Annual awards, Melbourne
- 8th Annual awards, Melbourne
- 7th Annual awards, Melbourne, Convention Centre
- 6th Annual awards, Gold Coast, Royal Pines Resort
- 5th Annual awards, Melbourne, Crown Entertainment Complex
VIP Guests Included: Victor PertonVictor PertonVictor Perton is a former Australian parliamentarian. He is the Commissioner to the Americas based in San Francisco representing the Australian State of Victoria....
, Minister for Conservation and Environment and Multimedia - 4th Annual awards, Melbourne, Crown Entertainment Complex
VIP Guests Included: Richard AlstonRichard Alston (politician)Richard Kenneth Robert Alston was a Liberal member of the Australian Senate from 1986 to 2004, representing the state of Victoria....
, Federal Minister for Communications, IT and the Arts - 3rd Annual awards, Melbourne
- 2nd Annual awards, Melbourne
Special Guests Included: Richard GarriottRichard GarriottRichard Allen Garriott is a British-American video game developer and entrepreneur.He is also known as his alter egos Lord British in Ultima and General British in Tabula Rasa...
, Computer Games Legend - 1st Annual awards - Sydney
Amber Awards
In 2009, the AMBER Awards, a new sister award to the Annual AIMIA Awards for Interactive Media (the "AMY"s) was introduced to recognise excellence in Online Services. A sister to the "Amys" this eCommerce Award is known as the "Amber" Awards.About AIMIA
AIMIA was founded in 1992 as a not-for-profit membership organisation. AIMIA has chapters in all the major states of Australia including New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and a national head office in Sydney. The organisation's Chief Executive is John Butterworth.The Current National Committee of AIMIA (as at January 2011):
- Simon Goodrich (President), Managing Director, Portable Content
- Peter Bray (Vice-President, Director of Digital, The Brand Shop
- Ken Reid (Treasurer), Partner, KPMG
- Mark Bamford (Secretary), Partner, TressCox
- Lauren McLaughlin, Director of Content & Interactive Partnerships, FetchTV
- Karson Stimson, Director, We Are Digital
- Guy Gadney, Director, The Project Factory
- Dale Cohen General Manager of Telstra Bigpond
- Annette Dockerty Market Development Manager | Smart Services Cooperative Research Centre (CRC)
The Current AIMIA State Presidents (as at January 2011):
- Annette Dockerty (NSW President), of Smart Services Cooperative Research Centre (CRC)
- Michael BurkeMichael BurkeMichael Burke or Mike Burke may refer to:*Michael E. Burke , American politician from Wisconsin*Michael Burke , former MLS player for DC United*Michael Burke , inter-county Gaelic football player for Meath...
(QLD President), an Liquid Interactive - Grant Hull (SA President), CEO Enabled Solutions
- Debra Allanson (VIC President), Managing Director, Ish Media and Studio Ish
External links
Other International Interactive Media Organisations
- International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (US)International Academy of Digital Arts and SciencesThe International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences or IADAS was founded in 1998 in New York to help drive the progress of the Internet and evolving forms of new media. The academy selects the nominees and winners for the Webby Awards, and their European equivalent, the Lovie Awards.Membership...
- British Interactive Media Association