The awards were given out during the SOPA Awards’ gala dinner held in Hong Kong on Thursday.
“FRICTIONLESS USABILITY”
The CNA interactives team approached the development of the Budget calculator from the reader’s point of view: Amid all the announcements made, what does it mean for the man on the street?
With that in mind, the team created the framework and logic behind the calculator ahead of the actual Budget speech. The real challenge came on the day itself, when the team had to turn the announcements unveiled that very day into actionable insights for readers. Making sure the logic was sound, that most of the “goodies” revealed would go to the right demographic of people and testing the webpage to make sure it didn’t break across multiple devices – and all within hours of when Prime Minister Lawrence Wong delivered the Budget.
SOPA’s judges recognised this when it said the calculator “gets top marks for frictionless usability”.
“It’s impressive that it was refined and made available on the day of the (announcement). Its intuitive input/output is a pleasure to use and it looks great,” the judges commented.
This proves that a small team can punch above its weight when delivering news in innovative ways, said CNA editor Lee Long Hui.
“Innovation and creativity aren’t defined by team size and we showed that we can deliver high-quality work under a tight deadline,” he said.
DEDICATION TO THE CRAFT
Zamzahuri’s dedication to telling a story that few people knew about was shown in his deep dive into the world of Malaysia’s charcoal workers, and acknowledged by SOPA’s judges.