Organisers of the UAE Web Awards last week honoured the winners of the 2008 competition during a glamorous red carpet ceremony at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai.

Companies maintaining the best websites in the region were recognised in 35 categories including finance, government, health services, media, and international organisations.

The Award of Excellence went to Paravision, with the http://www.alqudrare.ae site designed by the company also winning the International Standards Web Technology Award.

Http:// www.iacad.gov.ae won as the prestigious Best Arab Website in UAE, while Zed Communications won the special Microsoft Award for the best website built on Microsoft Technology for http:// www.cbq.com.qa.

Other awardees were Star Portal as the Web Company of the Year; 2 PURE for http://yacht-liner.com which was presented the Diamond Award for the Best Website in UAE; KSA-based, UAE-made website www.salmanaward.com which won as  Best Strategic Governmental Website; and http://www.dcdconference.com which dominated the prestigious Governmental Organizations category.

“The UAE Web Awards competition is presented by the Pan Arab Web Awards Academy, an organization dedicated to the creative, technical, and professional progress of the internet and interactive media. While this competition currently covers 10 Arab countries, we are pleased to announce that it will soon expand to North Africa,” said founder and president of the Pan Arab Web Awards Academy in the Arab Region Pierre Moukarzel.

The Pan Arab Web Awards is regarded as one of the leading award programmes in the field, providing a unique platform for creative web designers to showcase their work and attain well-deserved market recognition.

The awards, which advocates that the innovative spirit of designers meet professional and international standards, regularly invites a panel of prominent experts in the field of web design to determine the winners. – TradeArabia News Service