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To commemorate the 10th anniversary of its Internet website, the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) launched a design contest for weather icons at the beginning of this year and invited members of the public to propose weather icons for use in the HKO Internet website.
The objective of the contest is to encourage participation to promote effective communication of weather information to the public. Mr Lam Chiu-ying, Director of the Hong Kong Observatory, announced the results of the contest and presented awards to the contest winners at the HKO Headquarters today (April 28).
The contest consisted of three categories of weather icons (each comprising three icons). HKO received over 400 entries, and 24 were selected as winning designs. The list of winners and their designs are posted on the following web page: http://www.weather.gov.hk/weather-icon-contest/resulte.htm
Mr Lam said, "The HKO website was established in 1996 and the HKO was among the first few government departments that made use of the Internet to deliver service to the public. In the past 10 years, the average number of monthly visits to the HKO website has increased more than 1,000-fold. The latest figure is some 50 million page hits a month. The HKO website is well received by the public, reflecting the intimate relationship of weather and our daily lives. The use of internet technology greatly enhances the effectiveness of weather information dissemination. The website has proved to be the most cost-effective means of disseminating large quantities of ever-evolving weather information to a large number of individual users."
After the assessment, the judging panel commented that graphics was a universal language. Weather icons by using simple and elegant graphics to communicate abstract weather information are the culmination of art, science and human innovation. It is worthwhile to continue the development of the set of weather icons.
Contest winner, Ms Cho Wing-yan said, "This activity not only provides room for creativity for the citizens, more importantly, it can enhance participation of the public. However, the public generally lacks a comprehensive understanding of the various weather icons. If these icons could be used more extensively in other media besides on webpages, the impact would be even greater."
Another winner, Ms Cheung Ho-yan added, "First of all I thank the HKO for presenting me the award of merit. To me, it is not only a contest of artistic expression, but also one of wisdom. Participants have to use graphics to represent abstract weather information, without the use of words. It is a mind-boggling task. I decided to use Victoria Harbour as the background with weather phenomena such as fog and haze superimposed. In this way, people could remember this famous icon of Hong Kong."
Another winner, Mr Lai Kwan-yin said, "I recalled that foggy weather would greatly affect motor vehicle drivers. So I decided to use street lamps as the theme of my design. I am rather excited to receive the award!"
Mr Lam also said, "The weather icon design contest allows direct participation of the public in the presentation, formulation and stipulation of weather information. It is a rare opportunity for the HKO to interact with the public and incorporate the wisdom of the community, to improve on our weather information services."
Ends/Friday, April 28, 2006
Issued at HKT 15:19
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