By Matthew Legg

Last updated 11:38, Monday, 12 May 2008

CARLISLE web design firm Hydrant has been nominated for one of the north’s most prestigious awards.

Leo White: ‘The Cumbria Network website was a challenging yet very rewarding project for us. It married complex, high spec technical development with user friendly design‘

Hydrant will battle the cream of the north west’s digital outfits in the Big Chip awards.

Last year the company scooped the Best in Cumbria prize for its work on a website for Cumbrian butcher Richard Woodall.

This year, Hydrant has been nominated in the Best Not for Profit Website category for a site it built for the Cumbria Network.

The site offers a web portal that provides two way communication and participation for Cumbria’s creative community.

The site saw a 200 per cent increase in traffic to the network’s online home in the first six months.

Leo White, who heads the creative team at Hydrant said: “The Cumbria Network website was a challenging yet very rewarding project for us.

“It married complex, high spec technical development with user friendly design to allow people of all technical abilities to interact and access information. Problem solving projects like this are where we excel, but using web technology to bring creative people together makes it all the more enjoyable.”

The Big Chip Awards will be held at New Century Hall in Manchester on May 22.