Team Widget wins website challenge, will represent Seychelles regionally

The team will now represent Seychelles in the finals at the end of the year.(Seychelles News Agency) 

(Seychelles News Agency) - Team Widget is the winner of the 2017 Webcup preliminary challenge that saw the team develop a park website. The team will now represent Seychelles in the finals at the end of the year.

The four team members -- Ricky Henry, Alice Fanny, Anisha Mangroo, and Joel Dupres -- received their prizes on Thursday in a special ceremony held at the Autoland Showroom, located in the Providence industrial estate.

Henry told SNA that he was participating for the second time and that last year his team came second.

“This year, we put a lot into our performance and we are without doubt satisfied with the result as we have developed a lot of content ahead of our competitors within the given time frame, ” said Henry.

For the 4^th edition of the Webcup challenge, the three participating teams had to design a futuristic park website within 24 hours in a ‘Webcup Space Station.’ They were also required to set up a Facebook page for their followers.

A group photo of all the participants of Webcup 2017 together with the sponsors and organizers of the competition. (Seychelles News Agency) Photo License: CC-BY

“We had to develop something like a Disney park where people can purchase their items in a different era,” said Henry, adding that he used his experience from previous competitions to come out this time with a first-prize-winning product.

Another member of the team, Alice Fanny, said that she is so happy to be part of the winning team, but that the competition was not easy.

“It required a lot of focus and team work since it was for 24 hours. At the end we managed to bring our ideas together to pull through,” she said.

The participating teams were judged on several criteria which included the visual elements, technical aspect, and the way the teams interpreted the challenge.

Seven islands in the Indian Ocean -- Mauritius, Reunion, Madagascar, the Comoros, Mayotte, Rodrigues and Seychelles--  worked simultaneously on the same challenge. Winners from each island will meet in the Webcup finals later this year.

In his address at the ceremony, the chair of the Seychelles Internet Exchange Point Association, (SEY-IX), Gilbert Lebon, said with the absence of an Information Communication and Technology (ICT)  association in the island nation, he was invited by the Webcup association in Reunion four year ago, with the aim to extend the competition among the Seychellois, the following year.

Team Widget is the winner of the 2017 Webcup preliminary challenge that saw the team develop a park website. (Seychelles News Agency) Photo License: CC-BY

“A competition which I am proud to say has received many accomplishments for giving the youth a platform to showcase their ICT skills,” Lebon said.

The Webcup was conceived with the main purpose of promoting ICT among the young. Not only was it designed for ICT enthusiast, said Lebon but also for people aspiring to become graphics designers and marketing professionals.

A member of the runner up team called ‘The Box,’ Archille Marimba, said the challenge was tiring and challenging and they encountered some technical issues.

“Some functions on our site were not responding, it took us to two hours to work it out. However, the more the pressure, the more we were able to work,” said Marimba. 

Marimba -- a web administrator and graphic designer at the Seychelles Pension Fund -- hopes that more young people participate in next year’s competition.

The third team grabbed the Virality Prize for having the most likes, 205 in total, on their Facebook page.