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A total of 199 accessible websites and 45 mobile apps were recognised at the awards presentation ceremony under the Web Accessibility Recognition Scheme today (April 13) for achieving the prescribed accessibility requirements.
Officiating at the awards presentation ceremony, the Permanent Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development (Communications and Technology), Miss Susie Ho, applauded the awarded organisations for making their web contents accessible to all.
"The third round of the Web Accessibility Recognition Scheme has concluded with promising results. The number of enterprises and organisations joining the scheme has increased consistently over the past three years, demonstrating wider awareness and adoption of web accessibility in the community. I am more than grateful to learn that 199 websites and 45 mobile apps were commended this year, recording an almost 50 per cent increase in the number of awardees over the last round," Miss Ho said.
The recognition scheme is an annual event co-organised by the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) and the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) to laud enterprises for making their websites or mobile apps accessible, with a view to reinforcing their good practices and encouraging emulation by others. OGCIO provided free assessment and advisory services to participating organisations to help them understand and meet the accessibility requirements.
Two new awards, namely the Triple Gold Award and Designer Award are introduced this year to recognise organisations' continuous accomplishments in adopting web accessibility, and the ingenious efforts of their IT partners in this regard.
This year, 155 websites and 41 mobile apps received Gold Awards, while 44 websites and four mobile apps were given Silver Awards. An on-line quiz on web accessibility was introduced to foster public knowledge and awareness as part of the on-line voting exercise for the selection of the favourite accessible websites and mobile apps. Over 7 000 persons took part in the on-line voting and quiz.
Other officiating guests at the ceremony today included the Acting Government Chief Information Officer, Mr Victor Lam; the Chairperson of the EOC, Dr York Chow; and members of the recognition scheme's advisory committee.
For details about the Web Accessibility Recognition Scheme and the list of awarded organisations, please visit the website: www.webforall.gov.hk/en/scheme.
Ends/Monday, April 13, 2015
Issued at HKT 15:17
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