Age Concern wins first SCIP Award

Age Concern Brighton & Hove is the first winner of the SCIP Award: Technology for Good. Over 150 older people in sheltered housing have been playing games with Nintendo Wii, as part of a healthy living campaign introduced by Age Concern earlier this year. A new ten pin league bowling has sprung up and the reaction has been so good that they're now planning a snowboarding competition.

The SCIP Award was part of the Digital Media Awards South, a new showcase that highlights business and community use of computers and the web across the south east. The Awards were announced at a spectacular Ceremony staged in a church in Hove in late November, and attended by over 350 people.

Its chairperson Dan Jellinek said: "We work with a great many local community organisations who are doing innovative and imaginative work with technology, but we were really impressed that Age Concern had crossed the generations by using a games machine for fun, healthy living for the less mobile, and digital inclusion.

"Some of the most regular Wii players are in their 90s and it has helped create a new social network, so vital for older people who can easily become isolated. they are now thinking about buying one of the new Nintendo boards that mean you can have a go at snowboarding, or take up yoga - puts the youngsters to shame."

The picture above shows Age Concern Director Jim Baker [right] and Luis Algorta [centre], the Community Development Worker who delivers the Wii sessions, receiving the award from Mark Anderson, a member of SCIP's Board of Directors.

More pics of the event and other category winners can be found on Flickr