The Foreign Ministry’s web portal Norway - the official site received the Norwegian Design Council Award for Design Excellence 2004 on 25 November

“The Foreign Ministry is pleased and proud to be granted the Award for Design Excellence 2004 together with the APT. This award is the most important recognition an organisation in Norway can be given for the development and use of design,” said State Secretary Sylvi Graham.

In explaining its choice, the Norwegian Design Council said: “The Foreign Ministry’s web portal is young, lively and appealing, and avoids the clichés that government organisations often resort to. Norway- the official site offers an impressive amount of information and is easy to navigate. The visual profile is consistent, and works in all the various country and language versions.”

Norway - the official site is the home page of Norway’s embassies and is thus Norway’s official interface with the world on Internet. The target group is therefore a very broad one, and includes everyone who wants to know more about Norway, whether about politics, the economy, culture, education, tourism, visas or the Royal Family. As of today 75 countries have got their own Norway- the official site, and each month 150 000 people use it as a source of information. Norway- the official site exists in 18 languages, and each country has its own specially adapted version. By the end of 2004 all the Norwegian foreign service missions will have their own pages, which they can use actively in their information and promotion activities.

With its clean-cut, modern design in the Scandinavian tradition, the APT won the design competition arranged by the Foreign Ministry in the spring of 2003 for creating the right visual image for Norway- the official site.

See Norway - the official site at http://www.norway.info/