The Webstock team is about to strike again. Four years after launching New Zealand's premier technology conference, the countdown to Webstock 10 is on. Webstock 10 will again bring some of the world's leading technologists and entrepreneurs to Wellington.

This year the hotly anticipated conference will close with a celebration of the best New Zealand websites - the inaugural running of the ONYAs awards ceremony, to honour the hard working men and women of the web in New Zealand. The awards are organised into 11 categories, including Best Visual Design, Best Mobile Website or Application, and Most Outstanding Website.

The judging panel makes the ONYAs standout. Judging is not by public vote, but by a panel consisting of Webstock alumni and other industry experts. The panel includes Alex Wright, Amy Hoy, Brian Fling, Russ Weakly, Donna Spencer, and Thomas Fuchs.

Webstock's focus on overseas speakers is deliberate. Mike Brown, Webstock Senior Vice President, explains. “It's expensive for kiwis to get overseas to see these guys at conferences, so we figured, why not bring them here!”

To offset the global focus of the conference lineup, the ONYAs has an exclusive focus on kiwi ingenuity and talent. The ONYAs are only open to kiwi websites, and the Webstock team hopes that the sites and the talent behind them will get the increased national and international exposure they deserve.

Brown advises that tickets to the awards dinner are selling fast, “be in quick, it's going to be a great night, and we've got something special planned”.

The ONYAs will be hosted by Russell Brown, the A-list blogger behind Public Address and unshaven host of TVNZ's Media 7.

What is Webstock?

Webstock is a two-day conference about all things web, preceded by three days of workshops. Taking place from February 15th through to February 19th 2010 at the Wellington Town Hall, Webstock is for anyone who works with the web.

The 2010 event will appeal to designers, developers, analysts, content-editors, information/solution architects, and managers or business owners who rely on their websites. There will be something motivating, exciting and immensely valuable for everyone.