The 2011 Bookmarks Awards were presented at a lavish ceremony in Cape Town's Greenpoint, with Quirk Marketing  Agency scooping up seven awards, including Best Digital Agency and Best in Show - as the heavyweights in Digital Marketing slogged it out for top honours.

With more than 500 attendees dressed to the nines, Quirk proved it is the leader in results-driven digital creativity with a Gold, Silver and Bronze awards as well as four Best category awards.

Awards won were:

Group Awards

* Best Digital Marketing Agency

* Best in Show: Capitec Bank  Infographic

* Gold Award: Capitec Bank Infographic

* Silver Award: Quirk Education Videos

* Bronze Award: Savanna Lemon Lovin'

Individual Awards

Best Media Planner - Andre Britz (Quirk)
Best Copywriter/Content Planner - Sarah Manners (Quirk)

This was a momentous achievement on the back of winning seven International Davey Awards last month for creativity. While the Bookmarks Awards recognise the very best in Digital - the pioneers, the change-agents, the ones that make a difference and raise the industry standard in South Africa.

Quirk Chief Executive Officer, Rob Stokes, says it is important for agencies that deliver great results over and above client expectations to be recognised for their efforts across the industry.

"The Quirk team has worked incredibly hard this year and these wins pay respect to the truly world-class team we have," Stokes said.

"Doubling the size of an agency in 10 months is a stressful endeavour for an agency and I could not be more proud of our amazing team right now. It is truly an honour to achieve this recognition by our industry."

Digital Media and Marketing Association chairperson, Nikki Cockcroft said: "The success of the evening's event and the calibre of the 2011 entries and winners was a clear indication that the digital industry was growing from strength to strength."

Digital Agency finalists were shortlisted in four categories- Product Awards, Craft Wards, Achievement and Special Honours and Individual and Team Awards. 

Some 453 entries were submitted for the awards with two international judges leading the 20-person 2011 judging panel - Teresa Clarkefrom Africa.com and Sid Lee in Amsterdam Technical Director, Antti Kupila.

The expertise of Clarke and Kupila allowed the panel to benchmark the Bookmarks entries against global excellence and proves that South African agencies can keep up with the best internationally.