1999 Vic Award
The first Victorian Pearcey Award was presented to Mr Michael Kolling of Monash University for his innovative development of "BlueJ" a Java applications teaching product.
The Pearcey Awards commemorate the work of Trevor Pearcey the Australian builder of the world's fourth, and Australia's first, electronic computer.
Michael Kolling
Michael came to Australia from Germany in 1993, firstly to the University of Sydney, and then, in 1997 to Monash University. His work concentrates upon the development of more effective methods for teaching object-oriented programming, and, in particular, Java applications.
"BlueJ" is claimed to be the most advanced software package worldwide in facilitating object-oriented training. It provides a fully integrated interactive environment for Java applications.
"BlueJ" has received attention from hundreds of universities and commercial companies around the world, and its development has been supported by Sun Microsystems and Softway.
It is now in large scale application, and is anticipated to be available commercially next year.
Multimedia Victoria is the Principal Sponsor of the Victorian Pearcey Award, and was a Foundation Sponsor for the formation of the Pearcey Foundataion.
The Australian Computer Society provided the venue for the presentation, and also provided the winner with Conference attendance.
Speaking at the Award presentation, Pearcey Foundation Convenor, Ian Dennis, said, It is fitting that the first Victorian Pearcey Award should be awarded to someone who has not only satisfied the selection criteria, but also has started the process of creating a commercial outcome from this work. Our winner was nominated and selected by the members of the Award Committee after deep consideration as a person who, like Trevor Pearcey, has by hard work, intelligence, and dedication, made a major early contribution to Australia's and the world's IT industry and research and gives us a further example of what Australian's can and have achieved in information technology.
