Macromedia announced the winners of its MAX awards, honoring the top online sites in a variety of categories, including advertising, branding, e-learning and entertainment.

Selected by a team of Macromedia judges, the winners came out on top in terms of their design and development, as well as the return on investment that the entrant's organization realized as a result.

"It's my pleasure to recognize these great achievements,” said Rob Burgess, chairman and CEO of Macromedia. “Their work is an inspiration to all of us at Macromedia."

The winners, by category, are:

• Advertising: Yahoo! Messenger IMVironments, which used Macromedia Flash technologies to provide instant messaging users with a richer experience through music, movie-themed environments and photo sharing.

• Branding: AKQA-developed Nikespeed.com, which used Flash to deliver “a rich, immersive site deployed in 27 countries and 10 languages.”

• Business: Ofoto NexPress Platform, which uses Macromedia Flex to enable its customers to easily create and publish personal products including books and calendars.

• Customer-facing: T-Mobile’s News Express, an offline news and infotainment service that uses Flash MX Professional 2004 and Flash Lite to deliver a unique experience to mobile phone users in Europe.

• E-Learning: MultiWeb’s TeachIVUS, a medical image measurement simulator for cardiovascular professionals. It uses Flash and Captivate to measure ultrasound images against expert online measurements.

• Education: The University of Pennsylvania Wharton School’s SPIKE X, a student intranet that uses ColdFusion, Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Contribute to integrate academic and social resources for the benefit of Wharton students.

• Government: The NAVAIR Career Development Office, which uses Macromedia Breeze, Flash MX 2004, and ColdFusion MX to provide one centralized location for all computer-based training for the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) community.

• Media, Entertainment, and Gaming: The J.K. Rowling website, developed by Lightmaker Group, Ltd., uses Flash MX 2004, Dreamweaver MX 2004, and ColdFusion MX to provide a fun and interactive reflection into the writing life of the author of the Harry Potter novels.