(Anthony Wilson hosting the Big Chip Awards and below Cp Lee shows off our award) Well... what can we say? We didn't think we were going to win the Big Chip best not-for-profit website award... but win it we did! Not only did we win the category we also came runner up in the 'Grand Prix' - the overall best website award!

At a very posh do in New Century Hall we were presented the award by Dave Carter from the Manchester Digital Development Agency. Abigail Ward said a few words of thanks, mainly to those members of the public that have helped make this site the blossoming community it has become. Anthony Wilson hosted the evening and Graeme Park provided the musical interlude. Below is an extract from the Big Chip website: "What really impressed the judges was the organisation's intention of using the site to "give everyone the opportunity to take ownership of the project". One of the judges described it as being "perfectly Web 2.0" in its thinking, and overall the judges loved the way it let the objects speak for themselves, as well as the way the site conveyed the enthusiasm of its creators for the subject. They felt it did everything it needed to do and no more, and as a result left plenty of room for a community to spring up around it.” “The Manchester District Music Archive... was felt by one judge to show a possible future direction for the region's new media industry in the way that embraces community involvement and allows its users to shape the overall experience." Of course we are thrilled. The site has been a lot of hard work and we have put in a great deal of our free time so it's good to be recognised in such a way but just watching the site grow has been a delight in itself. Thank you to all of you that have uploaded and commented - this award is for you all (oh no... we're coming over all Hollywood!).

Please keep telling your friends and family about the site -the bigger it gets the better it gets. Over 100 photographs of music and sporting stars were unveiled at John Lennon Airport last Friday. Yoko Ono officially opened the new exhibition which will permanently display the work of Manchester-born photographer Harry Goodwin on the airport’s walls. Goodwin worked from 1964 to 1973 as the official resident photographer at Top of the Pops, capturing many famous 60s and 70s musicians, including the Beatles, at the program’s Manchester and London studios. Since 1973, Goodwin has concentrated on photographing footballers and boxers. A music festival and street party in Manchester will raise money for those businesses affected by the Dale Street fire in the Northern Quarter earlier this month. The event, entitled ‘Burnt to the Ground (Burn Baby Burn, Disco Inferno)’, will be headlined by Arthur Brown, the 60s singer best known for his hit ‘Fire’. He will be joined by other live acts and DJs including Mr Scruff, The Unabombers, Polytechnic, Broken English, Marc Riley, Rita & Sue, Magic Arm, Peter & the Wolf and the Mekkits. As well as music, the party will provide display areas for the creative businesses of the Northern Quarter, enabling them to demonstrate their products and services. A crowd of 5,000 people is expected at the event, which is being organised by Manchester agency Ear to the Ground. It will take place on Sunday June 3rd in Stevenson Square. For further details, check out the website. Three unsigned Manchester bands are competing for the chance to play at this year’s Knowsley Music Festival. Death by Decibels, Will Tang and King Kayak are playing at the Key 103 Battle of the Bands Final, with the winners being added to the bill of the two day festival. Other bands already confirmed include the Who, Keane, the Coral and the Zutons. The festival will be held at Knowsley, just outside Liverpool, over the weekend of the 22-23rd of June. (MEN) Manchester’s Chetham’s School of Music is applying for planning permission to build a new £25m building in the city. The building, to be situated next to Victoria Station, will include a 400-seater auditorium as well as state of the art facilities for students. The plans may lead to the demolition of one of the school’s existing buildings, the 19th Century Palatine Building on Victoria Street, in order to reveal views of the school’s original medieval buildings. The world famous school is the only music school in the North West, and the largest in the country. (MEN) Tony Wilson is taking his In The City music convention to New York this summer. Taking place on the 13th and 14th of June, the convention will introduce British bands like The Rakes, The Pigeon Detectives, Enter Shikari and Biffy Clyro to the Americans. However, Wilson is particularly keen to use the event to champion the reunited Happy Mondays. In The City will return to Manchester in October. (MEN) Stephen Wright’s famous photograph of the Smiths standing outside Salford Lads Club has been recreated to mark National Vegetarian Week. The Vegetarian Society organised the photograph, which features three models dressed up in brightly coloured vegetable outfits, posing in front of the venue. The society is also planning to release a tribute to the Smith’s ‘The Queen is Dead’ album called ‘The Cuisine’s Not Dead’. Morrissey would no doubt approve of the cause, even if he might wince at the title! (Anyway, we prefer the title 'The Quorn's Not Dead!) (MEN) An unsigned Manchester band is hoping to break into the top 40 by releasing their debut single as a download. The Coolabahs have built up a following of nearly 20,000 fans on sites like My Space and Bebo, so decided to release ‘Another Reason’ online. They describe themselves as ‘Beach Boys meet The Beatles at Syd Barrett's house’, but are hoping to emulate the success of the Arctic Monkeys, whose debut single went to No.1 as a result of download sales. Check of their myspace page for further details. If you have heard an interesting Manchester music story this week, or have been involved in something please email it to us and we'll stick up here for posterity.