Last November the eyes of the multi-media design world were focused on Chattanooga for Cre824, the first Web Design International Pre-Selection event to be held in the U.S.

Aaron Hoffman of the Chattanooga-based multi-media design firm Tubatomic, which organized Cre824, said the annual event puts Chattanooga on the map as a destination for creative professionals. "Other communities have offered Tubatomic incentives to relocate, but we stay because we love it here," Hoffman said. "When creative people come to Chattanooga for Cre824, we think they’ll fall in love with this place too."

About 500 web and multi-media design professionals attended the event, while thousands of others watched the proceedings via a live streaming web cast. In addition to attendees from across America, Jean Jacques Losach, first vice-president of the Limousin region of France, was on hand to represent the Web Design International Festival. Adobe-Macromedia, which was the banner sponsor of the Cre824, sent executives from Seattle and Germany.

The main event was a 24-hour web jam during which 12 teams competed to determine which one could develop the best multi-media web site in just 24 hours. The winning team in the professional category consisted of Sean McInerney, Nathan Scronce, Tony Shasteen, and Mark Kirby from Atlanta-based Studio 720. The top amateur team included David Kirby, Kevin Welch, Davy Campano, and Josh Teague of Chattanooga.

Besides the competition, the event featured the taping of a Diggnation video podcast with Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht. Cre824 also boasted seminars and training sessions lead by web design luminaries such as Joshua Davis, Shaun Inman, and Shannon Bain of Armchair Media.

The top teams from Cre824 will compete at the Web Design International Festival in February. To view the web sites created during the event and learn more about Cre824 go to www.Cre824.com.