‘Oat the Goat’ has brought home two coveted purple pins in the Interactive and Moving Image categories at Saturday’s Best Design Awards. The interactive web-based story also won gold in the same categories along with silver for Public Good.

Tony Clewett, Executive Creative Director FCB said, “A legacy project like this doesn’t happen very often, hence why we sweated over every little detail – from the animation, sound design, to every last word in the of copy. It was well worth the extra effort.”

The bilingual storybook, available in both English and te reo Māori, is the focal piece of a bullying prevention campaign created by FCB and Assembly for the Ministry of Education.

By combining a classic storybook format with the interactive possibilities of digital media, it allows children and their family to become involved in the decisions faced by the main character ‘Oat’ when he encounters bullying as a bystander.

The interactivity helps cement the moral of the story in the readers’ minds so they are empowered to support the targets of bullying if they face it in real life.

Since its launch in May, the story has made a massive impact on its target audience of 4-7 year olds with over 180,000 users engaging with it.

It is now a popular and highly-regarded resource for New Zealand primary schools, Kōhanga Reo and Kura Kaupapa and has been positively received by children, parents and teachers. With many educators even asking for more from ‘Oat’ and his adventures.