Bloody Sunday model prizeComputer award: virtual Londonderry mock-up 'outstanding'The Bloody Sunday Inquiry - which uses touch-screen models and the up-to-the-minute technology - has won the Society for Computers and Law's (SCL) annual award for the most outstanding application of IT to the law.

The Exhibit Display System tailored for the inquiry displays scanned documents, virtual reality and video evidence onto screens and allows the images to be annotated on-screen.

Witnesses are aided by the use of 360-degree virtual reality recreation of 1972 Londonderry, and can use their fingers on the screen to navigate through the virtual reality town.Lord Saville - who is conducting the inquiry - has said that it has made the proceedings substantially quicker and more open.

Presenting the awards, Lord Chancellor's Department minister David Lock said: 'Until recently the legal world was not one which would be regarded by the public as modern.' He praised the SCL for playing a key role in what he said is now perceived as a more technocratic profession.The four other finalists who were joint runners-up were: Mentor, an intellectual capital management system; Benefits Advice in Multi Media (BANN), a touch-screen multi-lingual welfare benefits calculator and information provider, for use by local authorities and others; the Interface Relationship Intelligence Server (IRIS), a knowledge management system; and 2EndS' on-line CPD seminars.LINKS: www.perceptivetechnology.comwww.ferret.co.ukwww.2ends.comwww.interfacesoftware.comJeremy Fleming