MANHATTAN, KS -- (January 16, 2011) Three months after government website designers came together to reinvent its website, CivicPlus' hometown has a fresh look and a new platform to engage its citizens online. Making its world debut today, CivicPlus presents the new website for the City of Manhattan, Kansas.

Using a new domain, www.cityofmhk.com, the new site was conceived when CivicPlus, the leading developer of local government websites in North America, and its longtime client, the City of Manhattan, hosted the "Little Apple Hackathon" last November. Teams of CivicPlus designers competed to create the Best Overall Design and Best New Functionality.

"The ideas and designs that were created during the Hackathon were amazing," said Marie Christian, information and program coordinator for the City of Manhattan. "The new functionality was really exciting to see. It was obvious that the participants in the Hackathon worked hard, most of them around the clock, to create designs and functionality that were new and original. Manhattan is lucky to be the home of a company that has such creative, forward thinking employees and management."

Once judges from CivicPlus and various city departments selected the winning entries, the company's production team set out to deliver a redesigned website- a $23,000 value provided by CivicPlus as part of its ongoing partnership with the City of Manhattan.

The result, unveiled today, is Manhattan's new online hub of integrated e-government tools ranging from Citizen Request TrackerTM and MuniMobileTM to the recently updated Agenda Center and more. As CivicPlus continually upgrades its Government Content Management System, these improvements will be available to the City of Manhattan at no additional cost, a benefit offered to all qualifying CivicPlus clients.

Among the winning design elements are a new logo for the city, enhanced graphics to showcase the beauty of the community as well as simplified main navigational links. With the new site, citizens will no longer be redirected to an outside site to watch meetings online; CivicPlus Media Center will broadcast the meetings live on the website.

"We, with the help of CivicPlus staff, have tried to create a site that will help guide our citizens to the information they need as quickly as possible," Christian said.

Cole Cheever, the CivicPlus project manager who oversaw implementation of the new design, said, "The new website is a testament to the city's dedication to effectively engage and communicate with its citizens. As a long-time resident of Manhattan, it was exciting to work with the city on developing a powerful communication tool that will benefit my fellow citizens and businesses throughout the area."

CivicPlus has designed more than 1,000 local government websites serving nearly 33 million citizens throughout North America. The company has earned the Center for Digital Government's Best Fit Integrator Award for delivering extraordinary digital solutions to public IT projects. Its innovative CivicPlus Government Content Management System offers more than 60 customizable, integrated eGovernment applications, including Facebook and economic development tools. CivicPlus was founded in 2001, and was selected by Inc. Magazine as "One of the Fastest-Growing Privately Held Companies in the U.S." in 2011. Over the past two years, CivicPlus clients have won more than 230 website awards.