SMS font-of-all-knowledge honoured with gong

'Is baby Jesus an alien?'

'Any question answered' mobile phone service 82Ask has scooped one of the top gongs at the Global Messaging Awards after a breakthrough year which saw it answer queries on everything from sandwich making world records to more serious business issues.

The service won the 'Best Content or Information Service' at the awards arranged by industry association 160Characters.

Sarah McVittie, founder and CEO of 82Ask, said winning the award so early in the company's lifetime was a great honour and evidence of how much the company has achieved since it was founded in 2003.

McVittie told silicon.com that, on a daily basis, operatives will field questions on travel directions and train times, sports scores and results, breaking news and directory enquiries but they also deal with their fair share of unusual questions.

Among the strangest enquiries received by the service where the following questions:

Q. Is baby Jesus an alien and if not what evidence is there to prove it?

Q. How many badgers would it take to support the weight of the Empire State Building?

Q. Why do planes have headlights? Surely if a plane sees something in them it would be too late?

Q. What is the fastest sandwich made using just one's feet?

Q. What would win in a fight between a large goliath bird eating spider and a large emperor scorpion and a small adder on a concrete floor?

The silicon.com Weekly Round-Up probably also contributed to the incidences of unusual enquiries with some questioning of its own last year.