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Distinguishing Web Award Programs
Author : music-video-codes
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Web award programs run the gamut -- from worthless to world
class. Knowing how to distinguish Web award programs can help
you select which ones will have the most meaning for you and
save you time, energy, and, perhaps, some embarrassment
(especially if you are nominating a client's Web site).
Fortunately, there are award-rating services available that can
help you determine which award programs are good, great, and the
best -- if you understand the differences in rating criteria.
However, not all award programs are rated. Some of them choose
not to be, particularly the ones that are not so good.
If you are looking for meaningful recognition for having created
an excellent Web site, you might want to know what to look for
in an award program. There are several factors you can use to
distinguish an award program and help you decide whether you
want to apply. They are: Difficulty - How hard is it to satisfy
the award program's requirements? Rarity - How many awards have
been issued during the last year? Winners' List - How many and
how good are the awarded Web sites? Credibility - Does the award
program's site meet its own requirements? Evaluator(s) - How
competent is the reviewer or judging staff? Attitude - Why does
this award program exist and who does it really serve? Longevity
- How old is the award program? Peer Respect - What do other
award givers think of the award program? Awards - How do the
award images look? Level - Is it the highest award offered
(gold) or a lesser one (silver)? Type - Is the award open to
everyone or only specific types of sites? Difficulty
In the beginning, practically all Web sites were judged
subjectively or by a popularity vote. Thankfully, those days are
pretty much over. Oh sure, you'll still see "criteria" that
simply says something to the effect of "I know what I like and
if what I see pleases me, you win!" But today, most worthwhile
award programs present a list of objective requirements your Web
site will be graded by or scored against. The more requirements
there are to satisfy, the greater the difficulty factor is.
Rarity
Maybe you've seen an award that is displayed on Web sites all
over the Internet -- or so it seems. Then there are awards
you've only seen once or very rarely, depending on what sites
you're visiting. The rarity factor depends on more than just the
total number of awards issued. One also has to look at how often
within a span of time these awards were given out.
Myspace
A handy way to determine rarity is to find the number of awards
issued during the last year if the program is that old. If not,
find out how many were awarded on a monthly average. The easiest
way to do this -- unless you like surfing the entire Web -- is
to look at the award program's winners' list.
Unfortunately, that method only works if the award program lists
its winners by dates. If this is not the case, try to determine
how old the program is and count the number of winners. Then,
with some arithmetic division, you can get a pretty good idea of
rarity. If an award program doesn't have a winners' list, one
would have to assume the program is either too new to have any
or they give away so many that they don't bother to track all
their winners.
Winners' List
Reviewing winning Web sites not only helps you determine rarity,
but also see what Web sites are getting the award(s). The second
award I received for The Beeline didn't look like much, but I
was thrilled to be listed between Ferrari.it and
ReadersDigest.com on their winners' list, as well as with the
other outstanding sites.
This particular winners' list had a winner for each weekday and
one for the weekend. So, while the rarity factor was weak at
"312" (6 winners times 52 weeks), the winning sites were all
stellar examples of "Web excellence" for one reason or another.
This brings us to comparing your Web site to those on a winners'
list. Visiting a sampling of their recent award-winning sites
should tell you how close your site is to competing in their
program.
Credibility
How seriously would you take someone's claim of having a
"prestigious" Web award if their own site is nowhere close to
being excellent? Some serious award seekers leave the virtual
premises when they see this hypocrisy -- then again, others
simply care about how good-looking the awards are. Depending on
your award-seeking goals, you may or may not care about the
credibility factor.
You might want to, however, see if the program has a posted Code
of Ethics, adequate contact information, and a privacy policy
you can accept should you decide to apply. Many award givers are
now joining the ethics-based organizations available to award
program owners in order to establish or improve their
credibility. So you might also look around for one of these
organizations' membership plaques.
Evaluator(s)
Like the credibility factor, who exactly will be reviewing your
Web site may or may not be important to you. And in the
beginning, you probably won't know who's who in the Web Awards
Community, not unless they tell you something about themselves
and their review staff if they have one. So look around for
information about the evaluator(s). If you're like some award
seekers, you'll do this after you get their award so you can
learn something about the person(s) who think so highly of you.
Attitude
Award givers have attitudes that can usually be discerned simply
by reading through their award programs. This is called
inference reading, and one doesn't have to be a licensed
psychologist or CIA analyst to "psych out" where an award giver
is "coming from" or why they have an award program.
There are many reasons why people operate award programs.
Sometimes it's to give something back, especially after
receiving Web awards from others. Sometimes it's to increase
visitor totals for their Web sites. Others become award givers
just for the fun of it! Then there's the type that does it to
feed their egos. Two of the best attitudes belong to those who
want to help improve the quality of the Internet and to
recognize others who have found "Web excellence."
By the way, do not confuse abundant displays of credentials and
memberships with an egotistical attitude. They are recognitions,
ratings, and acceptances that were earned. Respect them and the
award givers who have them just as you want to be respected for
the Web awards you have worked hard to achieve.
Longevity
Knowing how old an award program is can be a good thing,
especially if its just opened. Finding new award programs to
apply to can be a good tactic because the evaluators are
usually, but not always, inexperienced award givers who may want
to establish their winners' list sooner than later.
Also, applying when a program first opens puts your submission
at or near the top of the stack -- assuming this program
operates on a "first come, first served" basis -- and ahead of
all those that follow. This can be a really good tactic if your
site qualifies and you are into instant gratification,
relatively speaking.
Peer Respect
Before award programs were rated, the best one could do to
determine the peer respect factor was to examine the Web awards
presented to them. Now, there are award-rating services and,
like award programs, they differ according to most of the
factors we've been discussing. The higher a rating an award
program holds equates to higher peer respect, theoretically, at
least.
Sometimes it is difficult to get a feel for an award program's
peer respect if they are not rated. I suggest you look around
and learn as much as you can about the person(s) behind the
site. If nothing else, you should get a feel for their own
abilities and how much you respect them! After all, both of you
are peers as Web authors and publishers. Right?
Awards
The awards factor pertains to the design, looks and size of the
award image(s) offered by an awards program. This is the single
most important fact to many award seekers. How the honorary "eye
candy" looks has a direct bearing on an award program's
popularity. That's fine. If an award image motivates you to find
"Web excellence," I'm all for your making this factor a high
priority. Just know that some of the most prestigious and most
difficult Web awards to achieve look rather plain and simple.
This is why I didn't alphabetize this list of factors and ranked
the awards factor near the bottom. When it comes to award
images, go after whatever you would be happy to display on your
site. As for the objective aspects to Web award imagery, they
are only important to the award giver when it comes to getting
or upgrading an award rating.
Level
Some award programs are multi-leveled in that they offer an
award based on how well your Web site scores during the
evaluation. The higher the site evaluation's final score, the
higher the level of award is bestowed. In many cases these
levels of awards are distinguished by a metallic color, such as
platinum, gold, silver, and bronze. Other programs may choose to
distinguish their awards' levels using precious and
semi-precious gems, such as diamond, ruby, emerald, and sapphire.
However, the distinctions I've seen used on multi-level awards
over the years seem to be endless in variety and style. Just
know that earning a program's top-level award may be more
important than receiving any level award, depending on what your
award-seeking goals are.
Type
Not all awards are available to every type of Web site. Many
award programs have specific purposes, such as awarding
excellent Celtic sites or education-related sites. Then there
are the cultural barriers that force most award programs to
accept only nominated sites written in a specific language. This
is not to be looked upon as prejudicial, just practical. If they
can't read your site, how can they judge it on content,
spelling, grammar, etc.?
Besides, if award givers want to volunteer their precious free
time evaluating only certain types of sites, that's their right.
The type factor is only important in that you know what types of
sites are eligible and if your site is, it is competing against
a reduced field of potential applicants.
Summary
Knowing how to distinguish Web award programs can heighten your
emotional rewards when you know the presented award is, in fact,
serious recognition for a job well done! There are few greater
thrills in Web publishing than to receive an award from a
demanding, well-respected, and conscientious award program.
Knowing when this happens makes learning how to distinguish Web
award programs worthwhile. Myspace
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