Ask the Experts, Question 11:

What is the proper way to display the awards you have won?

by Peter Eberhard, Webmaster, the ebepe pages
15 August 2002

Print Version

Dave Selig, Webmaster Ultraweb Awards

Editor's Choice

There are many good ways to display the awards you have won. The "proper" display involves your style, the overall design of your website, the size and number of awards you have won, the display requirements of the award giver, the display requirements of third parties, and the value of the awards you have won.

If you only have one award, you might consider displaying it on your index page or another prominent page (especially if the award is recognized as one of the world's prestigious awards or the award means something really special to you). The size of the award graphic, however, may present an issue.

If you display many awards, consider using several pages and a textual list of the awards with links to the individual award graphics, or at least to pages containing a limited number of graphics. Placing too many graphics on one page causes slow loading and effectively sends the awards to a mass grave.

Remember, under copyright laws you must follow the award program's rules for displaying the award graphic on your website. Many programs do not permit you to alter their graphics. Unless the award program specifically states that you can alter the award graphic as you deem fit, you need permission from the owner of the program to resize, recolor, or alter the award in any manner. If the program is silent as to altering the graphic, you should assume that you may not alter it.

If the award giver requires you to link the graphic back to the award program, you need to add the link if you want to display the award. Even if a link requirement does not exist, it is respectful to add one. The award giver has honored your website with an award, and this is the least you can do in return.

Should you display the comments that accompany the awards? If they are personalized and praiseworthy, consider adding them to your awards display. They are often interesting and insightful. I do not believe that displaying comments should be required, however. The award graphic represents the award giver's approval of your website, and it speaks volumes in and of itself. Adding too many comments results in "verbal wallpaper" that nobody will want to read.

These are some of the concepts to consider when presenting your awards on the Web. Overall, if you follow the general principles of good website design when you create your honors display, you can't go too far wrong. For motivation, take a look at how some of the fine award sites listed at World's Top Awards display the awards they have won.

Tony Slavin, Webmaster
Canadian Web Awards

Once you have obtained an award that you deem to have merit and the code for the award, you are left with the challenge of where and how to post it on your site. After reviewing numerous award sites and thousands of winning sites, we have compiled the following tips and suggestions:

Always remember that awards can add prestige to your site and differentiate you from your competitors. Most of the work is done up front during the application and approval process, but if you receive an award and do not post it on your site, then everyone loses. The number one mistake made by award recipients is NOT POSTING the award!

Andrea and Lynda, Webmasters
Premio Fiamma Award (site closed)

It's not rare to discover in some award images great examples of outstanding art. Colours, size, weight, overall fantasy and originality combine to make the little graphic a modern artwork worthy of showcasing. Love them or not, behind an award graphic is hours of hard work and the holy flame of inspiration. In a few pixels it represents the idea of excellence that every award program aspires to reward.

When you win an award, you earned its graphic but this doesn't mean you can use it any way you want. Copyrights laws and RESPECT for the award giver's work impose some basic rules:

Find a proper location in your site for the award graphic. A specific awards page is always good, but we will be happy to agree with you if you have a better idea. Regardless of how you display them, always provide a copyright notice somewhere on the page.

To save space, you can display a graphical or text link to open the award graphic in another page. Beware of using thumbnails for this purpose, however. You could be violating copyright laws, unless you obtained permission from the creators of the graphics.

Some award programs are rated by the different rating services. Because the ratings can mean as much to the award givers as the award graphics mean to you, don't forget to include their ratings when you post the awards. For better navigation, we suggest that you create different pages for "Rated" and "Independent" award programs.

Normally an award giver provides a laudatio, standard or personalised, when rewarding a site. It summarizes the award giver's impressions of your site or the standards and criteria used in the evaluation process, so always provide a little space to display the laudatio together with the award graphic.

Finally, remember to link the award graphic back to the award program. This is maybe the most important way to demonstrate your respect and esteem for the award giver's work.

Jerry Tucker, Webmaster
JerryD's Online Award Program

There seems to be several ways you can display the awards you have won. The most important and easiest way is to have an awards gallery. We like to think that most sites would take the extra time to have an Honors or Laudation page that will describe the award site, indicate it's rating and show the award graphic all at once.

We think the award giver will appreciate this approach and will be more likely than not to upgrade the award they sent you in the first place. It also shows the award giver that his award is highly appreciated and that his site and award has been highlighted to the fullest extent.

Having said this, if it is difficult to find the awards gallery or the laudation page, then the extra work will have been in vain. So be sure to have a good navigation system and a menu that can be quickly and easily found on the first page of your site.

Alberto Paronetto, Webmaster
Sinapsis Award for an Intellectual Attitude

Display the awards you have received in the most honourable way you can. Like an award seeker, I have always thought that the activity of the award giver is noble and generous.

What do I mean by "honourable way?"

Debra Sharp, Webmistress
Mesweet's Awards

I feel that you should be able to choose how you want to display the awards you have won. At the very least, however, you should display the award graphics and link back to the award sites, even if it is not a requirement.

If you want to take it a step further, you can also post the dates you received the awards and the comments that came with them. The dates may become important to you later on. If you don't post them, then keep the emails you received from the award sites so that you will be able to find the dates if you need them at some time in the future.

If you have won many awards and they are displayed on several pages, then you may want to consider creating an Awards Received Index with a text list of the awards you have won and which pages they are displayed on.

Some sites like to list the awards they have won by rating. If you do this, I recommend you do it from the beginning because it can be difficult to go back and figure out what the ratings were at the time you received the awards.

Many sites display the awards they have won in a spectacular manner. My personal favorites are the ones that list all the awards on one page, and text links open a new window for each individual award. The new windows contain the name of the award, the award graphic, the date won, the evaluator's comments, the rating of the award, and a link to close the window.

Dunja Zeyss, Webmistress
Dream Worker Award

Receiving an award is a honour, so won awards should be displayed honourably, too.

For me, the proper way to display awards is to show them together with the laudatio and a link back to the awardmaster. This way, visitors can verify that the award was given to the site and they can apply for the award, if they wish to do so.

Each award should be displayed on a separate page. Yes, it is possible to display awards in a kind of "trophy-case," but a proper presentation would be a separate page for each award with the laudatio and a link back to the awardmaster.

Awards should not be sorted by ratings because this suggests that non-rated awards are inferior. In reality, some of the best awards in the world are not rated.

A proper presentation shows the awardmaster that you honour his award as much as he honours your website by giving you an award! Awards are accolades and they should be displayed as such.

Malcolm Hemming, Webmaster
Red Dragon Wales Award

What's the proper way to display awards? Anyway ... as long as they are displayed courteously and with pride.

What do I mean by this? For one thing, don't resize and use them as link buttons. If a visitor or potential award seeker can't see the design, they are not going to be encouraged to visit the award sites and apply for their awards.

For another, always display the laudations you receive with the awards. I was guilty of not doing this until I received an e-mail from a visitor who asked, "do you know what the people who gave you your awards thought of your site?"

Good point! Award givers have a right to expect their laudations to be displayed for all to see. After all, they take the time to do the evaluations. Why shouldn't visitors know that they think of our sites?

Will Harbeson, Webmaster
The Medals Of Excellence

The really neat thing about the web is that nothing is "proper." Almost any awarded site you run across has a goal of making the web a better place to visit, so the display of awards won is as varied as the designers themselves. However, there are some things you should consider out of respect for the awards giver:

Other items you might consider for your display include:

I like to group the awards I won by rating. This started as an aid to the reviewer when I was working on the AS! Hall of Quality. The outcome of that actually made a very clean, easily navigated section and helped me keep track of the awards I won. Excellent publicly available templates are the Halls of Recognition Organizer v2.0 (developed by Richard Berends, Maestro Awards) and the Awards & Tally Worksheets (developed by Míc Miller, The Beeline).

I think if you consider the award you've just won as a trophy and handle it with care, keep it polished and place it where it shows off well, you will have done a nice service to the awards giver who spent so much time reviewing your site.

Wendy Russell, Webmistress
Casey's Celtic Charm Award

As far as I am aware, there really are no hard and fast rules for "proper" display of the awards you have won. However, a few things should be considered when you display them: