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Often the site will have ratings or belong to exclusive award memberships. These can very often show much about the quality of the award program. If rating or membership is all that is looked at to determine the quality of an award program, it is also important to make sure the rating or membership site is good quality and that their ratings have strict guidelines for qualification.
The list for how to recognize a quality award program has so many items that it could go on for many pages. The very best way to be able to recognize a quality award program is to learn about awards. There is a lot of educational material on web awards to be found online today. The more of it one chooses to read, the better one will be able to recognize which awards are good quality.
Karen Pimtzner, Webmistress
petalperfect Digital Photography Gallery (site closed)
A good quality award program has a history. It's a rich history that is constantly evolving. The program never stays the same. As the Internet grows, the program grows along with it. The program doesn't get stagnant or stale. It is constantly raising the bar and providing a challenge to those who apply for it. Its winners are an important part of that history.
A good quality award program is housed within a web site that is intuitively designed. It exemplifies the very criteria that it sets forth. It either has won or it is certainly evident that it is capable of winning its own award, as well as other good, quality awards.
A good quality award program has an evaluator or several evaluators who each add
something of intrinsic value to the program. Whether it be expertise in source structure, written content or graphic artistry ... they use the award program as a vehicle through which to share their knowledge and experience.
A good quality award program has an award graphic that is attractive to the eye and one which the seeker would be proud to have on their web site.
The owner of a good quality award program knows that award seekers have questions about web design (lots of them) and works hard to provide the answers ... either through carefully crafted tutorials, gathered resources or offer of one-on-one tutelage.
One always leaves a good quality award program having learned something ... about their web site or about themselves, as webmasters.
Will Harbeson, Webmaster
The Medals Of Excellence
There are a few ways to identify a good award program. Affiliations are a good clear hint as to the quality of an award program. Subscribing to a ratings service like Award Sites! shows that someone other than the award giver has seen and approved of the program on some level.
There are also a few internationally accepted ratings services that will tell you the program's author/owners are serious about their efforts. Membership in an ethics organization like CEM/CEMA or APEX is another affiliation that shows additional scrutiny on the award giver.
The second thing to look for is the award graphic itself, is it clean, clear, beautiful and has a place for your winning name? Serious award givers are crazy about their award graphics. Hours of effort are spent making them just right. If the graphics are great then it is likely this is a quality program.
Third is the winners' list. Take a moment to look at the sites the program has already awarded. If the sites you see on those lists are wonderful and recognized in a consistent manner, then it is likely the program you're applying to is one of quality. While you are there, look also at the efforts spent on detailing the criteria. Is it understandable? Is it aimed at awarding sites like yours or does it appear they are just giving away a graphic in exchange for your linking back to them.
Finally, does the site itself present quality? If an award program exists on a site that is not complete and has all the flaws of a beginning effort then it is likely that the award program has been treated in the same fashion.
As someone that entered the awards arena haphazardly, applying for anything and everything I saw, I can tell you that I wish I had not. My ethics tells me that if I applied for it and accepted it, I should display it. Now that I've been at this for a couple years, some of the awards I won are not from the best of programs and are little better than clutter.
Bottom line ... you like the affiliations, you love the graphic and you would
want to have your name posted there among the winners, then
go for it. Chances are you've found a quality award program.
Alberto Paronetto, Webmaster
Sinapsis
Award for an Intellectual Attitude
A good quality award program, must have (and/or):
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