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Also, if you make a major change to your program and/or the criteria, it's a good idea to segment out the winners' list to reduce confusion.
Jan Sopshier, Webmistress
Circus World Awards
Programs rated with such organizations as Award Sites! earn the right to display a banner with a rating ranging from 1-5 with 5 being the highest. These ratings are given by seasoned award veterans, called rating panel members, who recognize the worth of an award by the way the award program is presented.
None of the highly rated award programs started at the top but instead worked their way up the ladder by proving they were serious about presenting awards. And these select individuals (RPM) know their stuff when it comes to ratings. The higher the rating, the better qualified the award presenter is.
One of the best ways to distinguish a top notch award program is by the stated criteria on site. Top-rated award programs will either meet or exceed their own criteria. If a program clearly states there should be no "horizontal scrollbar at 800x600 resolution," the resident award program should comply with the same criteria point. Breaking one's own criteria is a big no-no in the awards community.
Remember being a child opening the presents at Christmas time and thinking the best presents were the biggest ones, only to be disappointed. Same thing goes for award graphics ... big is not always better. The better quality award programs will have good looking, reasonably sized graphics with no pixelated edges. Award Sites! suggest less than 20k and CEM/CEMA recommends pixel size no larger than 200x200.
Another characteristic of an excellent award program is whether or not it is kept current. The best way to confirm this is by checking out the winners' page to see if dates are listed by the winning site.
I could go on and on but perhaps the best way to distinguish a quality program is to do what I did when I started with the award scene. Surf around and become familiar with award programs. It won't take you long to learn who is serious and who is not.
Join some of the forums located at Award Sites! and Awardsville. You will find an abundant amount of information and answers to almost every question imaginable when it comes to award programs. You can post questions at both forums and never have to wait long for an answer.
Jim Docherty, Webmaster
Red Stag Awards
A quick search in either Lycos or Google using the term "web awards" will return more than two million related sites. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these are not worth even a glance. So how can you tell when you are faced with a quality program?
While certainly not a prerequisite, most award programs of value have themselves taken the time and effort to be judged. Rated award programs represent a global effort to improve the standards of judging quality on the Web. These programs have undergone significant scrutiny by various organizations to earn the ratings they hold.
Each rating organization maintains a unique set of criteria and rating designation, usually numeric. Award-givers voluntarily subject their awards to this scrutiny and must display the rating in a prominent location on their site.
Generally speaking, the higher rated programs are more difficult to win. However most have established a standard scoring and judging system by which all sites are evaluated equally.
Judges have had substantial experience in evaluating applicant sites, and a Code of Ethics declaration may also be present to warrant a fair evaluation. Many programs also offer tips and tutorials to improve applicants' efforts at development and design, and ultimately their chance at being awarded.
These programs are not for the casual award hunter. Requirements are strict and the application process is often arduous, many requiring verification that the rules have been read. They also may offer a self-evaluation area to help predict your success based on the guidelines.
In the final analysis, high quality awards endeavor to improve the Web experience by rewarding true excellence, unlike others that are free for the taking.
Luke Wright, Webmaster
LTW Site Sensation Awards (site closed)
Recognising a high-quality award program is not straight-forward, as you cannot rely on one single factor.
You cannot, for example, look solely at its award index ratings if it is a member of one or more of them, although that can be a useful "rule-of-thumb". Indeed, there are many lower-rated or unrated award programs that are just as prestigious as the higher-rated programs; however generally you will find more high-quality sites that are highly rated — and the reverse is also true.
I find many important virtues, that are common to most award programs, I consider to be of high quality.
In the area of qualifying criteria, well structured, carefully explained and fully accounted for. Consistent and credible decisions regarding recipients of its awards help, as it gives an indication that a possible applicant's site is more likely to be treated the same way. A high quality site design also adds an air of professionalism and credibility to the site, which in turn reflects itself upon the program — resulting in a higher perceived quality of the program.
Most of these virtues have one underlying idea: that the prospective applicant feels that they know exactly what is going to happen if and when they submit their site to the program owner for review. Between the lines of the site text, they read the careful attention to detail that the program owner has placed into the site. Such sites can't help but scream out quality.
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