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This is only a short list and I am not saying that all of them are necessary to attract owners of top-notch websites, but you must provide services that clearly market your winning sites. If you have created an award site that presents a unique approach or offers something that others don't, then sending out a press release is a proven attention getter if it's done right. Both you and your winners will benefit from it.
Does your award do for a winner what an academy word does for a movie? Or what an Espy does for an athlete? Or what winning a Major does for a golfer?
Perhaps your award will never achieve this type of recognition. It takes many resources, which may not be available to everyone. However, making the effort to achieve these lofty ideals will raise your award to a higher level, and the benefits to you and your award recipients will be well worth it.
Geetha Thirunakkarasu, Webmistress
Geetha's Web Design Awards (program closed)
Top webmasters want to win awards that are difficult to win, so don't just give your award away. Establish a high standard and make them earn it. Your evaluations should always be honest, and your list of winners should reflect your high standards.
Your own website should also meet the standards you establish for your award. If your criteria states that content is important, then your content should be interesting and well presented. If it focuses on design, then your site should be perfectly designed. Set a good example and your award program will become more credible.
Get your program rated by good rating organizations. Keep improving it until you achieve a high rating. Higher rated awards are usually more difficult to win, and they are highly valued by the top webmasters.
Dunja Zeyss, Webmistress
Dream Worker Award
The best way to entice top webmasters to apply for your award is to have a well designed program with clear criteria and a beautiful award graphic.
Webmasters who have already earned a lot of prestigious awards, like the highly rated ones at AS! or the WTA's, are normally harder to satisfy. Their sites are really good and they are seeking recognition from awardmasters who are setting high standards of web design.
They're not applying to "average" award givers for their awards. The top webmasters are only interested in receiving awards from awardmasters who are creating websites and award programs that are examples of high quality web design.
So, create an excellent award program with a high standard of design and a beautiful award graphic. If you do this, the top webmasters will apply for it :-))
Malcolm Hemming, Webmaster
Red Dragon Wales Award
Mmmm. The fox is well and truly in the henhouse over this one. My first reaction would be, who are the Top Webmasters? The question is not quite definitive enough. Do we mean Awardmasters or Webmasters?
If we mean Webmasters, I feel we will never entice them. They are Webmasters and Webmistresses who simply do not wish to be bothered with the rigmarole of applying for awards. As one very good website author said to me, "I am more interested in putting up a website that is a benefit to the web community than being awarded for doing so." Bang, that's the end of that. Heck, I'd love to have had my award on that site. It was very, very good.
If we mean Top Awardsmasters and Mistresses of AS! or Webs Awards, I don't know. Personally, I ask the question, "Do I want to display that award on my website?" Is the award graphic of such quality as to make me want to read the criteria? Is the criteria of sufficient standard as to make it worthwhile applying?
With regard to the very top sites of AS!, we will never get them to apply for they are a clique. Rightly so. Look at their sites. Most of them only apply for awards among themselves and the higher echelon of AS!
Having said that, surely it is the prerogative of everyone to apply for whatever award they wish. Whilst my award programme is not rated with AS!, I still rate it as a good one. It has to be. I have two evaluators, Gary and Debbie of Scoff and Scuff in Canada, who have an AS! 4 rated award programme. I have a feeling they would not evaluate for me if they didn't like my programme.
In closing, perhaps it is a pity that those highly ranked sites do not apply for unrated or lower rated awards now and again. It would be such an encouragement for the Awardmasters. As the old saying goes, "with a little encouragement from little acorns do mighty oaks grow."
Jerry Tucker, Webmaster
JerryD's Online Award Program
What can you do to entice top webmasters to apply for your award? First and foremost, check out each of the "Top Award Sites" thoroughly to see how their award programs are set up. They were developed over a period of time by experienced award givers, and they are good examples of how to set up a program.
Most webmasters do not like to go from page to page just to get to the application form. Don't have more than 4 or 5 pages for them to read. Instead, place a menu at the bottom of your award program with links to the other pages, such as ethics, process, purpose, tips, and so forth. Let them know that they will be able to return to where they were in your program after they read these pages.
Also, they don't like to look for passwords. If you want to entice top webmasters to apply for your award, then avoid using passwords and try not to bore them with "must read every page of your award program" just to get to your application form.
Raven Bren, Webmaster
Raven Awards (program closed)
There are several things you can do to entice the top webmasters, or any webmasters, to apply for your award.
Promotion: No one will know of you if you are invisible. Be sure to promote your program in search engines and listings. Consider having your award rated by a quality organization.
Promote your winners, too. Not only on the winners list, but also in newsletters, mailers, on your site, etc. Find as many ways to reward them as possible. You might also consider inviting webmasters to apply for your award. Don't be disappointed if they decline the offer.
Value: How valuable is your award? Is it given away, easily earned, or completely generic in nature?
If you said "yes" at least once, end your quest for the top webmasters right now. Hard as that may sound, these kinds of awards are not challenging to earn, and easily earned awards have little value.
A valuable award may be rated. Consider who rates it and what the rating is. This doesn't mean that a non-rated award can't be as valuable as a rated one. I know several awards that have no rating and are among the best on the Net.
Your winners list will speak volumes about the value of your award. It is better to have five of the very best sites on your list than to have 50 so-so sites.
Reputation: This goes hand in hand with an award's value. Not only is the reputation of the award considered, but the reputation of the programs' webmaster as well.
I've seen the "Greatest in the Universe" type of award. When I happen to mention one, I sometimes hear others say, "oh, that is the most corrupt site around. They only award their friends. They never judge every site fairly by their own criteria, or they change their criteria whenever they don't want to award an applicant."
Your reputation is on the line by the criteria you set out and how you follow it. Are there sites on your winners list that are clearly below your criteria standards? If so, you need to re-evaluate your criteria for you could get stuck with a poor reputation in the community.
These are the points I look for when seeking an award. Not everyone will desire the same things. Some may be into a stunning graphic or an award from a site that is much like their own. For example, a flash site seeking flash awards.
In the end, you probably won't entice every top webmaster. If you've caught a few and your winners list boasts some truly priceless sites, you can be happy with what you've accomplished. Good luck!
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