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Success with awards requires knowledge!
Answers to the question in these pages offer you expert advice about awards,
directly from the leading authorities on this topic!
Maggi Norris, Webmaster, Website Awards |
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| The purpose of Ask the Experts is to provide timely answers to common questions about awards and running award programs. The authors of the answers offer you expert advice based on many years of experience. They run some of the best programs in the world, and they are the leading authorities on the topic of awards. Armed with all the helpful advice in their answers, you will be better prepared to apply for website awards or run a successful award program! |
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The Question
What are valid reasons for removing sites from your winners' list?
by Debra Sharp, Webmistress, Mesweet's Haven & Awards
15 January 2003 |
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Jerry Hartzler, Webmaster
Smokin' Award
Define the word "valid." Every Awards Program (AP) may come up with a different definition. After all, it's your AP and you can do with it what you please. You can remove a site from the winners' list for whatever reason, or you can even decide to not have a winners' list at all! Of course, how you handle your awards program will affect how many quality applicants and repeat visitors you receive. ;-)
Below are reasons I have found, whether I agree with them or not, to have a site removed from the winners' list. This will be helpful to those of you who are wondering why your site disappeared from a particular AP. It will also provide ideas for those who want to start their own AP or to upgrade an existing one.
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A site is no longer online: This is the most obvious reason for removing a site. No one likes to visit 404's, so it's good maintenance to weed out dead sites from time to time. An alternative, of course, is to keep the name of the site and just remove its link. |
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A site's URL has changed: When updating the winners' list, an AP may remove a site if the link doesn't work. Personally, I will do a search to see if the site has moved to a new location before I remove it. But this may be impractical for AP's with large winners' lists. |
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Award winners: If you move your site to a new URL address, it's a good idea to notify the AP's of the change so they can update their winners' lists. |
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Award givers: It makes sense to manually review your winners' list. When a site closes down or moves, the old URL is free to be used by another site. It won't do your AP's reputation any good if "A Cat named Laura" at laura.com now links to "Laura Undressed!" And this brings me to the next point ... |
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A site no longer matches the AP's criteria: Remember when I said that the owner of an award has the right to do whatever he or she pleases with the program? Well, the same goes for anyone who owns a website. Another reason to remove a winning site is if its new content no longer matches the award's qualification criteria. |
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The award is no longer displayed: When certain AP's list your site as a winner, they expect you to display the award and link it back to them. Many, but not all, feel it's the least you can do in return for the time an AP spends evaluating your site. |
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The winners' list is on a time limit: Due to server space limitations, laziness in checking links, or whatever other reason, some AP's will only display winners from the last year or two. Older winners are removed unless they re-apply and win the award again. |
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A winner is offensive: Sadly, this happens. If a disagreement or dispute over an award or criteria point arises, the award owner may no longer want to be associated with the offensive winner and will remove his or her site from the winners' list. The site will usually be "blacklisted," and it will never be reviewed by that particular AP again. |
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So ends the "valid" reasons for removing sites from a winners' list. I would like to finish by encouraging those AP's who keep a winners' list to post their reasons for removal so that winners can avoid them. It's the courteous thing to do. But as I said, it's your awards program ...
Geetha Thirunakkarasu, Webmistress
Geetha Zone Awards (program closed)
Every award program establishes its own reasons and rules for removing sites from the winners' list. You can find out what they are by carefully reading the criteria and disqualification points. Generally, the following are consider to be valid reasons for removing winners:
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If changes are made to the site which violate the criteria. |
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If the link to a winning site does not work (a dead link). |
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If the award graphic is not posted or linked back. |
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If the award graphic is altered without prior authorization. |
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If the award graphic is removed for any reason. |
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If there is no reply about the acceptance of the award. |
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It's not necessary that award programs apply all of the above reasons. It depends
on the individual program. Some award givers don't ask winners
to post the award or link back, but they do want them to reply
about accepting the award. It's always better to understand
and follow the program's simple rules and to be a proud winner
of the earned award.
Wolfgang Schoenfuss, Webmaster
Museums Award
First, I have to say that I don't like to remove sites from my winners' list. I always present the winner with a screenshot of his website which is taken on the day I grant him the award. This, I presume, will prevent me from removing the site for any design reasons.
The only reason I can imagine for removing a winning website would be a violation of the automatic disqualifiers in my criteria. These disqualifiers are clearly stated in my award program so that all winners will know what to avoid.
Vina Galindo, Webmistress
4 Elements Award Program
I try to prevent removing any winners on my list by contacting them to resolve any problems. Removal of sites on a winners' list depends on the awards program and its criteria. Some of the more common reasons for removing winners are listed below.
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The winning site doesn't exist anymore (contains page not found error). |
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The winner fails to display the award graphic and the criteria states that proper display is an obligation. |
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Winning sites should ALWAYS properly display the award they were honored with if it's required in the criteria. Evaluators take much of their 'free' time to give your website a thorough evaluation, and this is something you should do in return. |
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The winner alters the award graphic. |
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Winners should not optimize the graphic (most of them are already optimized), make a thumbnail without permission, or change it in any way. Most award givers don't like it when their award graphics are altered. They have put a "special touch" to their graphics, so you must not change them without prior consent. |
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The winning site is changed in a way that violates the criteria. |
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The criteria of an awards program will usually state the "do's" and "don'ts." They establish what is perceived as acceptable and not acceptable for each individual program. The award giver runs the program and applies the criteria. If a site passes the criteria, wins an award and then is altered in a way that violates the criteria, the award giver has no alternative but to remove it from the winners' list. |
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Most award programs are created for what I call the 3 F's: Fun, Fairness and Factor. Fun of running a program, fairness of evaluation and the factor (the criteria). The fun will quickly fade if you are not consistently fair or if you fail to preserve the integrity of the factor.
As a courtesy, award givers should always give winners time to fix any problems and winners should always reply to award givers within a reasonable period of time if they intend to fix a problem.
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| The Authors |
| We would like to thank the authors who took time out of their busy schedules to write the answers in these pages. They wrote them to share the knowledge they gained from years of reviewing websites and operating award programs. By so doing, they are making their expertise available to webmasters at large and helping to improve the quality of websites and awards on the Web. We applaud them for sharing their knowledge! |
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