Simple Steps to Winning Awards

by Lynn Pilewski, Webmistress
Hidden Pearls, Gems of the Internet Awards (award program closed)
1 November 2001

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You have worked hard and designed the perfect site and now you would like some recognition. You think to yourself, "Self, I have seen so many sites with awards and I know mine is better, so I will go out and apply for these awards. Since my site is so terribly wonderful, I WILL WIN!"

Well, this may or may not happen. In this article, I will show you how to go about getting a foot up on winning awards. If you carefully read and follow these steps, you will have all the information that you need.

Be Ready

Before you even think of applying for any award, you must make certain that your site is ready. There are simple steps you can take to make certain that your site is ready for the award application process.

A site with spelling and grammatical errors will not score high with any award giver. Run a spell checker over every page of your site. Then, have someone else take a careful look for grammatical errors and any spelling errors the checker might have missed.

Check your site in various web browsers as well. At a minimum, check in Netscape 4.x or higher and in Internet Explorer 4.x or higher. These are the browsers that most evaluators will use. While your site doesn't have to look exactly the same in both, it should not look like a totally different site. Checking your site for compatibility in an Opera browser and on a Mac system is also a good idea, if possible.

Lastly, don't forget about screen resolution. Most award programs use a minimum resolution of 800 x 600 and expect that your site will be fully visible without having a horizontal scroll bar. On the opposite end of the spectrum, some programs browse with screen resolutions set as high as 1600 x 1200. These programs will expect that your background graphic (if you use one) will not repeat badly (causing text to be hard to read) and that your content will not bunch to one side or to the center of the screen.

In short, take a careful look at your site for common errors and mistakes and get them cleaned up before you start the process of award applications. This will give you a much better chance of success.

Find Meaningful Awards

Now that your site is ready, you must find awards to apply for. There are many award programs on the web with many different types of criteria.

Some of these award givers will simply give you an award in exchange for a link to their sites. These are considered "giveaway" awards. Do you want awards that don't have to be earned? No, of course not. So where can you find awards that have some meaning?

Try looking at award listing and rating services such as Award Sites! and Website Awards. Both of these resources are full of links to award givers who might give you an award that will mean something. These awards have specific criteria that your site will need to meet in order to win. This brings us to our next step.

Read The Criteria

Read the criteria. I will say this again. Read the criteria carefully and continue reading until you are certain that you understand every point.

Over 50% of the applications we receive at the Hidden Pearls, Gems of the Internet Program are from applicants who could not have possibly read our criteria. Nothing annoys an award giver more than receiving an application, going to the site to start an evaluation, and finding that the site owner blatantly ignored the posted criteria. This is a waste of time for both the award giver and the applicant.

Since Hidden Pearls is not alone in the number of applicants who have not even glanced at our criteria, you will be a huge step ahead of the game if you follow this step to the letter.

Apply the Criteria to Your Site

After reading the criteria, try to objectively apply it to your site. Pretend that you are an impartial judge who has never seen your site before. Forget all of the hours, sweat and tears that you have put into creating it.

Most award programs have items that will automatically disqualify a site. If your site has any of these items, please go on to another program. Do not make the mistake of thinking that since the rest of your site is so terrific, the evaluators will overlook this one item. I assure you they will not.

Perform a self-test of your site if the program offers one. You must be brutally honest with yourself in this evaluation. If you are at all doubtful on an item, do not give yourself the points associated with it. If you can force yourself to be your own worst critic here, you will have a good understanding of how your site will measure up in the final analysis.

If, after going through the above steps, you still believe your site truly meets the posted criteria, then read and understand all of the other supporting materials.

Read All Supporting Materials

Supporting material and information is just as important as the criteria itself. At Hidden Pearls, for example, we have a kind of application password in our Pearls of Wisdom helpful tips section. Only about 5% of all applicants fill out this part of the application correctly. We do not void applications that miss the password, but many award programs will. Why bother to fill out an application that is going to be thrown away because you failed to read all of the material?

Many programs include ethics statements, application process time frame and other information that will not only help you to make a successful application, but will allow you to understand critical issues such as who will receive review notification and when you may reapply for an award. You will need this information for tracking the process.

Review the Winners

The winners' lists reveal an unbelievable amount of information about how the reviewers "see" sites. These lists contain a wellspring of information just waiting for you to dip in. Visit 3 or 4 of the winning sites at each level of the award (if applicable). Take a serious look at the differences between the sites that have won the different levels.

What level's winners does your site resemble? Can you tell why each site was evaluated at each level? Do you honestly and truly believe that your site belongs with the others on the winners' list? If so, then let's proceed.

Fill Out The Application Correctly

The application process is the most important step to your success. Having read the criteria and supporting materials thoroughly, you will now know how to completely and correctly fill out the application.

Fill in all of the spaces and boxes completely and honestly. Make sure you don't leave any blanks. The questions are there for a reason, so make certain that you answer them all correctly. If the award giver has asked you to do something special as a part of the criteria or supporting material, make certain you do so.

Now that you have the application completely filled out, don't hit that submit button yet! Check it once more. Have you supplied a simple and direct description of your site without any dated or editorial material? Has every single entry been filled out as requested? Good. Go ahead and submit your application.

A completely and correctly filled out application will win points with any review panel. It will not guarantee an award, but at least they won't throw out your application or be annoyed while looking at your site!

Track Applications

Since almost all awards programs have specific time frames for application review, you will want to keep track of your application dates.

Now that you have submitted your application, note the date in a notebook or on a spreadsheet of some sort so that all of your information is in one place. The Website Awards Worksheet is a wonderful tool for keeping track of your award applications.

Also note the time frame and whether you will receive a reply only if you win, or either way. Believe me, you will be thankful you have notes when you want to know if you have already applied for an award.

Most award programs have strict time frames for re-applications and upgrade submissions. Your work in tracking applications will help you to follow the program's rules when you want to reapply or to apply for an upgrade. I can't stress enough how important tracking your applications will be to you in the long run.

Gracious Correspondence

The final step in the awards process comes when you have final correspondence with the award program regarding the outcome of their evaluation of your site.

When you are notified that you have won an award, which I am certain will happen if you followed the above steps to the letter, post the award on your site exactly in the manner you are instructed. Do not change the award in any way. Common courtesy says to link back to the award giver's site so that people who see your beautiful new award can understand why you received it.

Next, send a warm thank you to the award giver with a link to the place on your site where you placed the award. Reviewing sites for awards takes many hours and almost all award givers are volunteers. Your thank you will be appreciated.

If, by some chance, the review time frame has passed and you did not receive an award, be gracious about it. It is acceptable to drop a very brief note to the award giver thanking them for reviewing your site and mentioning that you will reapply after the appropriate time period. In any case, do not email or contact an award program with questions about your review before the stated evaluation time frame is over.

After writing your thank you note, review the criteria and try to see why you didn't win. If the award is important to you, make changes to your site to better fit the criteria and then reapply. Always make certain that you wait until the program's re-application date.

You Are Done!

With any luck you are the proud recipient of a beautiful award that honors all of the hard work you have put into your site. You have received the award graciously and made a good impression. If you didn't win this time, you have applied in good faith and accepted the outcome of the evaluation in an honorable manner.

Now go out and get those awards!