Website Awards - Code of Ethics

The copyright statement on this page is for graphics and design only. The CEM/CEMA graphics copyrights belong to the corresponding organizations. The Code of Ethics Statement is public domain. This document was originally written by Rhonda Serong in an effort to promote ethical practices and awareness among award givers. If you have an award site and would like a Statement of Ethics for your program, please go to CEM/CEMA. There is a statement on the site that is easy to personalize just for your site.

I, Maggi Norris, Owner of all Awards Programs held at the Website Awards Website, do hereby declare on behalf of myself and any other Evaluator(s) who may be contracted at any time by Website Awards to evaluate for any Website Awards Sponsored Award Program that I agree to advance and promote the Website Evaluator Code of Ethics in order to ensure fairness to all Applicants and to maintain the honor and integrity of Applicants, Evaluators and Awards.

I agree that all critiques given will be constructive in nature as positive comment is productive. I will refrain from criticism unless specifically requested by an Applicant, and in such instances, will remain positive where possible in an effort to promote goodwill and advance the level of quality among Internet sites.

I agree to maintain a professional, friendly and positive manner in any and/or all correspondence and/or communication held with any Applicant/s.

I agree to allow eligibility to all Applicants who meet the SET (posted online, written = set) Criteria of any particular award. I agree to be uniform in our eligibility requirements (Criteria) and will fairly evaluate all sites/pages meeting our Criteria which are submitted by any Applicant. I further agree to clearly post these Criteria.

I agree not to discriminate on grounds of race, gender, nation of origin, religion, profession, age, mental or physical handicap, or any other reason which is not globally viewed as an illegal trait or manner of conduct.

I agree to set forth Awards Criteria and to adhere to same. Proposed time frames for changes will be posted on the What's New page for two (2) weeks prior to the final publishing of same with notices posted on the Application Page so all potential Applicants can view and understand the proposed changes.

I agree to evaluate Websites under the Criteria which was in place at the time of any and/or all application(s). If changes are made to Criteria AFTER application(s) is(are) received, the submitted site(s) will be evaluated using the Criteria that was in effect when Applicant(s) initially submitted the site(s).

I agree to immediately inform any Criteria compliant Applicant in writing, of a 'Refrain to Evaluate' if it is found that a Conflict of Interest would occur in evaluating their Website - e.g. Such may occur upon being requested to evaluate the Website of a good friend or coworker. In the event a sufficient number of Website Awards Evaluators are unable to review a site notice will be sent to the applicant offering an impartial review by a team of evaluators chosen from the Ethics Membership Listing.

I agree to evaluate all submitted sites within four (4) weeks and to grant awards within twelve (12) weeks of receipt of submission. If this deadline cannot be met, I agree to suspend submissions until we can again work within this time frame. In the case of bulk submissions this time deadline Clause is not applicable.

I agree to encourage and promote the use of original material for Awards Programs Criteria and evaluation processes. I agree to assist any person requesting advice concerning ethical evaluation for and disbursement of awards. PLEASE NOTE: The Awards Evaluation processes in use at Website Awards are copyrighted material by Maggi Norris with all rights withheld.

I agree to maintain any owned individual Website/s that include Awards Program/s to a standard that meets the Criteria of the Award/s given. In the case of any Award/s offered that is/are OUTSIDE the main subject of our Website/s, any and/or all such Website/s will be maintained to a high standard of integrity in all its/their main areas

I agree to maximum dimensions of Awards given in courtesy of Websites that will use them. I may offer larger sizes if desired, but winning sites will have a choice. If the maximum dimensions cannot be adhered to then a text only link will be permitted for graphics larger than maximum size. (Maximum size dimensions offered from this Website are: no more than 200 pixels Height and 200 pixels Width.

It is not, and never will be, mandatory at this Website to sign a Guest book or to join a mailing list.

I agree that we will take all measures necessary to maintain the honor and integrity of our Awards Programs.

ALL Award Programs, including Awards held at and executed from the Website Awards Website are the legal sole property of the owner/designer of the Website and are Copywritten as such. This does not include the awards Website Awards is affiliated with or any award program that does not carry the Website Awards logo or name, these sites carry their own copyright and permission to use their graphics has been granted to Website Awards by the copyright owners.

ALL Website Awards Honors which have been or may be presented to the Website Awards Website or any Website Awards designed website are the legal property of the Award Evaluators who presented same and any Copyright they may have upon their Website will apply. Website Awards undertakes to honor any such Copyright and will not condone copying of any such Award under any circumstances.

I agree not to divulge any information about any Applicant to persons, groups, or agencies not directly connected to our Awards Program. All information received from Applicants via e-mail submissions or submission forms will be deemed private and kept within Website Awards, except to maintain a winners list and gathering statistics as explained in the following paragraphs. In the event impartial evaluators outside Website Awards are needed only the name of the site and the URL of the site will be given to the guest evaluator/s.

This site uses information obtained from applications to gather and maintain numerical statistics about Website Awards. This information does not include any personal or professional information obtained about any site or applicant and is used only for statistics that directly affect the judging procedures of Website Awards.