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Tickets now available

Now in it's fourth year, the WA Web Awards is back - bigger and better than ever!

Again, we will showcase the best of the best: the most creative, the most innovative, the best looking and best functioning web sites created and launched in the 2007/2008 financial year. Entries are now closed and judging is underway.

This year the Awards presentation dinner will be held on the second day of the inaugural Edge of the Web Conference in early November. Sign up to the newsletter list to make sure you get all the information as soon as it is released.


Platinum Sponsor

Fasthit Web Hosting

Gold Sponsors

OzPacific Web Solutions Edith Cowan University Webfirm Microsoft

Categories

This year, information about each category including, which criteria are more important for judging categories, is being provided for guidance. The criteria for judging is composed of eight (8) general criteria split into two groups, one of which is user experience.

The criteria are weighted differently according to the importance of the criteria for the category being judged. Specialist categories like Web Innovation and Retail Site have extra criteria, which is of more importance than the eight (8) General criteria.

Examples are provided so that you can see where your web site entry may fit this year.

All entries for this year’s awards are to have been published (launched) online between 1 July 2007 and 30 June 2008 (site qualification time-frame). The sites are to have been produced by a WA based company/designer/developer. All entries must be available online at time of judging.

The Categories for this year are:

  • Student
  • Blog
  • Retail
  • Virtual Business
  • Click’n'Mortar Business
  • Education
  • Government (local, state and federal)
  • Not-for-profit
  • Web Innovation
  • Media, and
  • Most Outstanding

Category Details

Student

The student category is for students who were enrolled in an education institution (school, TAFE, University or training organisation) as a student, during the site qualification time frame. It does not matter what type of site has been submitted as it can be from a personal site through to a virtual business or beyond. The site is to be accessible online during the judging period.

Examples:

Blog

This category is one for bloggers in Western Australia who provide non-commercial, community or personal musings, commentary on social issues, the Internet or anything that takes their interest and intended for general public consumption. Blog sites generally represent the personality of the author or reflect the purpose of the blog.

The site is judged mainly on its content, and fitness for purpose, not necessarily the technology the site is using.

Examples:

The business categories have had a re-design and the following is a reflection of this.

Retail

This category is specifically for the websites whose primary purpose is to sell products online. Not only are the criteria of fitness of purpose and user experience important, there is a set of criteria just for this category. The important new criteria for this category include type of security certificates, customisation and shopping cart flow.

Examples

Virtual Business

This category is specifically for businesses that only exist in the cloud with no physical presence in the real world. The business can be anything from an information site, a site providing services or just the ability to download music and digital files.

As a general rule, if the business cannot continue to provide products or service with out the website, it can be considered a “virtual business”. The important criteria here is that the site matches the purpose of the business and reflects the business identity, that is fitness for purpose, design aesthetics and user experience.

Examples:

Click ‘n’ Mortar Business

This category is for businesses that have a physical presence in the real world. There will be a variety of businesses that fit this category. Sites can be anything from a brochure site, integrated market places for procurement and purchasing between businesses, a portal to services provided or payment facilities. The fitness for purpose, content and user experience are of importance for judging this category.

Examples:

Non-Commercial site

These websites are from either Not-for-profit organsiational structures or non-commercial sites who their web presence as a marketing and communications tool. Not-for-profit /non-commercial sites can be as varied as the Red Cross to a Theatre company to Arts Festival event organiser. User experience is an important criteria for evaluation of this category. Matching the site to the purpose and main vision of the not-for-profit/non-commercial organisation involved is also important.

Examples:

Education

This category is specifically for educational institutions such as schools (private and public, primary and secondary), TAFEs, and Universities. The sites in this category need to support the ongoing business of edcuation, gathering prospective students are well as support their major target audience (the students). The user experience is important for this category as well as fitness for purpose.

Examples:

Government (local, state and federal)

This category is for government websites. User experience is an important criteria for evaluation of this category as is fitness of purpose.

Examples:

Web Innovations

This category is for those who creatively, ingeniously push the boundaries of what the web can do. This may be something different, something new or something not that is not just run of the mill. This includes online applications.

Entrants to this category will be judged on their innovative idea, technical expertise and design. This category are also judged on marketability.

Examples:

Media

The Media category is for websites that produce news or are part of the media spectrum. Content, fitness for purpose and user experience are the criteria that important for judging. Professional bloggers, new media site, traditional media sites and publishers of news can enter into this category

Examples:

Most Outstanding

This award is given to one of the category winners. This year the winners will be judged against each other on the eight (8) General criteria “Raw Scores” only and will be the subject of a discussion between the Judging panel and the Judging Chairperson.