Purpose of Awards:
We grant these awards to recognize websites that, by their outstanding, high quality content, and their good esthetics and design are making a significant contribution to knowledge on the web.

How Websites are Selected for Awards:
Websites are selected by our Awards Committee taking into consideration the following factors:

• Content - Content is always king. Sites must have relevant, high quality and meaningful content. Sites that simply reference other sites and/or do not have high quality will not be considered.
• Good Writing and Spelling - These are essential.
• Load Times - Most people have dial up connections. Home pages that do not load quickly will not be considered. If there are slow loading pages then the readers should be warned and given an idea of the load times. In the case of Flash the option of skipping the Flash presentation if it is the introduction must be given.
• Esthetics/Design - Websites have to look good and should exhibit good taste in the colors chosen and the overall design.
• Navigation - Getting from page to page and then back to the home page must be easy to do and be consistent and intuitive.
• Own Domain Names - Sites considered must have their own domain names.
• Pop-ups and Pop-unders - If they are intrusive the site will not be considered for an award.
• Blinking Text - Makes it difficult to grant an award.
• Music - There must be controls so the music can be turned off if the viewer doesn't want to listen.
• Broken Links - We all get them from time to time but they should be minimal.