The Web Marketing Association is pleased to announce the winners of its14th annual WebAward Competition for Web site development. More than 2,000 sites from 45 countries were adjudicated in 96 industry categories during this year’s competition. Entries were judged on design, copy writing, innovation, content, interactivity, navigation, and use of technology. A complete list of the winning sites can be found at the WebAward Web site at www.webaward.org.

“The level of excellence in website development continues to increase, constantly making the Internet a very competitive place to do business,” said William Rice, President of the Web Marketing Association. “Each year the WebAwards receives amazing entries from around the world that show impressive creativity and functionality. As the Internet evolves, so does the state of website development and winning a WebAward is a great way to demonstrate the effectiveness of your Web development efforts.”

Best of Show

The 2010 Best of Show WebAward is presented to Hitchcock Fleming & Associates Inc. for their exceptional work on “Glidden Website”. The site was also recognized as Best Manufacturing Website.

When Glidden decided to revamp their website, they turned to Hitchcock Fleming & Associates to help communicate feelings of fun, ease and design confidence. Through the creation of an inspiring color selector, the user-friendly new site allows consumers to visualize the room of their dreams before ever lifting a brush.

Top Agency

For the second year in a row, Extractable was named Top Agency at the 2010 WebAward Competition, taking home 27 WebAwards. The Top Agency Award is given to recognize the consistently outstanding development going on at interactive firms. The Bay Area interactive agency specializing in web strategy, web design, custom technology, was recognized with Best Computer Hardware Website, Best Credit Union Website, an Outstanding Website WebAward and 24 Standard of Excellence WebAwards.
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Agencies or companies winning five or more WebAwards in 2010 include:

AGENCY AWARDS
Extractable 23
Biggs|Gilmore 22
BGT Partners 20
Risdall Marketing Group 20
LeapFrog Interactive 13
VML 13
Sabre Hospitality Solutions 12
TRAVELCLICK 12
Blenderbox Inc 9
Bridge Worldwide 9
Organic, Inc. 9
TMP Worldwide 9
AGENDA 8
Fastbooking Asia Pte Ltd 8
Arnold Worldwide 7
BrowserMedia 7
CareTech Solutions 7
Empower MediaMarketing 7
John Hancock 7
WSI 7
THOMAS IDEA CO., LTD. 6
Aristotle 5
Arc Worldwide-A Leo Burnett Co 5
Forum One Communications 5
Hanson Inc. 5
Hubbard One 5
Media Explorer Limited 5
SapientNitro 5
Savannah College of Art and Design 5
THINK Interactive 5
Walt Disney 5
WestcomZivo Limited 5

Competition format

The competition was judged by a team of independent Internet professionals representing a variety of relevant disciplines of Web site development. Judges included members of the media, advertising executives, site designers, creative directors, corporate marketing executives, content providers and webmasters.

The WebAward competition format allows Web sites to compete head to head with other sites within their industry to win the Best of Industry award. Entries also compete against a standard of excellence to win Outstanding Website and Standard of Excellence WebAward. Each site is judged on seven different criteria and earns a score between 0 and 70 points. The highest score in a given category wins Best of Industry for that category. If the remaining entries receive a score of 60 or greater, they receive the Outstanding Web site award. Entries that score higher than their industry average and below 59.9 receive the Standard of Excellence.

The 2010 WebAwards are sponsored by the following leading organizations: ExactTarget, Burst Media, PR Newswire, AllBusiness, BGT Partners, ad:tech conferences, NewsUSA, Internet World UK, Search Engine Strategies, Webmaster Radio and Website Magazine.

About the Web Marketing Association

The Web Marketing Association is working to create a high standard of excellence for Web site development and marketing on the Internet. Staffed by volunteers, it is made up of Internet marketing, advertising, PR and design professionals who share an interest in improving the quality of Website development and marketing on the Internet. Since 1997, the Web Marketing Association’s annual WebAward Competition has been helping interactive professionals promote themselves, their companies, and their best work to the outside world. Now in its 14th year, the WebAward Competition has become the premier award event for Web developers and marketers worldwide.

In a departure from the past, the Web Marketing Association is no longer pre-announcing the winners to the participants prior to the public release of results on September 15th.

If you entered the 2010 WebAward Competition, please log in to your nominator account and review the information submitted for each entry before September 15th. Specifically review the title of the entry and who is to be recognized for winning the award. This is information that will be included on the awards as well as information that will be posted online on our website. Only the nominator can update this information and only through the nominators account.

There were some fantastic sites submitted for review this year and our expert judges spend hundreds of hours pouring over the entries and reviewing them on seven different criteria. While not everyone can win recognition in the 2010 WebAwards, everyone benefits from the judges scores benchmarked to their industry.

For 2010, the WebAwards has also upgraded it’s physical awards. The top winner in each industry will receive a handsome gold trophy to display. The Certificate of Achievement has also been upgraded with the help of our friends at BGT Partners. We are also looking to improve our production process so that winners receive their awards quicker and with less errors, so be sure to review your entry data before September 15th.

The Web Marketing Association will announce the winners of the 2010 WebAward Competition for Website development on their website on September 15, 2010.

Participants will be contacted via email before the 15th to review their entry credits to be sure the are correct when the winners are announced.

Special thanks to the panel of expert judges who spent hundreds of hours reviewing the sites in this year’s competition.

The extended deadline for the 2010 WebAward competition for Website Development has passed and no additional entries can now be submitted. Editing of existing entries has also been closed off.

We wish the best of luck to all of this year’s participants.

Tomorrow, June 15th, is the final day to enter the 2010 WebAwards. It’s now or never if you have not yet entered your best work. It’s time to win the recognition you deserve. Learn more at
http://www.webaward.org/bestwebsites.asp

The original deadline for entering the Web Marketing Association’s 14th annual WebAward competition is today, May 25, 2010.

We will be extending the deadline to enter the 2010 WebAward competition without a late fee until this Friday, May 28th. Any sites submitted after this date will be subject to a late fee.

The final deadline to enter will be June 15th, right before the judges receive the sites. No sites will be accepted after this date.

For complete information on how to enter, go to www.webaward.org.

The Web Marketing Association is offer tips to improve your chances at winning a 2010 WebAward on the WMA Facebook Fan Page every weekday for until the May 25th entry deadline.

Here are 10 more Tips:

WebAward Tip #6 – Selecting the Most Appropriate category. The best way to pick the category your site will compete in is by saying to yourself “What would be best for my marketing program if I win?”. Many categories overlap because over the years people complained that they were one and not the other. The other thing to consider is how competitive the category might be. The “Mutual Fund” category is narrower than the “Financial Services” category and might be easier to take the top prize. However, Best Financial Services Website might have more cache for your marketing efforts. Sometimes the best idea is to enter both categories and double your chances to win.

WebAward Tip #7 – Tell Your Other Offices. One of the most prestigious awards given out each year is the Top Agency award, given to the agency which wins the most awards in a given year. If your agency has multiple offices or international offices, make sure they submit their entries also. We will combine all offices of the same company to count for that award.

WebAward Tip #8 – Non-English sites Are Welcome! The international WebAwards accepts sites in 10 languages (English, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese, Greek and Turkish) and assigns these sites to judges who are fluent in that language. However, if an English version of the site is available, please submit that site as we have many more English speaking judges that other languages.

WebAward Tip #9 – Don’t Forget Microsites. It’s not just major enterprise websites that win awards. Sometimes it is the microsite, a site dedicated to a single product or concept, that does very well. It all starts with the URL you submit on the entry form.

WebAward Tip #10 – It’s Not Just The Big Names That Win. We pride ourselves for having a fair competition where it’s not only big brands that win. Judges are assigned sites to review without knowing who else might be in the category. Other website award programs have a history of sending only “big name” sites judges as nominated sites. At the WebAwards, the judges review all of the sites and the one with the highest scores wins.

WebAward Tip #11 – Enter The Same Site Every Year. Your site does not have to be new to enter the WebAwards each year. As Internet standards change, judges view sites differently and criteria scores can be different year over year. It’s a great way to benchmark your site and know what areas need to be improved over time.

WebAward Tip #12 – The URL You Enter Is Our Starting Point. Judges start their review based on the URL provided on the entry form, so you can submit sections of an overall website, not just the homepage. This is helpful when one division or product line has great content and wants to promote itself, but the site is part of a larger organization.

WebAward Tip #13 – Blog About The WebAwards. The more people know about the WebAwards, the more impressed they will be when they hear you have won one. Please help us by blogging about the WebAwards and sending people to www.webaward.org to learn more.

WebAward Tip #14 – Don’t Enter A Banner Ad. Each year several banner ad campaigns are entered the WebAwards and the nominators are always disappointed that they do not win because they don’t have meet the requirements of a website. Banner ads belong in the annual IAC Awards, not the WebAwards.

WebAward Tip #15 – Don’t Enter A Landing Page. Each year landing pages are entered the WebAwards and rarely do they win awards. Landing pages usually are missing several key elements of a complete website and they are better suited to the annual IAC Awards, not the WebAwards. Micro sites however, tend to do very well because of their narrow focus.

Click here to enter the 14th annual Web Marketing Association WebAwards.