Best of Web Design Competition

Rules for Entering

Who may enter? The ONLY qualified entrants for this competition are faculty and graduate students who (a) work for or attend an institution that is accredited by ACEJMC, or (b) are current (paid) individual members of AEJMC. University and college staff employees may NOT enter. Undergraduate students may NOT enter.

The entrant must be the person who designed and primarily built the site. (This is a Web design competition, not a teaching competition.) For a larger publication site with many contributors (e.g. a student magazine), the entrant may be the supervising faculty member if the entrant contributed significantly to the design and production of the site. (See special conditions for the Journalism category only.)

Sites. All sites entered must advance education or research in journalism or mass communication. Sites unrelated to this field are NOT accepted. Sites must fit into one of the given categories. The entrant must choose the best category for the site submitted. A site may be submitted only once per year and in only ONE category. An entrant may enter more than one site in a single year. Sites that do not fit the criteria will be eliminated from the competition by the director.

Presentation. Winning sites will be presented at the AEJMC annual convention in August. If the entrant of a Web site selected for an award cannot be present at the convention, that person must make arrangements for the site to be presented there. Travel expenses are NOT paid. AEJMC membership is required for anyone attending the convention.

Categories

This Web design competition includes four distinct entry categories. A site may be entered in only ONE category. As in the AEJMC paper competitions, the entrant must choose the category.

Category 1: Department or School Sites
Informative or promotional Web sites created for a college, school or department of journalism or mass communication. Only sites related to journalism or mass communication will be accepted. These may include sites devoted to a program or major within the university, college or school. The site must be designed and built primarily by the qualified entrant(s). Sites built by staff members are NOT eligible.

Category 2: Teaching Sites
Web sites created as resources to enhance or promote research or teaching. Web sites in this category may include syllabi, tutorials, study guides, presentations of research findings and journalism projects. Sites related to individual courses may be included in this category. The site must be designed and built primarily by the qualified entrant(s).

Category 3: Journalism Sites
Web sites related to the coverage of news or feature stories, including student newspaper Web sites and student journalism projects. The design and production of the site must be directed by the qualified entrant(s); the entrant’s statement must make clear the contribution of the entrant to the design and production of the site.

The Journalism category is slightly different from the other categories. The sponsoring divisions would like to recognize the top online student publications from journalism and mass communication programs—but we do not have the resources to evaluate every student newspaper Web site every year. More important, the goal of this competition is to recognize the Web design work of faculty and graduate students.

With that goal in mind, we encourage the submission of publication Web sites and journalism project Web sites with content created by undergraduate students under these conditions:

The entrant should describe clearly his or her role in these activities in the “Statement” area of the Site Entry form.

Category 4: Creative Sites
Web sites that explore the technical and creative potential of new media with content that does not fit into the other three categories. These sites may go far afield from traditional journalism. The site must be designed and built primarily by the qualified entrant(s).
Web Media Allowed

If the judges for this competition can view the site in a Web browser, then the medium is acceptable. However, it is expected that the submitted site will, in fact, be a SITE and not a single page. So one Web page that displays a 15-minute QuickTime video is not a valid site entry. (A video is not a Web site.)

A database application is an acceptable site if the front end is all Web pages, regardless of the technology used (ASPs, JSPs, ColdFusion, etc.).

A Macromedia Flash site is acceptable if it plays in a Web browser.

CD-ROM and DVD media are not acceptable. No material will be mailed (or e-mailed) to any judges.

PDF (Adobe Acrobat) documents are not Web sites and are not acceptable for this competition.

A Powerpoint file is not a Web site—and neither is the product of a Powerpoint “Save to Web” operation.
Judges and Review

The winning sites in this competition are selected by judges appointed by the director or co-directors of the competition. To ensure that the “Best of the Web” Design Competition represents the highest caliber of Web-based media, the sponsoring divisions reserve the right to award winners in any or none of the “Best of the Web” categories.

Depending on the number of entries in a category and their quality, more than one prize designation may be made in a category. These may take the form of first, second and third place, for example, or they may be referred to as “honorable mention.” These decisions are made by the judges in the category, with guidance provided by the director or co-directors.

In most years, one site will be honored with the Award of Excellence. This site is selected from the category winners by a vote of all the judges. This vote may or may not be unanimous. The director or co-directors may make the final decision on this award, while considering the opinions expressed by all the judges. (Some judges may recuse themselves from this decision because of a conflict of interest.)

Although the number of entries in this competition varies from year to year, the ratio of entries to winners is low, ranging from 1:7 to 1:14. The upshot: It is much harder to place in this competition than it is in most AEJMC refereed-paper competitions. The sponsoring divisions consider this a good thing.

Judges. The director or co-directors of the competition appoint all judges in the competition. Most judges are members of AEJMC (and of one or both sponsoring divisions), although AEJMC membership is not required. All the judges have experience with Web media, usually as producers or designers. Judges volunteer to serve and are not compensated for their service.

Each site entered in the competition will be blind reviewed by at least two judges. Judges are assigned to a category by the director; typically two judges are assigned to each category. The judges do not confer; all the judges are anonymous to one another. The competition directors and the heads of the sponsoring divisions know the identities of all the judges.

Judges are typically recruited in January or February each year. The judging begins in April and is usually completed by mid-May. Each judge is responsible for evaluating 10 to 20 sites in a typical year.

The judging process. Each site is blind reviewed by at least two judges. Judges are assigned to a category; typically two judges are assigned to each category. The judges do not confer with one another; they do confer (via e-mail) with the competition director(s).

In the case that a judge recognizes a site as being the work of a colleague or friend, that judge is instructed to notify the competition director about a possible conflict of interest. (The nature of Web sites and URLs makes it impossible to ensure completely blind peer review.)

Each judge receives a list of sites to be evaluated by him or her. The list is supplied by the director. All sites are judged using the same Evaluation Form. The form data are entered in a database; the database records are available only to the competition director(s).

After the judging has been completed, the director views the database records to determine the awards in each category. The primary criteria are (a) the total points for Content, Aesthetic Quality and User Interface and Navigation (up to 50 points—see the Evaluation Form); and (b) the judges’ rankings for Overall Evaluation (scale of 1 to 5).

If a site is clearly favored with high scores by both judges, that site receives an award. If two or more sites are closely ranked, more than one award may be given in that category. The director confers with the category judges on this decision.

The judges’ comments and the total score for Use of Technology (0 to 20 points) may be used to determine the ranking of the sites.

All judges in a given category are invited to concur or dissent with the award determinations. The judges’ opinions must be considered seriously, but ultimately the director may have to make the final decision if the judges cannot agree.

About the Awards

Awards are given in each category in a typical year; however, awards might not be given in a category if the caliber of the entries is judged to be unimpressive. (This flexibility ensures the integrity of this competition.)

A First Place award is typically given in each category (but see above). The determination of this award is based on the evaluations by all judges assigned to that category (see The Judging Process). If more than one site receives high rankings, additional awards might be granted. Those might be Second Place and Third Place, or Honorable Mention, or a combination of these.

The decisions are made based on e-mail discussions among the judges and the competition director. The director typically sends a “short list” to all judges in the category and asks the judges to choose one for First Place. (The short list is based on the judges’ evaluations; see The Judging Process.) If there is one clear winner, only one award will be given in that category.

Award of Excellence: After winners in each category have been determined, the judges are asked to select a site for the Award of Excellence. The director e-mails a list of the URLs for all First Place sites to all the judges. All the judges participate in this decision.

Judges are instructed to recuse themselves if they have any conflict of interest in this part of the process. Judges are permitted to choose no site for this award (e.g. if they do not feel any single site stands out from the rest).

If there is no consensus among the judges (typically six to eight judges are involved), the director may select a site to receive the Award of Excellence or may choose not to give the award to any site in that year.

If a Second Place site has been selected in the category from which the Award of Excellence is selected, that site becomes the First Place site in that category; otherwise, no award is given for that category.

Presentation of awards: Awards are presented at the annual AEJMC national convention. Winners in this competition are expected to attend the convention and to present their winning site as part of a scheduled convention panel. To attend the convention, the winner must become a paid member of AEJMC.