If you look at it positively, envy can also inspire creativity. Awards of various hues and colors are the perfect platform to catch a bit of both. The best that get awarded set benchmarks which the herd tries to follow. Next year, there’s going to be someone who races ahead of the herd and becomes a winner.
What’s true for something like the Oscars and The Grammy’s is true for the web too. Websites get awarded for the coolest designs, for great copywriting, for technological wizardry, and even for friendly usability or interactivity. The best websites which walk away with the bouquets raise the bar a notch higher each year.
If you are a web designer or simply learning all about it, it pays to keep an eye on some of the best best website design awards that are dished out. Who knows, you might vie for it one day.
Webby Awards
The Webbys ranks among the top-tier of international awards that recognize excellence on the Internet. It was born from the very first days of the web itself in 1996. The Webbys are presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, which includes an Executive 750-member body of leading Web experts, business figures, luminaries, visionaries and creative celebrities, and Associate Members who are former Webby Award Winners and Nominees and other Internet professionals. Check out the winners’ gallery for an inspirational dose of creativity. The screenshot shows the site which was the People's Voice Winner in 2011.
Web Awards
The WebAwards program is one of the most recognized annual best website design awards that name the best Web sites in 96 industries. It is now in its 15th year and is conducted by The Web Marketing Association. WebAwards is a global competition with entries coming from nearly 52 countries around the world. Websites can apply for recognition in multiple categories. The WebAwards focus on the entire Web site, paying close attention on the creativity and functionality of the overall interactive experience. Check out all the past winners in various categories using the winners search engine. The screenshot shows this year’s winner.
FWA
The FWA is a cool well designed site in itself. FWA or the Favorite Website Awards is an industry recognized internet award program and inspirational portal, established in May 2000. The FWA Hall of Fame showcases some of the best designs which took the honors in the awards list in the years gone by. Looking for design inspiration? Check out the Site of The Day, Site of The Month, and Site of The Year (above screenshot)links. The wallpapers section is another resource you might be interested in.
Pixel Awards
Entries are judged across 24 categories. The awards were established in 2006 and each year websites go head to head to be rated among the best. Apart from the 24 websites that are judged in the main section, the web community also gets to choose 24 more website designs for the People’s Champ award. I am not sure where this award falls in the pecking order, but the lineup of 2010 winners isn’t bad at all if you are looking for web design inspirations. The screenshot is of one of the winners – Born with Design.
CLIO Awards
Awarding websites for their designs is just one of the subsets of the CLIO awards. CLIO Awards covers advertising, design, interactive and public relations. There are other categories, of course like direct mail, innovative media, radio, and a category especially for students. If you are looking for web design inspiration, you will find them spread out in categories like Interactive and tagged as Microsite/Website. You can also go into the CLIO archives and use the search engine to go through past awardees.
These five best website design award sites are relatively easy to enter. Though entering your web design for an award review is an ultimate step, you can use the designs featured here for stirring your own creativity.Here are a few more posts you can follow if you are into web design:
What do you think of these web design award sites? Do you find them inspirational? Is there a web design award site that should have been on this list?
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