Another *yawn* National Award
Category: Navel Gazing...
Posted Monday, March 15, 2004 at 06:53 PM [GMT-6]

I learned today that the website I designed and continue to maintain for the Permian Basin Area Foundation has won another award from the Council on Foundations (COF), "a membership organization of more than 2,000 grantmaking foundations and giving programs worldwide."

The website was given a Wilmer Shields Rich Award for Excellence in Communications, in the category for Community and Public Foundations with assets of $5-20 million. The website also won this award in 2002.

While it's always nice to have your work recognized, I don't take these things too seriously. For all I know, there were only three websites submitted for consideration. Plus, based on the design limitations of the COF's own website, I'm not sure how qualified the judges are.

It is also interesting that this is one of my pro bono sites. We haven't spent a lot of time on bells and whistles for the site because I can't really spare the time (and the client hasn't been particularly interested in them, anyway). Some of the comments from the judges indicate that the simplicity is a plus, although the site was marked down for a relative lack of photos, which makes it seem a little cold, in one judge's words.

And that's the main benefit for me: I get to see the judging panel's scorecard and comments, and it's pretty rare to get direct and objective feedback on your work. I didn't agree completely with all the comments, but others provided good food for thought. There are a few simple improvements we could make that wouldn't be terribly time-consuming. Who knows...maybe we'll land the gold in 2006!