Forum Moderators: LifeinAsia
1. What web site awards are available that are worth getting?
2. Are web site awards important to independent web developers?
If anyone can answer these questions or know if the Axiem Awards are still available and can direct me to them I would appreciate it.
Fortune Hunter
Awards impress those who are easily impressed with awards. I've received awards for photographing all sorts of advertising campaigns. Some of those awards have been the most sought-after in the advertising industry.
Awards are often won for campaigns that were pro-bono. IOW, there really wasn't a paying client.
The most satisfying award I received was an "Effie" award years ago. Effie awards are based on the advertising campaigns' actual impact on sales.
The people who came to me with ad-winning campaigns had no money. You can't eat awards.
All that said, if you want to polish your reputation, and you have the time to work for free or for very little, awards can and do boost your reputation.
Back then, I had applied for those free awards. Ultimately, it became something that I mention only in passing as part of my company profile, I didn't find it necessary to order a certificate to hang on a wall. I don't think awards make a big difference, but it can't hurt to mention them. I believe that memberships (such as with the Better Business Bureau, your local Chamber of Commerce or other professional organization) carry significantly more weight than awards, and are a better indication of credibility. At the end of the day, clients will always be more interested in looking at what you've produced for others as opposed to what awards you've received. Your portfolio speaks volumes about what you can offer them.
on the whole these awards are a very well known and old scam to get links and build pagerank
>>2. Are web site awards important to independent web developers?
not to me they're not ... other opinions may differ
Matt
I also used to work for a medium sized web development company that had won 4 or 5 different awards and they displayed them in our lobby where clients coming in could see them and had pictures of them along with their names on our proposals. I never really could quantify any dollar value benefit from them, but then I really wasn't in that part of the business.
A quick query in Google produced hundreds of web site awards you could get and by and large I figured 99% were worthless awards that nobody has ever heard of or was the work of one person that "created" their own award to give away so they could sell plaques and such.
So the consensus is don't waste time applying for and seeking out any of these?
Fortune Hunter
While I may have sounded negative about awards in my first post, they did help burnish my image as a high-end photographer. And, as you know, in advertising, image is everything.
Awards are often won for campaigns that were pro-bono. IOW, there really wasn't a paying client.
[grumble]Almost every single Web site I've ever done has been pro bono. Many of them, I've enacted a charter that says I can't take credit for doing them. A couple are easily the best in the world for what they do. No awards. Not even a sniff of one...[/grumble]
I agree that image is everything or rather perception is everything. Do you have some suggestions for awards that you believe carry some credibility with them, i.e. awards clients might recognize and would be good image enhancement
FH
on the whole these awards are a very well known and old scam to get links and build pagerank
Being asked to put an award on your home page with a link back to someone else's site for free, unless the award is for the Nobel prize, is one of real life's little IQ test questions that a lot of people seem to have problems answering correctly. :)
[edited by: Jane_Doe at 1:12 am (utc) on Mar. 20, 2007]
Being asked to put an award on your home page with a link back to someone else's site for free, unless the award is for the Nobel prize, is one of real life's little IQ test questions that a lot of people seem to have problems answering correctly.
That's assuming you put the award graphic on your homepage, or that you even provide a return link. I do neither, I'm content just to dedicate a sentence on my accolades page that I've won "so and so award" for a certain number of years.
Most of the award-winning ads I photographed were plain block-outs (or knock-outs, if that's the terminology in your area). IOW, a monkey could have shot those photos.
Almost none of the ads involved any creative input on my part. So, while I got credits for participating in the ads, I received no credit for my own creative input.
The awards I received, and which I most value, were those that involved my input as a photographer. And the art directors I know can tell the difference.
Awards are given out every day. I know people who've won awards just for being present.
If you can point to some awards, explain to your clients why those awards were important, and explain how your role in achieving those awards was pivotal, well, you have youself a selling point.
The most ridiculous award I've ever won was for a photograph of a male dog licking his genitals. The ad won Best of Show in the Chicago Addy Awards.
As you might imagine, it didn't take much for the dog to do what he did.
As for my part in the process? Very minimal indeed. But I got an award.
