Web Competition Announced

The Web Marketing Association has announced the call for entries for its ninth annual international WebAward Competition (www.2005webaward.org ), an Internet award competition that judges website development against an ever increasing Internet standard of excellence

and against peer sites within an industry. The construction industry represents an important category in the WebAward competition, and the Web Marketing Association will again be honoring the Best Construction website of 2005. The deadline for entry is June 1.

"The construction industry is very competitive when it comes to web development and companies can benefit from the independent evaluation of their efforts that the award judges provide," said William Rice, president of the Web Marketing Association. "That is the goal of the WebAward Competition — to provide a forum to recognize the people and organizations responsible for developing some of the most effective websites on the net today. Winning a WebAward also provides a great opportunity to market your success to the outside world."

A complete list of past winners and the entry for companies who wish to compete for 2005 honors can be found at construction.webaward.org .

Websites are judged on design, innovation, content, technology, interactivity, navigation, and ease of use. Each WebAward entry is judged against other entries in the category and then against an overall standard of excellence. The Best of Industry WebAward will be given in each of the more than 90 industry categories. The competition's highest honor, the 2005 WebAward Best of Show, will be given to the one site that the judges believe represents outstanding achievement in Web development.

The Web Marketing Association will also recognize the interactive agency receiving the most awards in the competition with the Top Interactive Agency WebAward.

Judging for the WebAwards will take place in July and August, with recipients being announced in September. Judges will consist of a select group of Internet professionals who have direct experience designing and managing corporate websites including members of the media, advertising executives, site designers, content providers, and webmasters, with an in-depth understanding of the current state-of-the-art in website design and technology. Past Web Marketing Association WebAward competition judges have included top executives from leading corporations, institutions and media organizations such as Ogilvy Interactive, Saatchi & Saatchi, Blattner Brunner, Comedy Central, Sun Microsystems, Refinery, Euro RSCG, EPB Interactive, New York Post Interactive, The Cincinnati Enquirer, J. Walter Thompson, Xerox, Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Modem Media, Answerthink, and Zentropy Partners.

The 2005 WebAwards are sponsored by BURST! Media, PRWeb, Burrelle's/Luce, O'Dwyer's PR Daily, NewsUSA, Small Army Marketing Services, Perseus Software, Line56 Media, OddCast, and AdTools, Inc.

The Web Marketing Association is an organization working to create a high standard of excellence for website development and marketing on the Internet. Staffed by volunteers, it is made up of Internet marketing, advertising, public relations, and design professionals who share an interest in improving the quality of advertising, marketing and promotion used to attract visitors to websites.

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 ninth year, the WebAward Competition has become the premier award event for Web developers and marketers worldwide. For more information contact: William Rice president, Web Marketing Association, Inc. Phone: (860) 558-5423; wrice@webaward.org .