Award Categories
The categories for the Australian Web Awards 2013 are as follows:
- Personal
- E-commerce
- Commercial
- Government
- Education
- Culture & Events
- Not for Profit
- Innovation
- Political *new
- Social Media *new
You can enter the above Desktop categories and/or your Mobile implementation of the category.
State awards will be given in NSW/ACT, Vic/Tas, Queensland, SA/NT and WA. Awards are only given if judges believe an acceptable standard has been reached.
National finalists will be the winners from each state in each category. A Most Outstanding site will also be awarded.
Personal
This is for non-commercial sites – e.g. bloggers, amateur photographers, social causes and musicians. Sites should contain little or no commercial content.
Sites using stock template designs and off the shelf CMS implementations (Tumblr; Wordpress.com, Blogger, Facebook) are perfectly acceptable.
The site is judged on content, not on technology.
Examples:
- Adamtrickett.com: Adam Trickett (WA)
- Darwin Foodies: Tuan Nguyen - Captovate (NT)
- Mining Man: Get Started (VIC)
E-commerce
This category is for websites whose primary purpose is to sell products online or conduct an interactive transaction online.
User experience and development are important, and credibility plays a role. The issues of trust and the level of fitness of purpose are influenced by the type of security certificates, customisation and shopping cart flow.
The key component of this category is the user experience in the online transaction system.
Examples:
- HIF - Health Insurance Fund of Australia: HIF - Health Insurance Fund of Australia(WA)
- Ambrosia Luxury Scented Candles: Adam Zerner, Rachel Zerner (NSW)
- The Coffee Company: Gee Multimedia
- Sophie Kyron Jewellery: Clever Starfish
Commercial
This category is for sites where the primarily goal is providing a service or information of a commercial nature, whether that audience is individuals or enterprise-level clients.
The core aspect of the site will not transactions or e-commerce but on selling the service or product, hence visual design, content and user experience are important.
Examples:
- ClassMarker: Trent Williams, Andres Rojas, Heidi Spets (QLD)
- Claremont Quarter: Sumo Group (WA)
- Australian Ethical Investment: Oxide Interactive
- Airnorth: Captovate
Government
This category is for government websites or wholly government-funded programs.
User experience and content are important criteria in this category. Government has shown leadership in the accessibility area and we would expect the winning site to meet or near WCAG 2.0 Level AA standards.
Examples:
- Pseudoscorpions of the world: Western Australian Museum (WA)
- MoneySmart: MoneySmart team - Australian Securities and Investments Commission (NSW)
- Perth Solar City: Bam Creative
- Victorian Government Contacts & Services Directory: Information Victoria, Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development
Education
This category is for educational institutions such as schools (private, public, primary and secondary), Registered Training Oganisations and universities.
Typically, the sites would support the ongoing business of education and recruitment of prospective students, as well as supporting current students and staff.
User experience, accessibility and content are important criteria.
Examples:
- Highgate Primary School: Bam Creative (WA)
- Innovative Research Universities: Zeroseven (QLD)
- The Broadhurst Family: Western Australian Museum (WA)
- HMAS Sydney (II): Western Australian Museum
- Green Lane Diary : Zeroseven
Culture & Events
The category includes events, conferences, festivals, the Arts and sport.
Content, visual design, user experience are important criteria.
Examples:
- AC/DC Australia’s Family Jewels: Western Australian Museum (WA)
- GGArmy.com: Get Started (Vic)
- Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre: 3Easy & scopemedia
- James Seear: Zeroseven
Not for Profit
Candidate sites can be Not-For-Profit organisations, non-government sites (NGOs) or industry associations.
User experience, visual design and content are important criteria. Matching the style and utility of the site to the purpose of the organisation is also important.
Examples:
- Young Carers WA: Bam Creative (WA)
- Raising Children Website: Raising Children Network (VIC)
- Now What: CanTeen, Francesca Pinzone
- Queensland Seafood Industry Association: Alyte Creative
Innovation
This category is for those who innovate and push the boundaries of what the web can do.
It must be something different; new or not, not just run-of-the-mill. This category includes online applications.
Entrants will be judged on their innovative idea, technical expertise and design & development.
Examples:
- Satterley Our New Home: Sumo Group (WA)
- VendorPanel: Magnetized Markets (VIC)
- Swap Kids Clothes: Itomic
- Loop 11: Loop 11
Political
This includes online political campaigns in whatever web format for candidates, political parties and lobby groups. It also includes campaigns and projects seeking support, funding and policy positions from government.
Entrants will be able to progressively update their entry indicating the progress of their campaign as the federal election approaches. This category will close September 13th, 2013.
We are judging campaign effectiveness but will take into account the resources brought to bare. A small campaign/site that has a relatively large impact will have an equal chance against a very well resourced site.
Social Media
This new category recognises the increasing importance of social media marketing.
Entrants are encouraged to provide real-world business metrics but those will not be disclosed without the entrant's written agreement.
Criteria includes engagement, strategy, how well structured the campaign was, how well it was measured, and critically, what results were achieved.
Mobile
The platform could be Android, iOS or Windows Mobile on a smartphone or a tablet.
If you've provided a responsive or customised mobile implementation of your site, you can submit in this category as well as one of the “desktop” categories.
