Best Education Website of 2010 to be Named by Web Marketing Association in 14th Annual WebAward Competition

WEST SIMSBURY, Conn., April 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The Web Marketing Association announces the call for entries for its 14th annual international WebAward Competition for Web site development at www.webaward2010.org. The WebAwards is the standards-defining competition that sets benchmarks for 96 industries, including education, schools and university websites, based on the seven criteria of a successful web site. The deadline for education websites to enter to be judged is May 25, 2010.

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"The education industry is very competitive when it comes to Web development and companies can benefit from the independent evaluation of their online efforts," said William Rice, President of the Web Marketing Association. "Education web sites tend to have a smaller budget than other industries in the competition. Because of this, many are unable to implement some of the features, such as Flash technologies, that could help them get higher scores."

Websites are judged on seven criteria including design, innovation, content, technology, interactivity, copy writing and ease of use. Each WebAward entry in the Education category is judged against other education entries and then against an overall standard of excellence.

All education entrants benefit from receiving valuable feedback in terms of their specific criteria scores compared against the average scores for their industry. They also may receive specific comments from the WebAward's professional judging panel on their Web site development efforts.

Winners of a WebAward in the education category will also receive:

• Image plaque or certificate of achievement
• Increased visibility for their company
• Marketing opportunity to promote the company website to the media
• Links to your site from the highly ranked WebAward site to help SEO
• Admiration of peers, friends and co-workers

Each year, the Web Marketing Association names the Best of Industry for the various education categories based on the score they receive from the WebAward judges.

Recent winners of the Best Education Web Site include:

• 2009 – American University for American University Web Site
• 2008 - TribalDDB for START A CHAIN REACTION
• 2007 - Creative Channel Services, LLC for Virgin Mobile - Train on Your Terms
• 2006 - National Geographic for Discover Antarctica
• 2005 - Disney Online for Hot Shot Business
• 2004 - General Motors for GMability Education
• 2003 - Disney Online for Hot Shot Business
• 2002 - Freddie Mac for Your Route to Homeownership

Recent winners of the Best Schools Web Site include:

• 2009 – WhippleHill Communications for Latin School of Chicago
• 2008 – WhippleHill Communications for Vail Mountain School
• 2007 – Tellus for Bethany School
• 2006 – WhippleHill Communications for St. George's School
• 2005 – Tellus for West Clermont School District
• 2004 – eSiteful Corporation for Plano Independent School District

Recent winners of the Best University Web Site include:

• 2009 – BrowserMedia for University of Maryland Women's Basketball
• 2008 - Market United for Murdoch University Switching
• 2007 – The Art Institute of Pittsburgh for The Art Institute of Pittsburgh
• 2006 - Xavier University for The Road to Xavier
• 2005 - Geary Interactive for Sand Diego State University Timeline
• 2004 - School of Visual Arts for School of Visual Arts web site
• 2003 - 160over90 for Chestnut Hill College Admissions site
• 2002 - University of Houston for University of Houston – Division of University Advancement

The 2010 WebAwards are sponsored by the following leading organizations: BGT Partners, Burst Media, PR Newswire, AllBusiness, ExactTarget, ad:tech conferences,  Internet World UK, Search Engine Strategies, Webmaster Radio, and Website Magazine.

About the WebAwards

Now in its 14th year, the annual international WebAwards competition sets the standard of excellence in 96 industry categories by evaluating Web sites and defining benchmarks based on the seven essential criteria of successful Web site development.  The goal of the Web Marketing Association, sponsor of the WebAwards, is to provide a forum to recognize the people and organizations responsible for developing some of the most effective Web sites on the Internet today.  Entrants benefit from a Web site assessment by a professional judging panel and the marketing opportunities presented to an award-winning Web site.  For more information, visit www.webaward2010.org.

SOURCE Web Marketing Association