Qualifying Criteria (Pass/Fail)

Age: You need to be 18 years or older to apply for the FreeWorldGroup Webmaster Award

Site creator: You should be the creator/designer/webmaster of the submitted site.

Language: Only apply if your site is written in English or has a good English translation.

Compatibility and Loading (10 % of overall score)

Browser (5 points): We will check to see if your site works on different brower versions. It should be compatible with both Internet Explorer and Netscape platforms. Greater emphasis will be placed on Internet Explorer compatibility, as this is the most widely used browser at present.

Loading time (5 points): A slow loading web site is not a good web site. We will check the loading speed of pages on your site. Make sure most pages load within 30-45 seconds (56 Kbit/s modem).

General Site Issues (40 % of overall score)

About (10 points): What is your site about? It is important that your visitors get a good feel for your site from the main page. The rest of your site should reflect the main components identified on the main page.

What information does your site have? Is it useful, informative, entertaining? Site's lacking substance will not score well.

Navigation (10 points): Your visitors do not have time to navigate through a maze. It is very important that they can move through your site quickly and efficiently, allowing them to find what they are looking for. We will be looking for consistent and easy to find navigation buttons/links on your site.

Creativity (20 points): Nowadays there are too many sites that look the same. We do not want to see a generic reproduction of a million other sites. You will be judged on original thought - the more original your design, the better you will score.

It is important to remember that creativity needs to be married with functionality. It's pointless having the most unique, beautiful site on the web if it takes forever to load, or if it is impossible to find your way around.

Do not change site themes from page to page. If you start with one theme carry it on throughout the site! This makes it easier to move around the site without getting overwhelmed by dramatic changes in site appearance or layout.

Click here for additional criteria.