The number of RRCA clubs having web sites continues
to grow each year. Nearly 60% of the RRCA clubs have a web site
and many are actively used for club information of all kinds.
Each year it is a greater challenge to review sites and pick those that are outstanding. To minimize the task of reviewing sites, clubs were asked to submit their sites for the competition. In addition, each club was required to provide a reviewer who would evaluate web sites of 10 other clubs. Results of this review were used to select 5 large club web sites and 5 small club web sites for final judging by our experts. We received lots of feedfack from reviewers about how much they enjoyed looking at other clubs web sites and how it had given them new ideas for their own clubs.
Judging was done in each of two categories, small clubs with 200 members or less, and large clubs with over 200 members. Three Top Sites were picked in each division. Finally, one site was picked from among these six as the Best Site for 2002.
Eligibility
To be eligible sites had to be RRCA clubs with web sites listed on Jan 1, 2002. They also were required to have a link to the RRCA from their home page.
Judging Criteria
The judging criteria are listed below.
- First Impression
- Layout/Graphic Design
- Ease of Navigation
- Use of Technology
- Depth of Content
- Up to Date
- Uniqueness/Personality
- Contribution to RRCA
Here are this year's winners, (listed alphabetically in each division):
2002 Large Club Top Sites
2002 Small Club Top Sites
2002 Best Site
This was a really tough pick. All the sites had strong points and there was no definate consensus among the judges.
Webmaster Jim Carson has been invited to the RRCA convention in Virginia to receive his award.
Comments
First my thanks to all the club reviewers and Freddi Carlip and Megan Kearney for their help looking at the pages.
Competition was extremely close this year. Besides the obvious content and cosmetics these are some of the things that separated web sites in this years final judging:
1) Cross browser compatibility. Will the site work with both Internet Explorer and Netscape browsers?
2) Page size. Can the page be resized to an 800x600 screen or to a 1280x960 screen and still look good?
3) Navigation. How many clicks does it take to find something? It is easy to get from down in the website to something else?
4) Up to date. Are things like the calendars, results and newsletter articles updated?
5) RRCA support. Besides the link to the RRCA on the home page is there other support for the RRCA or use of their programs such as the convention, Women's Distance Festival, web resources etc.
If you want to improve your site, look at some of these details and take the time to surf the winning sites. You can get a lot of ideas for improving your own web site and your club in general.
Warren Finke webmaster