I’ve mentioned the Golden Spiders on here several times in the past.
Last year I actually got to attend the night and it was thoroughly enjoyable.
However it’s not about the night itself. It’s the actual awards themselves that concern me.
Other awards, such as the Net Visionaries, are open to the public in all regards, though there are no actual judges involved. A comparison could be easily drawn to the dot net magazine awards, which allow anyone to nominate anyone else but has a panel of judges (including several names that look familiar). (Disclosure: We‘re sponsors)
As I mentioned several times in the past, both here and elsewhere, the nomination fee will dissuade many excellent sites from being nominated. When I raised this with the organisers their glib response was to dimiss the €100 – €150 nomination fee as being required for administrative charges / costs and that any “real” business would be able to afford it. Having started my own business from nothing I can assure you dear reader that every euro matters and tossing away €100 on a nomination for an award is not something I’d have done. Even now, with over a dozen full time staff etc., etc. I’d still take issue with paying that kind of fee.
According to the image only email (yes – no links or HTML – they actually send an image in an email!) they were sending around the other day the “new” site will be launching soon. Damien picked up on their inclusion of a couple of new categories, but RedCardinal, myself and others have been left in the dark … See this thread for more
Wouldn’t it be great if this year’s awards took into consideration:
- design
- web standards
- accessibility
and other metrics that show considerable commitment to the online business world?
I for one won’t be holding my breath…
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