The number of RRCA clubs having web sites continues
to grow each year. About 50% of the RRCA clubs have a web site
and many are actively used for club information of all kinds.
Web sites are starting to rival club newsletters for dissemination
of club news.
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, we allowed online voting on the submitted sites, hoping to get some help from the public. As it turned out, there was a certain amount of ballot box stuffing by some clubs, (who will go unnamed). This made little difference however, because the votes were used mostly to eliminate clubs as contenders and our judges carefully reviewed those with abnormal numbers of high votes.
Judging was done in each of two categories. Clubs with 100 members or less, and clubs with over 100 members. Three Top Sites were picked in each division. Finally, one site was picked from among these six as the Best Site for 2001.
Eligibility
To be eligible sites had to be RRCA clubs with web sites listed on Jan 1, 2001. They also were required to have a link to the RRCA from their home page, a requirement which eliminated a few clubs who obviously did not read the rules.
Judging Criteria
The judging criteria are listed below.
- First Impression
- Layout/Graphic Design
- Use of Technology
- Depth of Content
- Uniqueness
- Contribution to RRCA
2001 Large Club Top Sites
2001 Small Club Top Sites
2001 Best Site
Webmaster Paul Spencer has been invited to the RRCA convention in New Mexico to receive his award.
Comments
First my thanks to Bryan Finke, Freddi Carlip, Peter Casals and Megan Kearney for their help looking at the pages.
My kudos to Florida State Rep Ken Bendy. The Florida clubs really have their stuff together down there - lots of good web sites with lots of RRCA presence.
The quality of the small club sites show it doesn't take lots of money or hoards of contributors if you are organized and have a few dedicated people. The three Small Club Top Sites made the top 6 without considering the club size and the Best Site was also a small club.
Finally, you can get a lot of ideas for improving your own club if you take the time to surf a few of these sites and find our what is going on in other clubs -- a great source of new ideas.
Warren Finke webmaster