Awwwards is a platform that showcases innovative and outstanding digital design and development projects, allowing professionals to get inspiration and keep up with the latest web design trends and technologies.
Today, I want to share our Sommo team's experience with a non-standard way to promote a website using Awwwards.
We at Sommo applied to Awwwards in October 2023 and got an honorable Mention with the Dyvo site. That's why our experience will be helpful to the community.
In this video, Olha Mazuryk and Mariia share their thoughts on winning Awwwards.
Well, if you want to know all the how-tos, read to the end ;)
Why to participate Awwwards
Awwwards.com is more than just a platform; it's a "fashion week" shaping web designers and developers. Gaining international acclaim, Awwwards is a testament to the exceptional skills and creativity of top web developers, designers, and agencies worldwide.
Awwwards.com features a variety of awards, each based on distinct criteria:
Nominations: Every website submitted to Awwwards is automatically nominated, meaning the Awwwards community and jury will evaluate it.
Site Of The Day (SOTD): Daily, one website stands out among all submissions, earning the highly sought-after SOTD award and significant exposure.
Developer Site of The Day (DSOTD): This accolade is awarded to websites that showcase exceptional coding and web development skills.
Site Of The Month (SOTM): From the pool of SOTD winners, one is selected each month as the Site Of The Month, granting even more visibility and acclaim.
Site Of The Year (SOTY): The most prestigious award of all, the SOTY is given annually. Websites are evaluated on various aspects, including design, usability, creativity, content, and development.
Applying your website to Awwwards can offer several benefits.
(1) Winning or even just being nominated can enhance the credibility of your website. It can serve as a badge of honor, showcasing the quality and excellence of your work.
(2) Awwwards can help get your website seen by a larger and more relevant audience - it receives a lot of traffic from web design and development professionals worldwide. Being featured on a reputable site like Awwwards can be good for SEO - it can generate quality backlinks and improve your website's online authority.
(3) You will receive valuable feedback as your website will be judged by a panel of experts
(4)Being part of Awwwards can help build connections within the web design and development community.
(5) Awwwards' recognition can make your website or agency more appealing to potential clients and collaborators.
How to apply & how much does it cost
To secure an Awwward, submit your website to Awwwards.com. The procedure is straightforward and clear-cut:
(1) Register your account - https://www.awwards.com
(2) Go to https://www.awwards.com/settings/submissions, click "Submit website," enter your site URL, and pay for the appropriate option Standard Submission = $60 or Discount Package (5 Standard Submissions) = $170.
If you are considering a long-standing game - see more plans here - https://www.awwards.com/submit. After payment, you can add information and main image thumbnail size 1600 x 1200 px.
(3) After submitting your site for review, you expect approval from the Awwwards team.
"It's quite normal for sites to take up to a week to get approved & published. Our approval process is carried out manually and can experience backlogs due to weekends and/or large volumes of submissions."
If your status is still pending, you can edit your submission. If your submission has already been approved, you can request changes via emailing the Awwwards team.
Our approval took 3 days. We received a confirmation email and a live link to your website on Awwwards.com.
How they rank
After the website is published, you receive feedback and ratings from the community. Depending on the status, these votes will influence the rating of your site. Then, a professional jury team comes into play.
“Once approved, sites are sent to a minimum of 18 jury members, and the 3 jury scores furthest from the average are automatically eliminated by our system. The voting process lasts 5 days, but if a site receives a high score from the jury and at least 10 PRO users, it could win a SOTD before the end of the 5-day period.“
You can see all user names and ratings on your Awwwards page, but you will only be able to see your jury score if you win SOTD.
To engage your visitors and help get your recognition, you can put the "Nominee" ribbon on your website.
The evaluation system is based on the following 4 criteria: design (40% points), usability (30%), creativity (20%), content (10).
"For Honorable Mention win, the score from the JURY needs to be 6.5 or higher, same as the score from the USES (Chief, Tribe, Pro, International accounts)."
Next, over 3 months, your website can be a contender for the 'Site of the Day' award (SOTD). The Awwwards team will contact you by e-mail within 15-90 days to let you know whether your site will appear as "Site of the Day".
Then the jury re-evaluates the top 8 sites of the month, taking into account user votes to determine Site of the Month (SOTM)
Each website that wins the SOTM is nominated and competes for the prestigious Site of the Year (SOTY).
Websites that received the "Site of the Day" award and assessed based on performance guidelines, SEO, accessibility, and other criteria receive the Developer Award. By the way, you can find some useful tips on optimizing your website's performance on Webflow in this article.
How to win
You can find numerous tips on preparing your site, from thoroughly studying previous nominees and winners to specific technical advice.
We want to share our non-standard tips from Sommo that might help win.
(1) Interactive Storytelling: Consider incorporating interactive storytelling elements into your website. This could involve animations, transitions, and user interactions to tell a story as users navigate the site.
(2) Experimental Navigation: Try experimenting with unconventional navigation styles or layouts that challenge traditional web design norms while maintaining usability and accessibility.
(3) Incorporate Gamification: Adding gamification elements such as scores, challenges, or interactive puzzles could make the website more engaging and memorable for users.
(4) Unique Visual Effects: Experiment with unique visual effects such as custom cursors, parallax scrolling, or dynamic background changes based on user interaction.
The last one is to join design communities to get professional feedback and improve your website before applying.
Conclusion: "Don't forget"
(1) Don't forget to check updates - for the most current and detailed information, you can always refer to the official Awwwards website - https://www.awwwards.com/
(2) Remember to share - if you're serious about building an Awwwards-winning website, you'll be as tired as a marathon runner at the finish line by the end of it. But come rain or shine, you've got to bask in the glory of your achievement.
(3) Don’t forget to have fun - despite the challenges, the whole process from start to finish was an absolute thrill ride. Ideas were popping up like popcorn until the very last moment. I hope it fires you up just as much!
Our experience working on the Awwwards site was challenging yet fascinating and highly beneficial. If you need assistance in creating a modern and high-quality website and application, please don't hesitate to get in touch with our team.
