Best of the Web is an annual contest to recognize the best museum work on the web. Sites are nominated by museum professionals from around the world and reviewed by a committee of peers.

Previous winners are listed on Wikipedia.

How does the Best of the Web work?

• All nominations are made through this website and are available online for others to review.
• Only registered users can nominate a site. If you haven’t registered, feel free to set up an account. Note: Accounts resulting from a campaign to promote a site will not be approved or will be suspended when discovered.
• Each registered user can nominate only one site.
• Sites can be nominated in any one of the categories.
• You are encouraged to nominate a site other than your own.

What’s required in a Nomination?

• To make a nomination complete the online form.
• Complete all the fields:
  • Site Name
    the formal name of the site, or part of a site
  • Institution
    the museum that launched the site; format this so it sorts in lists
  • Designer
    the name of the individual or firm who designed the site. if in-house, say so here.  
  • URL
    the full, working URL for the site, starting with http:// Make sure you get this right. if we can’t find the site, we can’t review it.
  • Category
    the category the site should be considered it. pick an appropriate category; parts of sites that excel in a category do better in competition than home pages nominated in any category.
  • Small Museum Yes / No
    should this site be considered for a Small Museum award?
  • Why
    help the judges: highlight why this site is great at what it does. Cite specific pages by URL. Include screen shots if desired.
  • Screen Images
    At least one screen shot is recommended. These should highlight exceptional parts of the site. Upload a screenshot by clicking on the media button above the Why text area. Follow the prompts on the pop-up form, first to upload your image file, and then to link it to your nomination. Put your image at the start of your text, and the words will flow around it. Please use the default settings for image formatting.
• Preview your nomination and correct any problems.
• Submit your nomination.
• Once submitted, nominations will be reviewed by MW2012, and then released to the conference site.

The Deadline

• Nominations will be accepted until February 21st, 2013

The List of Nominations

• Nominations will listed immediately after they are reviewed and released.
• Nominations are linked to the user profile of the nominator.

The Review Process

• All nominations will be available for members of the community to review and comment.
• Comments on nominated sites are encouraged.
• All nominated sites will be considered by the Best of the Web Committee for an award.
• See the outline of Panel review process.

People’s Choice

• Members of the community vote for the “people’s choice’ award: April 7 – April 17, 2013.
• When voting is open, registered [logged in] users will be able to select a project and cast a vote.
• Only registered users can vote for a site. Each user has one vote.
  If you haven’t registered, feel free to set up an account. Accounts created during a campaign to promote a site will not be approved.
• Voting for the ‘People’s Choice’ is limited to members of this online community [professionals, researchers and students in cultural informatics] because it is not intended to be a public popularity contest. Like the other Best of the Web Awards, the People’s Choice is an opportunity for peers – people in our field – to recognise good work. Broad, public campaigns for support are not encouraged. Collegial jostling is expected.

The Awards

• Best of the Web 2012 Awards will be made at the Museums and the Web 2013 conference, in Portland, Oregon on Friday, April 19, 2013