This time last year I wrote of the First Annual Maine Student Web Design Awards (MSWDA), the brainchild of the good folks at Bath’s own Maine Hosting Solutions. The Awards were a resounding success, especially for a first-year program. This year the Awards are back, and they’re bigger and better than ever.

Here’s the scoop. The Awards this year become the first initiative of the Maine Organization for Students in Technology (MOST), a non-profit organization formed to promote and support the importance of educational technology in Maine. The Awards are intended to encourage Maine High School and Middle School students to explore, experience, and one day enter, the thriving high-tech industry here in Maine. Any Maine Middle School and High School student in grades 6 through 12 can enter, as well as homeschooled students in grades 6-12.

This year there’s an added emphasis on integrating the Awards as a logical and rewarding conclusion to units teaching web design skills.

"The MSWDA program is a wonderful addition to the curriculum for any hands-on Internet-related education program," explains MOST Vice President Benjamin Burden.

"All qualified entrants are rewarded with a public exhibition of their work just for entering, along with prize incentives for excellence," he continues. "We are very excited to see the creative energies these students will display."

The theme/subject of the sites entered should be anything related to the Great State of Maine – outdoors, sports, recreation, family, school, groups, business, science, health, games, music, wildlife, etc.

Entrants are responsible for finding a place for their site to “live”. Many schools can provide web space, and there are free web space providers like Angelfire.Lycos and Geocities.Yahoo. Web design industry heavyweights Adobe and Macromedia offer downloadable 30-day trial versions of their professional design tools, and many suggestions for other pieces of the web designer’s toolkit are online at www.mswda.org.

All sites must comply with copyright standards, and must not contain any explicit materials. Group and class entries are encouraged. Entries close on April 16th. Entered sites will then be available for public viewing. Judging (by a panel of professional web and graphic designers) will end on April 30th. The Awards ceremony will be held at the studios of WPXT (WB51 and UPN35) in Westbrook on May 22nd.

First, second and third prizes will be awarded in both the High School and Middle School categories. Other prizes will be awarded for Best Use of Flash in a Website, Best Standards Compliant Website (cross-browser compatibility), Best Group Designed Website, Best Content Rich Website, Best Interactive Website, and Most Entries from a School.

This year’s Awards have some big-name sponsors. Apple Computer, one of the driving forces behind the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI), is a primary sponsor, and will be awarding iMac computers as the contest’s Grand Prizes. Apple joins Adobe, Macromedia, Maine Hosting Solutions, Maine’s WB51, Systems Engineering, and National Semiconductor, as the MSWDA’s leading sponsors. As of this writing, other local sponsors include The Chocolate Church Arts Center, Shawnee Peak, Three Rivers Whitewater, Movie Gallery, Moxie Outdoor Adventures, AEC Engineering, The Theater at Monmouth, Barber Foods, Olde Port Mariner Fleet, JimMoulton.org, the Portland Sea Dogs, and Norton Lamb & Company.

Besides the iMacs, prizes will include both Adobe and Macromedia professional web design suites, ski passes, whitewater rafting trips and whale watching tours, theater tickets, video and game rental certificates, Portland Sea Dog gift certificates, an MP3 player, and much more. No, Moms and Dads, you can’t enter!

Programs like the MSWDA and the MLTI are really investments in our future. We are blessed to live in a state that embraces education technology – let’s make the most of it!

© 2004 Peter F. Zimowski