The World Organization of Webmasters (WOW), a non-profit professional
association serving thousands of Web professionals worldwide announces a
call for participation for their November 14, 2004 launch of a national
Web design contest for students in high school and college-level institutions.

The goals of the contest include: inspiring and furthering student
participation in Web professional careers; developing a better
understanding of the profession among educators, students and parents;
collaborating between industry and education; and recognizing outstanding
students for excellence and professionalism in the field of Web design and
Webmastering.

“Thank you WOW for providing an educational opportunity to focus on a
broad range of topics including the soft skills necessary for successful
involvement in today’s workforce. Striving for the awareness of customer
satisfaction, vendor neutrality and teamwork should be at the top of the
list of classroom curriculum throughout our nation. True Web design has
more to do about process than design and development tools. This contest
will allow me to take ordinary students and assist them to perform
extraordinary tasks."

Valerie Clapp, Information Technology Instructor United Technologies
Center, Bangor, ME and National Chair of the Contest Technical Committee.

“As a participant in a previous Web design contest developed and conducted
by WOW, I can say firsthand that the Web design contest is a great
opportunity for the students to learn real-life experience outside the
classroom environment,” “Students learn the importance of creating a Web
site to meet the needs of the customer, not just to the designer’s
personal taste. Students also learn from the real-life experience of
working collaboratively and how to deal with creative differences of team
members.”

Gabriel Ruiz, Instructor at Border Institute of Technology in El Paso, Texas.

Contest details:

Categories:

• High School level
  
• College level
  

Rules of Entry:

Contest start date, end date and submission requirements:

• WOW’s “virtual” Web design contest officially kicks off November 15,
  2004 with web site contest submissions (website address or url) due no
  later than January 1, 2005.
  
  
• Hosting and server space provided by participants or by participating
  schools.
  

Team participation requirements:

• Participants will be required to work as teams. With a minimum team
  comprising of a Webmaster, (project manager) Web designer, (art and
  graphics specialist) and a Web developer (programmer)
  
  
• Participants will be required to be supervised by at least one (1)
  instructor or mentor
  
  
• Teams will build a complete working Web site for a nonprofit agency of
  their choosing from scratch
  
  
• Teams will be required to clearly document their work (txt or word
  format) to include the interview process, the storyboard process, the
  development process including the team structure, design rational,
  individual participation and tools used and delivered to WOW in the format
  (txt or word) and timelines outlined in the details of this contest
  
  
• Participating instructors/mentors will be required to sign an acceptable
  code of conduct agreement outlining the appropriate use of the software
  license, ie vendor software trial usage, copyright,
  
  
• Participating instructors/mentors will be required to serve as team
  leader and point of contact disseminating contest rules to the
  participants, contest entry submissions and documenting the
  professionalism component of the rubric.
  

Deadline to participate and participation confirmation:

• All entries in both categories are due in to Robert Luster
  robert@joinwow.org WOW no later than November 14, 2004
  
  
• Entries must be clearly marked in a (.txt or word file format )
  highlighting the name of the team, the name and complete contact
  information of the instructor, names and role of each of the team
  participants, (webmaster, web designer web developer) and name and contact
  information of the non-profit organization participating in the contest.
  Partial, incomplete or late entries will not be accepted
  
  
• Confirmation of your teams acceptance by WOW will be sent to the teams
  point of contact/instructor no later than November 15, 2004
  

Scope of the Contest

The contest will consist of three parts: a hands-on team-based practicum,
a written examination, and a professionalism evaluation .

Practicum— the purpose of the practicum is to test a student’s ability to
work in a team environment to design and develop a web site in accordance
with documented requirements.

Written examination— the purpose of the written examination is to test a
student’s knowledge of web design and development concepts. Questions from
the online WOW assessment exam will be taken from the following topic
areas of the World Organization of Webmasters certification examinations
and will be provide to the contestants at no charge:

• Web Programming (HTML, XHTML, CSS)
  
• Web Graphics
  
• Web Site Design (usability)
  
• Web Site Management
  
• Project Management
  
• Web Multimedia
  
• Legal Issues
  

Professionalism

Skills to be assessed include the “soft skills” and skill sets desired by
potential employers: the ability to communicate with others, to work
cooperatively in a team environment, resolving conflicts, confronting
ethical dilemmas, and managing time in an effective manner.

Judging- A panel of judges selected from WOW’s membership base will
comprise of (5) WOW Certified practicing professionals from industry,
education and government sectors. Winners will be selected on the basis of
clear and concise documentation , technical quality, site appeal and
additional criteria utilizing the following rubric:

Web Design Rating Sheet

Items Evaluated and Possible Points

15 Overall Visual Appeal
15 Mechanical Aspects
15 Look & Feel
15 Navigation
15 Compatibility
15 Code Structure & Design
15 Scaffolding of Process
5 Richness of Process
5 Written Exam
20 Professionalism

130 Total

Prizes and more details:

• The national contest is supported by technical committee members from
  industry giants such as Adobe, Apple, Cisco, Macromedia and Microsoft.
  
  
• Prizes include software donated by participating companies and WOW
  Certificates of appreciation and WOW exams for the winning teams in both
  categories, website recognition and national press release and potential
  press coverage
  
  
• Winners will be notified by e-mail and WOW’s website January 15, 2004
  
  
• Questions can be submitted to WOW to the attention of Robert Luster at
  robert@joinwow.org
  

About WOW
The World Organization of Webmasters (www.joinwow.org) is a nonprofit
professional association dedicated to the support of individuals and
organizations who create, manage or market Web sites. WOW provides
education as well as certification, technical, employment and member
advantage services to thousands of aspiring and practicing Web
professionals worldwide.

WOW's mission is to:
Foster professional standards; provide for communication among all
webmasters, including corporate webmasters in government, business, and
education, independent webmasters, and aspiring webmasters such as
students; provide for education through the development of curricula,
publishing of articles, books and professional papers, and the sponsoring
of seminars and conferences; stimulate the continued growth of the Web by
providing a forum for the raising of new ideas and an effective mechanism
for dialog on these issues; and provide security, legal and marketing
white papers as well as an area on the latest trends in the Internet on
each of those items

For more information about WOW, contact:
Bill Cullifer, WOW Executive Director
bill@joinwow.org or by telephone at (916 989-2933)