Judging

Australian Web Awards entries are assessed using a combination of ‘judging disciplines’, such a content or development, and ‘judging criteria’ which is a scale from 1 to 5. Each site is reviewed and judged by multiple judges.

Judging disciplines

Each entry will be judged in up to* five disciplines, and they are:

• Design
• Development
• User experience
• Content
• Accessibility.

*Depending on the category – if it’s a social campaign or SEO – an entry may not need all five disciplines.

Judging criteria

Each judging discipline contains criteria based on a simple 1 to 5 scale. Here’s how that works:

• 1 is the minimum level accepted – if an entry doesn’t get at least a 1 for each discipline it won’t qualify for the awards.
• 3 is the midpoint – this is where an entry would need to be to be considered as a finalist for an awards.
• 5 is considered excellence – an entry that goes above and beyond and is outstanding (ideally what look to award in each category).

Each entry will be judged on its performance against the criteria and awarded points in each discipline to accrue a combined score. As an example, if there are 5 disciplines, an entry could have a total score between 5 and 25.

Case Study: Accessibility

Here is a sample of the specific questions a judge might ask to determine how many points to award an entry in the judging discipline of Accessibility:

• 1 point: ‘Have you considered the basics of web accessibility, and can you demonstrate at least five WCAG criteria that have been met?’
• 3 points: ‘Have you reached WCAG AA compliance, if not why not?’
• 5 points: ‘Have you gone above and beyond to consider a variety of users’ abilities and situations, and can you demonstrate how this has contributed to the overall user experience?’.