Award Criteria

Award Criteria & Guidelines for Canupnet awards.

(The Special Merit Award was created to award sport sites doing an exemplary job of presenting the sport of Table Tennis to the world. If your site does not contain anything about Table Tennis, it must score extremely well in ALL categories to even be considered. Outstanding sites having nothing to do with TT will most likely receive a different award.)

1) Sites with pornography, racism, or offensive content will not be awarded. The same goes for sites with excessive profanity. We do not condone censorship, we believe in free speech, we just do not reward poor choices or poor taste.

2) Is your site visually attractive? Is your overall layout and design pleasing to the eye? Is it original? If you designed it for a specific browser release, tell us that in your application. You get more credit for browser non-specific sites.

3) Good navigation is critical. Can we move from page to page easily? We should never be forced to use the browser's "Back" button to navigate.

4) Is there true content? (Links only sites will not be awarded.) Is your content interesting, compelling, comprehensive, and useful? Will we want to bookmark your site?

5) Are there any misspelled words and/or grammatical errors? These will count against you. We don't like to see any spelling errors, especially on business sites.

6) Speed. Do your pages take forever to download? We will not wait very long. Are you using too many animations just because they're cute? Have you compressed your graphics? If your site takes too long, it does not qualify. Test it on other machines before you submit. Remember we will be testing it on different machines from different continents!

7) Did your site cause our browser or operating system to crash? If so you lose. (Sorry, Hitbox)

8) Do you use "height" and "width" attributes in your "img" tags to speed loading and improve formatting?

9) Do you have music? If so, can we turn it off? Is it worth the extra download time? We like music, but if it plays full blast or doesn't compliment the page, why bother. They do not help your site.

10) You shouldn't have any broken links or missing graphics. We know it takes extra time to test. Your asking us to do it, you should do it first.

11) Are there any "Under Construction" signs? If so, you do not qualify. It's not that we don't want to see them. Sites are always under construction. However, if your site is truly not finished, you shouldn't be submitting it for an award.

12) Do you keep the content on your site current? If it hasn't been updated in months, it's a major negative and will hurt your chances.

13) Are your graphics original? A site comprised principally of graphics obtained from other sources will not earn an award. If your graphics (or scripts, or music, or whatever) are not original, did you give credit where credit is due?

14) Are you stealing bandwidth? If you don't know what this means, go here. If we see that you are stealing bandwidth, we will promptly throw out your application.

15) If you're using JavaScript, does it work properly? We shouldn't encounter any JavaScript error alerts. Is your JavaScript tasteful (like rollovers), or annoying (like pop-up boxes)? We're very fond of dynamic HTML, it does not rob us of resources on our Windows machines. If you ask for our name when we enter your site with java just to be cute, you will most likely not be successful in your quest for our award.

16) If you're using Java applets, are they really worth waiting to see? For example, there is a clock on the taskbar and on the wall, why do you need to tell us what time it is? Most of us already know what day it is where we live.

17) If your site relies on Java, do you make this clear on the opening page? If we're going to have to wait for the browser's Java Virtual Machine to load, it's nice to know that up front.

18) Does any text on your page blink? This is truly annoying. We suggest you disable it.

19) Is your text readable against your chosen background, and big enough for us to read? Is it consistent?

20) Are you using frames? If so, do you use them responsibly? Do your outside links get stuck in your frames? We're not frames fans, but if it adds to your presentation, OK.

21) Is there a consistent look to your site, or is each page starkly different?

22) Do you sPeLL wOrDs LiKe tHiS? Don't bother submitting your site if you do.

23) Sites housed on Geocities, Tripod, AngelFire (and other hosts), that employ pop-up windows on entry will be heavily marked down. These windows can seriously debilitate a large percentage of machines. We HATE rebooting! Seriously consider relocating or disabling these features.

Most of the above considerations are somewhat flexible...except for some, like #1, #7, and #14. For example: if your pages look fantastic, we will tolerate slow-loading, and we'll wait longer than we normally would. If your page helps us, you really get bonus points. Now, if you still think your site is worthy of our review, go to the submissions page.

Sites will be judged using a weighted percentage: Winners will be notified within 30 days of their submission.
Rating Table

Catagory	Point System	Multiplier	Maximum Points
Table Tennis Content	10 (automatic) Bonus 1 - 5	(Result) X 1.15	17.25
General Content 40%	Rating 1 - 5	(Result) X 1.4	7
Presentation/Appearance 20%	Rating 1 - 5	(Result) X 1.2	6
Speed 15%	Rating 1 - 5	(Result) X 1.15	5.75
Ease of use	Rating 1 - 4	(Result) X 1	4
Functionality	Rating 1 - 4	(Result) X 1	4
Usefullness	Rating 1 - 4	(Result) X 1	4
Freshness of site	Rating 1 - 3	(Result) X 1	3
		Total	51

A minimum of 30 points average by our international judges are required for a site to be considered for our awards. Deductions for above noted issues will be made after average scores obtained. Judges decisions are final. Sites may only be submitted one time during any 6 month period. If your site isn't ready, don't submit it yet.

Email us! You count on canupnet !

Homepage - SiteMap