22 09/2008 Propeller McFarlane Prize Finalists for second year running. UPDATE:- WINNERS FOR 2008!

After receiving an award for the Solution Central website in the 2007 McFarlane Prize, Propeller are delighted to find out that we’ve made the finals again this year with the Pro Plaster site.

- From the McFarlane Prize website

The Shortlist for 2008

The Jury for the prize has now drawn up the shortlist for this year’s prize. The standard of this year’s entries was without doubt the best yet, demonstrating that each year, the quality of Australia’s web industry’s output improves considerably. I’m sure Nigel would have been most pleased with that.

This year’s shortlist (in alphabetical order) is

• August Creative Agency by August
• Billy Hughes at War for the Old Parliament House, by IceLab
• Citizen Watches by CKWeb Technologies
• Parker & Co. by Spoon Media
• Pro Plaster Products by Propeller Global
• Spoon Media by Spoon Media

The winner will be announced at Web Directions South on Thursday 25th September. Congratulations to all the finalists, and to all who entered, a huge thanks.

The Prize is be awarded to an Australian designer or team for a site launched or significantly upgraded between August 1 2007 and August 31 2008. Sites may be designed for Australian or non Australian individuals, organisations, companies or governments, but must be designed by a team which works in Australia for an Australian company, or by Australian citizens or permanent residents. Anyone may nominate a site, and there is no cost for nominating or being nominated for the prize.

About the Prize

Named in memory of noted Australian web pioneer Nigel McFarlane, the McFarlane Prize aims to recognize and encourage excellence in web design by Australian web professionals.
The Prize rewards excellence in web design in the broadest sense, from the appropriate use of technology, to design aesthetics, to its impact more broadly on the web.
The Prize also aims to be a showcase of the best in Australian web design, and to inspire other Australian developers in their own endeavours.

The McFarlane Prize is awarded by a jury of Australian experts in various fields of web design and development. The decision process has two stages. In the first stage, entries are assessed for their adherence to best practices in accessibility and standards based coding (correct and valid use of CSS and HTML). These criteria are outlined in detail here.

The top 15 sites from this phase will be individually assessed in four areas by members of the jury who have expertise in a particular area.
These areas are

• Accessibility
• Usability
• Design
• Coding

Based on the two rounds of judging, the McFarlane Prize shortlist will be announced on September 22nd.

The announcement of the winner of the inaugural McFarlane Prize will be made at the Web Directions Conference, September 25th 2008.

QUICK UPDATE:- Propeller WIN the 2008 McFarlane Prize – full report to follow.