Propeller Graphic Design & Marketing,

Propeller are bubbling over with excitement at having one of our websites Solution Central shortlisted in this years’ McFarlane 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 27th 2007.

Excerpt from the McFarlane Prize website;

“After an arduous decision making process, the Jury in this years McFarlane Prize has decided on the shortlist. The shortlisted sites this year are

• EQASRM by Angela Bonfato Creative and Spoon Media
• Occupational Psychiatry by August
• Andrews Must Resign by Michael Koukoullis
• Sitepoint Contests by SitePoint
• Solution Central by Propeller Graphic Design & Marketing
• The Wylie Group Developed by Spoon Media

The quality of entrants this year was extraordinary, in particular in terms of best practice in coding, accessibility and development generally. If you’d like to know more about how the decision is made, and the criteria used, please see the judging criteria.
Congratulations to those shortlisted, and to all who entered. Thanks too to the Jury of Donna Maurer, Gian Sampson-Wild, Andy Coffey and Dmitry Baranovskiy for all their efforts.
The winner will be announced on Thursday September 27th at Web Directions, by Dean Jackson.”

Congratulations and the best of luck to the others shortlisted.

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