'Net Features : .info awards

Is Your .INFO Website the Best? Prove It

Allison Howen — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 19:00:00 GMT

Do you have the best .INFO website? If so, don’t forget to enter into the fifth annual .INFO Awards, which has larger-than-ever cash prizes as part of the .INFO domain's 10th anniversary celebration.

The .INFO awards are presented by Afilias Limited, the ICANN-designated registry operator for the .INFO top-level domain and provider of technical registry services. Because of the 10th anniversary celebration, the top prize has been increased this year to $10,000 – with a $5,000 prize for second place and $3,000 for third place.

"With more than eight million .INFO domains now registered, it’s clearer than ever that .INFO serves the unique purpose of identifying informational resources on the Web," says Roland LaPlante, Afilias Senior Vice President and CMO. “And with a round of new top-level domains scheduled to launch in 2012 and 2013 via ICANN’s new gTLD program, it’s important to note that a domain which serves the needs of Internet users, like .INFO, can be a major success.”

Qualifying entries will be evaluated by the judging panel – which includes Website Magazine’s own Editor-in-Chief, Peter Prestipino – on five key criteria: presentation of content, functionality of the website, design, usability and originality.

Submissions for the awards are open through November 24, with the ten finalists being announced on December 5. After the finalists are announced, the public will be able to vote for their favorite site through December 13th.

Info Awards - Cast Your Vote

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 16:45:00 GMT

Afilias, the registry operator for the .INFO top-level domain announced that public voting for the 2010 .INFO Awards is now open.

“With over six and a half million domain names and millions of live sites, .INFO is the home of information on the Web and we look forward to the opportunity each year to reward the best .INFO sites out there,” said Roland LaPlante, Chief Marketing Officer for Afilias. ““Now you have the opportunity have a voice in the program, and show your support for your favorite of this year’s nominees.”

Anyone can vote for their favorite of the top 10 .INFO nominees at www.info-award.info and when you cast your vote you will be automatically entered to win a new Apple iPad. selected by a panel of judges.

This panel of judges selected the following websites from over 130 submissions as the top 10 nominees for the Best .INFO website of 2010:

mailworx.info
greentravelclub.info
eifel.info
hotel.info
baden-wuerttemberg.info/
biohotels.info
glutenfreehelp.info
traumpfade.info
klimaretter.info
slimaway.info

dot-INFO Awards Open - Is Your .INFO a Contender?

Administrator — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 17:52:00 GMT

Afilias, the infrastructure service provider and registry for the .INFO top-level domain, announced the opening of its fourth annual .INFO Awards program.

From August 10th to September 10th any .INFO domain owner may submit their website to the .INFO Awards for a chance to win honors as the “Best .INFO website of 2010.” If you've got a .INFO domain and you think might be a contender you can submit your site at info-award.info.

Qualifying submissions will be evaluated by a panel of online and media experts based on five key criteria including: presentation of content, functionality of the website, design, usability, and originality. The panel of judges will be announced on August 17th and will consist of experts in the fields of websites, design, and media.

A shortlist of the 10 finalists based on the judges’ scores will be published on October 5, 2010. Members of the public will then be able to vote for their favorite of the top 10 sites until November 2 at 11:59 pm ET. The public votes will be combined with the judges’ scores to select the top 3 winners, with first place being named the “Best .INFO website of 2010.” Winners will receive cash prizes allocated as: US $7,500 for first place, US$5,000 for second place, and US$3,000 for third place.

“.INFO is an intuitive domain name choice for anyone looking to share their information with the world,” said Roland LaPlante, Chief Marketing Officer for Afilias. “.INFO has been the most successful new TLD ever launched, as evidenced by the millions of sites now operating worldwide. The .INFO Awards program not only gives us the opportunity to highlight the best .INFO sites from around the world, but also to allow Internet users to voice their support for their favorite ones.”

Voting Open for .INFO Awards

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:09:00 GMT

Afilias, the registry operator for the .Info domain extension, formally opened the 2009 .INFO Awards to public voting today.

Anyone can now vote for their favorite of the top 10 .INFO Web sites until midnight on November 6, 2009. Prizes for the awards are allocated as: US$7,500 for the winner, US$5,000 for second place, and US$3,000 for third place. The winners of the .INFO Awards will be announced on November 9.

Some interesting statistics on this year's awards:

- The most popular categories for site submissions included special interest websites (28 percent), private websites (23 percent) and business/corporate websites (17 percent).

- Interest in the .INFO awards was truly global with submissions being entered from 18 countries. Germany led with 31 percent of submissions, followed by the United States at 19 percent and Russia at 12 percent. Notably, the UK accounted for 6 percent of submissions, while India and France each had 4 percent.

“The .INFO domain is the global home for anyone with information to share. The submissions for this year’s awards program reflect .INFO’s global appeal and the inherent usefulness of an Internet domain entirely devoted to information,” said Roland LaPlante, senior vice vresident and chief marketing officer for Afilias.

I was honored to be a member of the judges panel this year, along with Dominik Grollman, editor in chief of Internet World Business (Germany), Gautam Chatur, senior director at Qorvis Communications, Michael Stephanblome, managing director at AdJug UK, Katy Tafoya, Editor of ConstantChatter.com, and Philipp Grabensee, chairman of the Afilias Board of Directors.

What are you waiting for? Go ahead and vote for your favorite .INFO award now!

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