There are a lot of award programs out there now for the webmaster who desires recognition for his/her hard work.  Following is some brief general advice for the award seeker, whether or not you wish to win an Internet Beacon Award.  I hope that these tips will lessen the frustration of the awards process for you.  I know that a lot of these tips are things that you've seen before on other award sites.  That should tell you something!

Decide WHY you want to win awards.  If you just want cool-looking awards that you can show all your friends, you can easily get them.  There are several awards on the Internet that are yours for the asking.  If you apply, you will win -- they won't even check to see if you actually have a web site!  

If you're interested in improving your web site and learning how to do so the right way, however, then you'll want to apply for serious awards.  Serious awards require time and effort on your part in order to win.  That's worth repeating.   Serious awards require time and effort on your part in order to win.  They are difficult to win because winning them actually means something!  You can be justifiably proud of winning these awards.  (If you just don't feel like putting in any effort, see the previous paragraph.)

Make sure your site is ready.  Double- and triple-check your spelling, grammar, and punctuation on every page.  Then, get someone else to check it.  Are any graphics missing?  Do all of the links on your site work?  Have you tried looking at your site in more than one browser?  At more than one resolution?  Resist the temptation to say, "Oh, it's all right if my site has that problem -- nobody will notice it."  Trust me -- it will be noticed.

Award sites usually frown on "Under Construction" signs.  Good sites are always under construction, so the sign is redundant.  "Coming Soon" signs shouldn't be there, either.  If the page isn't ready, don't put it on your site.  Be sparse with animated graphics, too -- too many of them are annoying, take a long time to download, and distract from your content.  

Do you really need background music?  It can irritate some people (especially if you don't give them a way to turn it off) and it can really increase the download time for your pages.

Think carefully about using profanity on your site.  Many sites are laced with profanity.  I remember once looking at an article that was filled with profanity, and I thought it was really "cool."  I was 10 years old at the time.  Then I grew up.  Some award programs will disqualify your site at once for profanity.

Does your site have copyrighted text or graphics that you are using illegally?  Most award programs check for these, and will not be happy if they find some on your site.

Stealing bandwidth can get you disqualified, too.  Let's say I have a public-domain picture of a cow on my web site.  You want the cow picture on your web site.  But instead of going to the trouble of downloading it and storing it on your own site, you have coded your site to call up the picture from my site.  So every time someone looks at your site, the picture is called up from my site and uses resources on my server.  That's bandwidth stealing.  Most webmasters consider this practice to be unethical.

Start with less selective awards.  Going for one of the World's Top Awards in the beginning is like running your first marathon in the Olympics -- your chance of success is low, and your chance of frustration is high.  Start with some of the less-selective awards.  It gets you used to the awards process, and can give you some early success.  (This is not a knock against any award programs.  Most award webmasters take their programs very seriously, and put a lot of work and effort into them.)

Read the criteria of the award before you apply.  All of it.  All award programs are not the same.  Let me say that again -- all awards programs are not the same.  Awards vary widely in the things for which they are looking.  For some awards, graphics are not particularly important.  For others, graphics are more important than anything else.  Some want perfect HTML code, some don't care.  Some awards have very specific criteria, some have vague criteria, some have no criteria at all.  (More than half of the applicants for the Internet Beacon Awards are disqualified immediately because they quite obviously did not meet eligibility requirements for the awards!)

It's so tempting to just skip ahead to the application page and send it in.  But that's not a good practice.  Your site may not even be eligible -- the award program may only give awards to business sites, or only to personal sites, or only to yak-barbecuing sites.  And many award sites have ways to catch you if you skip to the application.  There may be secret passwords buried in the criteria, or particular ways you must answer a question on the application form.  There are even sites with decoy application forms, with a link to the real application in the criteria.  (No, I won't tell you which ones!)  If you are asking the owner of the award program to spend an hour or more evaluating your site, can't you take 5 or 10 minutes to read the criteria?

Many award sites have waiting periods before you reapply for an award.  Respect the waiting period.  (Yes, the webmasters DO keep track!)

Thank the webmaster for your award.  It's not usually mandatory to acknowledge the award, but it's good etiquette.  Besides being a courteous thing to do, it will prevent the webmaster from wondering if you didn't get the notification about your award.

Follow the rules for posting the award.  Most award sites have specific rules for posting their award graphic.  Some may allow you to change the size of the graphic -- many do not.  Some require you to link to their site, some don't.  (Although the linking is a nice courtesy.)

Don't flame the webmaster if you don't win!  (A "flame" is a nasty, abusive, insulting email, typically questioning the webmaster's judgment, or fairness, or parentage, etc.)  People who run serious award programs do so because they enjoy it, and because they wish to be a positive influence on the Internet.  Many have full-time jobs, and run their program in their spare time.  They are not required to compromise their standards in order to give you an award that you didn't earn.  Most who have been around awhile have already dealt with applicants who have egos as big as Jupiter.  I have been called some terrible, hateful, abusive things by applicants who didn't win my award.  They impressed me only with their lack of good manners.  But they DID accomplish one thing: I will be very wary about dealing with them in the future. 

Be aware that different people evaluate sites in different ways.  One program's Gold winner may be another program's Bronze or Merit winner -- or non-winner.

And consider that maybe -- just maybe -- your site isn't as good as you think it is!

If you honestly can't figure out why you are not winning awards that you think you should win, there are a number of forums populated by those who run award programs.  Some forums are run by award-rating indices (Award Sites!, WebsAwards and United Web Site Award Givers are the best known English-language sites).  There are plenty of people in the forums who will look over your site and offer suggestions, and all you have to do is ask.

Don't get discouraged.  Consider the experience of not winning an award to be part of your learning curve as a webmaster.  It doesn't mean you've failed -- it just means you have some more work to do on your site.  The road to excellence requires perseverance.

I hope you find these tips to be helpful.  Happy webbing!