Awards are generally split into 2 categories - design and content. Your site should excel in one category.

Evaluate the content of your site. Your pages must have a clear purpose and every element of your site should contribute to that purpose. Remove any elements that contribute nothing. Excellent content is essential. Make sure yours is well written, concise, accurate, spelt correctly and frequently updated. (Try Hits4Me to enhance your site with FREE tools like Guest Books, Search Engines, Polls and Top 50s. Click Here) Sites with sexual, racial, sexist, violent or abusive content are rarely considered for awards.

Good graphics are vital. Use original graphics wherever possible and try to keep the use of clipart to a minimum. Ensure your graphics are clear and sharp and relevant to the content of each web page. Avoid excessive use of bevels, drop shadows and animations and reduce loading times by using "height" and "width" attributes in your <img> tags. Optimise your site's graphics to reduce their loading time by using tools such as GIF Wizard or JPEG Wizard.