THE WEBSITE CONTEST IS BACK!

In 2011, the IAC held the very first club website competition
and
in 2012 we are VERY pleased to say that it will be run again.

In 2011 we had 36 entries - a good start - BUT 146 IAC clubs with websites did not enter.

Thinking of entering in 2012? Why should you try this time?
Llike Surrey Border in 2011 your club might win a handsome trophy with a high-profile presentation at BIAFF 2011.
Last year's winners are not entering so the competition is wide open!
But even if you do not win, every entry receives a professional appraisal of their website, complete with practical advice on how it could work harder to attract more members. This kind of advice could cost you real money ... but here it is absolutely free!

IAC President Reg Lancaster presents the 2011 award to
Neil Cryer, Surrey Border webmaster. More on 2011 contest here.

Many clubs appreciated the free appraisal and after the 2011 competition actioned the results:

Mercury totally revamped their site
Harrow is re-thinking the design.
Dundee and Edinburgh tweaked theirs.

Part of a sample website page.

"Our enquiries indicate more entries this year. Competition could be very close indeed. Last year Surrey Border's website was head-and-shoulders above the rest, but relax ... this time they are not eligible because their webmaster, Neil Cryer, is joining the judging team." - says Peter Kidman

"The deadline is 31st January 2012 so there is plenty of time to revise and tweak your club website." - adds Dave Watterson.

The competition is open to any club that is an IAC member at the closing date and costs nothing to enter, just email website-competition@theiac.org.uk with the web address of your website. Judging will not start until the closing date.

The Rules

Any film/video club which is an IAC member at the closing date is eligible. So are any AV groups which are IAC members and have their own dedicated websites.
Entry is free. Anyone can send nominations for any elegible website by email to website-competition@theiac.org.uk.
Schedule:
- Nominations accepted from 1st October 2011
- Closing date 31st January 2012
- The award will be made to the winning club at BIAFF 2012 in April.
The judges will assess how each website serves the members and attracts newcomers. Their decision is final.

We always keep in mind that there is no absolute formula for a perfect website and we are fully aware that our judgements are necessarily subjective. So entrants should feel free to disagree with any of our comments and judgements, but they are made in good faith after extensive study of each website.

For details of how we assess a website - see here.

WHY SPEND TIME ON YOUR CLUB WEBSITE

We all need more members.
Conventional advertising is much too expensive to consider.
But a club website is 24 hours a day all year round advertising
...
and it need cost nothing at all.

Of course there are many other benefits in having a website, not least extending the warm, social contact and sense of belonging beyond the confines of a club night.

But the promotional possibilities were what made us write a rich series of articles on website building last year (read them here). It persuaded IAC to support a national competition last year.

We also hoped to encourage clubs to start and improve websites. A series of articles explains how to make a website at no cost whatsoever - they start here.

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