Randal's Sanctuary /
Writing Matters Web Excellence Award
Memberships



Award Program/Website Ratings

	Writing Matters Web Excellence Awards received a rating upgrade to AS! 3.5 on August 26, 2009. This program was first rated 3.0 by Award Sites! on October 7, 2008. Our previous award program, listed under "Randal's Awards," was also rated 3.0 by Award Sites! from 1999-2001. We received our WAI compliance banner on January 14, 2009, with W3C recognition added on November 11, 2009.
	Writing Matters Web Excellence Awards were rated Level 1 by Anita Eberline of the International Award Givers Association on February 1, 2009.
	Writing Matters Web Excellence Awards were rated Level 2 by Anita Eberline of Awards Treasure Chest on January 26, 2009.
	Writing Matters Web Excellence Awards were rated L2 by the F.R.I. Award Index on December 26, 2008. This rating was upgraded to L3 on August 16, 2009.
	Writing Matters Web Excellence Awards were rated 7.5 by the Belgica Excellence Index, based in Belgium, on December 26, 2008. This rating was upgraded to 8.0 on August 15, 2009.
	Writing Matters Web Excellence Awards were rated 3.5 by AWARD, Association for Web Awards Rating and Development, on November 7, 2008. This award rating was presented by Lupércio Mundim of Brazil.
	Writing Matters Web Excellence Awards were rated 2.0+ by the United Website Award Givers on October 5, 2008. This rating was upgraded to 3.0 on September 5, 2009.
	Randal's Sanctuary was accepted as a Seal of Approval Nominee for the United Website Award Givers on August 19, 2008, and was upgraded to Bronze on January 31, 2009. Writing Matters Web Excellence Awards became an SOA participant when we were rated 2.0+ by UWSAG on October 5, 2008.

Award Indexes/Forums

	Writing Matters Web Excellence Award Program was pleased to participate in the new Web Awards Database beginning March 4, 2009. Web Awards Datebase was established in 2009 by David Conway, who in addition to being the owner of the Nodus Awards (2002-2005, 2009- ), is currently the Creative Director for a well-known Web Design and Development company based in the UK.
	Writing Matters Web Excellence Award Program was pleased to be listed in the Awards Awards index beginning in August of 2008. Established by Gayla Nelson in 1997, the site has been hosted by Ulrich Leive since 2001 and lists numerous awards available to dedicated webmasters.
	Despite our humble site vying for the distinction of site rejected the most times by a single person running multiple award programs, Morningstar/Anita Eberline was nice enough to include our award program in her listings on August 17, 2008, and for that we are greatful.
	As a former rated AP of Award Sites! (3.0 Randal's Awards 1999-2001), we eagerly joined the forum and reapplied for our rating. Randal's Sanctuary is now once again rated 3.0 with Award Sites! Rated or not, this forum is a good place for tips and information regarding web awards.

Ethics Organizations

	We were accepted as a member of APEX on August 13, 2008. "Our mission on the Internet is to increase the credibility and professionalism of all website owners, designers and users, to set ethical standards, encourage professional practices, and promote fellowship amongst Internet users." You can find both our ethics pledges and our policies (C.O.P.P.A., privacy, copyright) on our policy page.
	We were accepted as a member of the Ethical Pledge Program on August 31, 2008. "Our purpose is to increase the credibility of award programs, encourage professional practices, and give meaning to the words: Honesty, Integrity, and Fairness." You can find both our ethics pledges and our policies (C.O.P.P.A., privacy, copyright) on our policy page.
	We were approved for ICCS certification and licensing on August 17, 2008. We have been members of Safesurf since at least 1999, and we are also currently participating in the Trustworthy Website program. The point is clear, we are child-safe and family-friendly.
	"It is with great pleasure that I communicate that your website "Writing Matters Web Excellence Award" was accepted as an honored member of the IEP — International Ethics Program — be welcome!" With these words by Lupércio Mundim, we were approved for IEP membership on September 11, 2008. We are proud to once again be recognized as an ethical member of not only the awards community, but the world Internet community as well.

Retired Programs

	One of the first awards I won after creating Randal's Sanctuary was to be rated 2 Stars by Kimberly Brow's "The Zone." Hopefully, we have made improvements in the 10 years since receiving this rating, but unfortunately, "The Zone," A.K.A. "The New Zone," no longer exists.
	Based on what I assume is Maya Angelou's poem, "Phenomenal Woman," Nancy Imelda Schafer began a membership for Phenomenal Women of the Web on March 20, 1997, and later created a similar program for Phenomenal Men of the Web. I was chosen to be one of these Phenomenal Men after a chance visit to my site by Schafer in August of 1999. This award/membership was actually unsolicited — I didn't apply to receive it. Unfortunately, this program no longer seems to exist.
	The Paris Excellence Awards Club was an Award Program Rating Organization run by Visulogic out of Paris, France. This club rated international award programs in addition to having its own website award, rated 4.5 by Award Sites! Unfortunately, this program no longer exists.
	My awards program, Writing Matters Web Excellence Awards, received this rating on September 21, 2008, not long before Alice Pandora announced she was retiring both her award rating service and her award program on October 4, 2008, due to her fight with abdominal cancer. Alice billed herself as the third rated award program in Brazil, South America. I left this rating up for 90 days before retiring it, as it can no longer be upgraded.
	Writing Matters Web Excellence Awards had the honorable distinction of being included in the Firestarter Award Index! We received notice that we were added to this index on September 4, 2008. The Firestarter Awards had a well-respected award program with a lot of fine resources for those of us trying to keep up. Unfortunately, Jo Phillips announced on May 5, 2009, that she was closing both the award program and the index.