2012 AFMS Web Site Contest Is Off And Running

By Cheri George
AFMS Web Site Contest Chair

By now I am sure you all have heard of the Web Site Contest? So here we go again, for those of you who have not heard we have a new Chairperson. It is ME, Cheri George. I want to thank all of you for your participation in the past and your continued participation in the years to come.

 This contest exists to help webmasters enhance their club Web sites. The goal is to increase the interest of the general public in the gem and mineral hobby, to gain new club members, and to serve as a source of current club information for their members. The judges assigned to the seven regional federations will serve as mentors for these various clubs by giving the webmasters encouragement and friendly constructive criticism on what they are doing right and where they need to improve.

I hope everyone reading this will encourage their club’s webmaster to enter the contest. Their Web site will be better for having gone through the process of being judged.

So how does a club Web site enter the contest? The webmaster needs to download a copy of the following three documents: 2012 Entry Form, the 2012 Score Sheet, and the 2012 Score Sheet Guidelines. These forms are all PDF files, and they can be filled out on your computer and saved to your hard drive. Fill out the one-page Entry Form completely, and fill out the top part of the Score Sheet on both pages. When finished, e‑mail both forms to your regional federation Contest Committee Chair no later than that federation’s due date.

The Score Sheet Guidelines document goes through every item on the score sheet and explains what it is and why it’s important. EVERY club webmaster (and every contest judge!) should read the Guidelines document closely. These guidelines can help all webmasters tune up their Web site even if they decide not to enter the contest.

These contest files should be available on your regional federation’s Web site, and they’re also available on the AFMS Web site http://www.amfed.org/web/website_contest.htm. Make sure you’re downloading the 2012 version of these files. Also make sure that you have installed a free copy of Adobe Reader 9 so you can change some of your filled-in answers later if necessary. Adobe Reader 9 is available at http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/.

Members of the Webmasters Contest Committee and the due dates for their regional federation contests are as follows:

There is a GREAT need for judges for this contest. At this writing, I have only three. I must have at least seven, and fourteen would be much better. There is only one down side to being a judge—starting this year, you cannot enter your own site into the contest. If you are knowledgeable about what is involved in the creation and maintenance of a Web site, please contact me at pgeorge4@comcast.net to let me know of your interest.

The Web Site Contest also has its own logos! Ron Gibbs, editor and webmaster for the Charlotte Gem & Mineral Club of Charlotte, North Carolina, is also an excellent graphic artist. Ron donated his time and expertise to design and develop our logo. One for first place is shown here. He will also be generating animated gifs (small images that have a moving part) that will be awarded to the top two winners in each federation and the top three winners at the AFMS level. These are for placement on the winning Web sites to let visitors know the high quality of the site.

The first place regional federation winners will receive a plaque, and in addition they will receive something that is far better than a plaque. The first place winners will each have their entries forwarded to Wes Lingerfelt, the man who is judging at the AFMS level. Wes will give the regional first place winners the benefit of his wisdom, his extensive Web experience, and his knowledge of what works and what doesn’t. He will analyze each of the sites forwarded to him, and he will give useful feedback on what is being done well and how each site can be improved.

Wes has an extensive background: his father was a jeweler for over 50 years so he grew up in that environment. He was in the US Navy for four years, was an aerospace engineer with ITT Corp for 30 years working on ballistic missile systems and multiple telemetry-associated projects—the most recent being as a monitor for the U.S. Air Force during new systems development. He is a member of the Orcutt Mineral Society (OMS) of Santa Maria, California and currently is the Treasurer for both the OMS and the CFMS. He is a dealer of handcrafted lapidary products and is a specialist in silver and goldsmith and jewelry repairs. In 2002 he was inducted for metal craft into the National Rockhound & Lapidary Hall of Fame. He developed and maintains his company Web site and the OMS Web site. For the last two years he has been a paid judge for the lapidary entries at two California County Fairs: Kern County at Bakersfield, CA and Ventura County, Ventura, CA.

Thank you, Wes, for agreeing to participate in our contest, for giving our first place regional winners the benefit of your hard-won wisdom, and for helping us achieve our goal of having rock and gem club Web sites that are as good as they can be.

All the contestants participating at the AFMS level will receive a certificate signifying their rank, and the first place winner will also receive an AFMS first place plaque. The top three will also receive animated .gifs for placement on their sites as a symbol of the site’s excellence.

The results of the various regional Webmaster Contests will be announced at the annual meetings of the regional federations during their Breakfast with the Editors and Webmasters. The results of the AFMS and MWFMS Web Site Contest will be announced during the Breakfast with the Editors and Webmasters. Hope to see you all there!

AFMS 2010 Web Site Contest
Rankings of Contest Finalists

It was an extremely close contest—only one point separated the 2^nd and 5^th places, and the two sites tying for third were only a quarter point away from 2^nd  place.

Two judges will be assigned to each regional competition (their scores for each contestant will be averaged) and one judge (Wes Lingerfelt) is assigned for the AFMS level. Each judge probably will be judging two different regions, but no judge will judge his or her own region. Right now I have a total of eight regional judges. If I can get another six judges, each judge will judge only one regional federation.

If you are a current (or former) webmaster or are very Web-site savvy, please help make the contest a success by volunteering a little of your time to act as a judge. Read the 2011 Score Sheet Guidelines to see what the judges will be looking for on the sites that they judge, and if you would like to be an important part of this contest, please contact me at pgeorge4@comcast.net. Help this contest be an even bigger success in its third year.