Welcome to the Starbase Adran Web Commendations award programme. This programme has been developed as a way for visitors to Starbase Adran to provide recognition and praise to web-masters. They are the unsung heroes of the internet. Working hard to achieve a very high standard of web design and content. This programme is your chance to say thank you for their hard work and dedication to the web community at large.

The Commendations Award Programme is open to all Star Trek, science fiction and fantasy related web-sites and must meet the following basic criteria.

1 - The site must be maintained, and contain no major broken links, missing images, corrupted files etc.

2 - The site must feature Star Trek, science fiction or fantasy at one of its major themes.

3 - The site must be original, and contain some original content - graphics, artwork, reviews, short stories etc.

4 - The site must not feature any adult material or links to adult material.

All nominated sites that meet the basic criteria, are recorded in the site review log. Once a maximum of eight sites are logged to be reviewed, that period's log is closed to further entries. Any sites that are nominated after the log is closed, are recorded in the following periods review log and so on. This way, we ensure that all nominated sites that meet the basic criteria are logged and reviewed for an Award. As long as a nominee provides us with a valid return e-mail address, they will be informed of which periods commendation the nomination has been entered into. For example, a site nominated in May, could be logged for a review in July depending on the number of site nominations that are already in the review logs.

There are two categories of sites that are immediately excluded from being nominated for a Commendation. 1 - Those sites that have given an Award to Starbase Adran during the current awards year. 2 - Those sites that have been awarded a commendation by Starbase Adran during the previous awards year. Any sites nominated that fall in to this category will be logged for a review to take place at the beginning of the next awards year. No exceptions may be made to this rule. Starbase Adran must also unfortunately turn down any awards offered by a site that has received a Starbase Adran Commendation during the current award year.

The review process starts eight weeks before the award is made, and can last up to six weeks weeks depending of the availability of the review team and discussions that need to take place regarding the in vidual scores awarded. The review team will formally review each of the eight logged sites in turn. The five main areas the reviewer will score are: Layout & Design, Content, Originality, Navigation and Personal Opinion.

Each reviewer will award a maximum of 5 points on the five key areas. 1 point for average, 2 points for good, 3 points for very good, 4 points for excellent and 5 points for amazing. The maximum score that a reviewer can award is 25 points. The maximum score that the review team can award is 100 points. The minimum point requirement for an award is 60 points. No site scoring less than 60 points will be awarded a commendation. The eight logged sites will each be scored and awarded a total out of 100. The site that receives the highest score will be awarded the Commendation for that period. In the event of tie for first place, each member of the review team will be asked vote on which site they think should be awarded the commendation. The site that receives the highest number of votes out of four will be declared the winner. In the event of a deadlock on the four person review team, a fifth member of the review team will be invited to vote to break the deadlock. The site that then receives the highest number of votes out of five will be declared the winner, and will be awarded the commendation.

The length of time the review and scoring process takes differs each award - due to the fact that no two sites are the same size and layout. Larger sites take much longer to review and score. We aim to complete this process and decide which site is going to receive the award at least two to three weeks before the award is announced. This is done to allow Starbase Adran personnel sufficient time to inform the winning site of the award and create the customised award banner.

The sites that come in second and third places each period, are automatically logged for the next periods award if they score more than 80 points. These sites will compete again against the sites in the log for that period. These two sites will be reviewed again the following period, and the reviewers given the opportunity of altering the scores they awarded the previous period. There is no limit on the number of times a site can come in second or third place, and be put forward to compete for an award the following period.

Starbase Adran personnel will contact the site owner of the winning site, to inform them of the commendation and issue them with a customised Commendation Banner. It is not essential that a winning site display their award banner, but out of courtesy we ask that they do. A winning site may choose to decline a Starbase Adran commendation. In the even of an award being declined, the site that received the second highest point score will be awarded the Commendation for that period.

Commendations are awarded during the months January, March, May, July, September and November. An Award will only me made outside these months if for some operational reason it is not possible to make an award as planned.

All sites that are awarded a commendation during the current year, will be listed in the Commendations log. At the end of the year a poll will be held to determine which site should be awarded Starbase Adran's highest honour, The Omega Award for Web Excellence.

Remember that any visitor to Starbase Adran may nominate a site, and that all nominated sites will be logged and reviewed. To nominate a site for an award, follow the link to the Nominate page and fill out the Commendation Nomination form.

If you have any questions regarding the Commendations Award Process, please feel free to contact Starbase Adran via the hail tag below.