Hostway and WIRED honor Web Designers with Forward Design Award

Winners in three categories awarded free Web hosting for life

Chicago—July 23, 2003—Hostway Corporation, one of the world’s leading providers of Web hosting services sponsored the first annual Forward Design Award Contest with WIRED magazine. Open for public participation from May 13 through June 9, the contest was promoted on Hostway’s site, www.hostway.com, and in the June and July issues of WIRED. With the opportunity to win free Web hosting for the life of their site and a $1,000 cash prize, the contest encouraged entrants to design websites that went beyond their normal creative limits and truly illustrate to the world what is possible on the Web.

Hostway developed the contest to support its belief that the Web is a forum where new technologies unfold on a daily basis. The contestant response proves that instinct is correct. With over 500 eligible entries in three categories—Personal, Business and Not-for-Profit—the contest aptly showcased the impressive talent and creativity that the Web evokes.

Both Hostway and WIRED were thrilled with the public’s response, "On behalf of WIRED, I was pleased to work with Hostway on their website awards and we congratulate the winners of this year's contest," said Drew Schutte, Publisher of WIRED.

"We created this contest because Hostway exists to help people move their websites forward by providing a secure, reliable and affordable Web hosting environment. The response and quality of the participants was overwhelming and a tribute to the creative talent Web designers express on the dynamic medium that the Internet allows," said John Lee, Marketing Director of Hostway.

After a panel of judges from Hostway and WIRED narrowed down the entries to five finalists in each of the three categories, the public was asked to chose the final winners by popular vote. The finalists’ sites were posted online at www.hostway.com/forward until mid-June for public voting.

Chosen for site creativity, innovation and originality, the three winners are:

Personal Site: Will Weyer, Atlanta, GA, www.freshpixels.com

Business Site: John Ryan, Atlanta, GA, www.dagnabit.tv

Not-for-Profit Site: Anne Shuff, Philadelphia, PA, www.ardentheatre.org

The winners’ sites are currently available for viewing at www.hostway.com/forward.

Winners received free Web hosting from Hostway Corporation for the life of their websites and the grand-prize winner, Will Weyer, took home $1,000 cash as well.