Chicago Students Capture Top Honors In hostway's 3rd Annual Web Design Contest

Waubonsie Valley and Notre Dame Students Win Scholarships and Laptops; Contest Co-Sponsored by Mayor Daley's Council of Technology Advisors.

Chicago, IL—Wednesday, June 22, 2005—Students from Waubonsie Valley and Notre Dame High School took top honors in a contest to find the best websites designed by Chicago area high school students.

Nizam Alavi, 18, the top winner of Hostway's contest, created the website, www.krazygamers.com to serve as a video game review site for his friends and now receives over 1,000 hits a day. Dmitry Barsky, 17, the runner-up, who is looking to attend IIT in the fall, designed the website www.brs.us for his mother's ballet school.

Each student was awarded a Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop. The top winner also received a $1000 scholarship and the runner up won a $500 scholarship from Hostway Corporation, the Chicago-based contest sponsor and one of the world's leading providers of Web hosting services. The “Web Developers of the Future” contest was co-sponsored again this year by Mayor Richard M. Daley's Council of Technology Advisors.

“This is our third year holding the contest, and I am very proud to say that it is getting more and more difficult to judge each year,” said John Lee, vice president of marketing at Hostway. “Hostway is dedicated to furthering Chicagoland's growth as a technology hub. In order for this to happen, it's imperative that Chicagoland technology companies inspire our youth to dive head first into today's cutting edge technologies.”

Alavi, the top winner of the contest and graduate from Waubonsie Valley High School, said he created www.krazygamers.com in 1998 and the site has grown to be a very popular site for video game reviews.

What started as a website for my friends to submit reviews on the most popular video games and anime has turned into a business, said Nizam Alavi. “I run Google AdSense ads on my site and many other companies have begun to contact me about buying ad space.”

Alavi, is a well-rounded student who enjoys football and rugby and is interested in journalism. He will be attending Loyola University in the fall and is planning on majoring in biochemistry and journalism.

Barksy, runner-up of the contest, created his site www.brs.us to help his mother's ballet school stay connected. Whether it was uploading photos from recent recitals, coordinating class schedules or updating upcoming events, the website serves as the main hub to connect the students and teachers. Barsky notes that the site has also been useful in drawing in new clientele.

“Ballet Russe School's website, www.brs.us, plays a major role in how the school recruits new customers,” said Dmitry Barsky. “The site launched on March 19, 2004 and has received over 1,500 hits - which shows that there is a great amount of interest in ballet in the Chicagoland area.”

Barksy is a very motivated Notre Dame graduate that is interested in Web design. He has also designed many sites for his alma mater and other local organizations and is planning on attending IIT in the fall to major in architecture.

“The talent of these winners and the other students that entered Hostway's contest amazes me,” said Lee. “This generation of Web designers is truly going to make a mark on the technology arena – and we are all looking forward to it.”

Chicagoland area students submitted original websites for judging. Contest entries were reviewed and winners selected by a distinguished panel of judges, including, Michael Krauss, co-chair of Chicago Mayor Daley's Council of Technology Advisors; Kodi Khadivar of Junior Achievement/Chicago and Hostway's vice president, John Lee. Students competed on the basis of content structure and navigation, visual design, functionality and success of their websites.