UWSAG talks to Vicki Reece
of Treasured Web Awards

Winner: UWSAG Award Seekers Pick! for March, 2003 - May, 2003 - October, 2003

1. What got you started in website design?
   
   "Several years ago when I started my first website, Mothers of Addicts UNITED, it actually had nothing to do with design. I knew nothing about website design so I bought a very cheap beginner website program. I was full of content and when I started, the words flowed out of me because I was so very impassioned with my subject matter. I wound up with a site full of content but not much in the design area. After I got the site up and started meeting people on the web, I learned as I went along. Then, when I started winning awards, (and NOT winning a lot of them), I decided I needed to learn a LOT more, so I took classes, learned from doing, and …. I still have a LONG ways to go."
   
   
2. What do you hope to accomplish with your award program?
   
   "This is a very hard question because my goals when I started Treasures Of The Web are different from my goals today. Mostly probably, they will continue changing as I grow and learn. I think all new AP owners start out saying they want to reward people for their efforts, and that’s true, I do want to do that, but I also want to help people learn. I learned so much from other site/AP owners, that I would like to give back some of what I’ve learned to the award community. That’s the biggest reason why I’ve continued to expand Treasures Of The Web to include other areas such as our Family Safe Site Program, Evaluator Certification Program, etc."
   
   
3. What advice would you give other program owners?
   
   "Don’t rush your efforts! When you decide you want to open an award program, read everything you can find time to read about building a program. There are some great AP’s out there that you can learn from. Read their tutorials, read their programs, read their criteria, but then ….. decide what is right for you. If your program is full of content, but you are weak in design, then don’t make design a priority for your applicants. If spelling isn’t your strong area, don’t have spelling as a disqualifier. Also, don’t storm onto the web calling yourself “the best new award program on the web” ….. enter the award community quietly and humbly, opened and ready to learn from your peers."
   
   
4. What was the biggest problem you faced with your award program?
   
   "My biggest problem in the beginning, and still today, is my own frustration. I work extremely hard on this program and I have four wonderful evaluators that I am so happy with. My frustration comes though, with the lack of caring on the part of many of the applicants. People simply refuse to read the criteria. It doesn’t take that long to read. We spend a LOT of time on each site that applies. Each site is pre-evaluated for qualification, and then each of the evaluators evaluate each site. When they finish, before I look at their scores, I do my evaluation of each site. So, much more time is spent on each site, than it would take them to read the criteria."
   
   
5. If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently?
   
   "Probably nothing. I’m basically pretty happy with where are today."
   
   
6. What plans do you have for the future?
   
   "We have a lot of plans in the works, the first being re-opening the recently closed AECG. It will now be called AEC Global and we’re pretty close to re-opening. We’re also working on an Evaluator Training Program, and a program that I won’t divulge now that is targeted towards award seekers."
   
   
7. What else do you like to do?
   
   "I guess now you mean, what do I like to do in my “real world” … rather than my “cyber-world”. I like to spend time with my husband ….. who is also my best friend. We love the beach and we go there often. We also ride mountain bikes and go on 20-30 mile treks. I also love to spend time with my family, going on trips and even just out to dinner with them. I enjoy photography and have been doing that for a long time, although now I’ve mostly switched to digital which I truly love and am really enjoying taking some classes now. Along with my web activities, I also have an extremely demanding full-time job ….. so, in order to keep my “real world” and my “cyber-world” from colliding, I usually get up at 5am and do my web work and evaluating so that I can spend the evenings with my husband. In addition, my addiction site takes up a LOT of my time as I try to answer each letter personally."