UWSAG talks to Will Strohl
of Redneck Nature Awards

Owner: Redneck Nature Awards rated 3.2+ with UWSAG
Winner: UWSAG Top Ten! April, 2003
Winner: UWSAG Award Seekers Pick! for April, 2003

1. What got you started in website design?
   
   "I was in the USMC, and a friend taught me how to do a single page. I still have it online. (Thanks, Jeff!) Since then, there has been little hope of me not developing sites. I have been literally addicted ever since to graphic design, web development and learning all new ways to do things with the new technologies facing us everyday. I actually owe a great deal to this “addiction”. It has brought me everything I have today. This is one of the reasons that I run my AP the way I do. Jeff didn’t have to help me and show me the things he did. Therefore, I help others whenever I can. When I don’t know the answer, I find it."
   
   
2. What do you hope to accomplish with your award program?
   
   "I want to recognize those who work just as hard as I do (and more). There is nothing more frustrating than when you put a product out there on the web and no one notices it. It is my goal to award those who not only know web design, but those who integrate their creativity along with it to create something unique, entertaining, wonderful, fresh, and perhaps even exciting. I am always looking for new layouts, creative styles, and personalization. These things often do not get taken advantage of by your average web designer/developer."
   
   
3. What advice would you give other program owners?
   
   "Learn all that you can PRIOR to creating and releasing your own AP. There is a massive amount of things to learn before actually becoming anywhere near successful with it. If you are anything like me, you probably already think you DO know everything. After all, how hard could it be, right? You look at a site and it is good or it is bad. To this day, I wish it were that easy. It is best to begin slow and maybe just become an evaluator for at least little while with an already established AP. Learn from those who have already swung on the ropes. Do some research. I didn’t and it has been a long, bumpy road. If you already have an AP, stop what you are doing and STUDY those whose sites have the higher ratings with the different AP ratings sites THOROUGHLY. Do not copy those AP’s, but be sure to try and figure out how they are so successful and learn from it."
   
   
4. What was the biggest problem you faced with your award program?
   
   "One word comes to mind, maturity. As with anyone else who believes that they are good at what they do, I posted my AP and thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. I quickly found that everyone else thought otherwise and I wasn’t getting any quality websites submitting for my award. After a long while, a lot of patience, and some experience, I found that I indeed had no idea what I was doing. Since then, I believe that things are actually moving uphill now instead of rolling backwards. (Look at me, I am getting interviewed)."
   
   
5. If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently?
   
   "I would have done more research prior to beginning my AP. I had no idea what I was getting into for at least a good 6 months or more. Also, I would have followed my advice that I now believe in, become an evaluator first! Had I done that, I believe that I would perhaps be one of those that I look up to now."
   
   
6. What plans do you have for the future?
   
   "A total rebuild. I plan on making nearly the entire AP work on it’s own. Right now, there is still about half of the program that needs to become more automated. A new .Net version the RNWEA Program is being planned. It will not be released for quite sometime though. Also, I really want to be more interactive with my applicants. I want them to walk away from my program with a warm fuzzy feeling no matter what the results of their evaluation were. I am really hard on myself, so I will probably never feel that I have reached this goal completely."
   
   
7. What else do you like to do?
   
   "It is no secret that I love web development. I began as a “designer” and I feel that I am now a proficient web programmer or developer. I read about it, dream about it, and I do it at work as well. When this is not crowding my mind and dictating my actions, I spend time with my family. I have a wonderful girlfriend and two beautiful children. We watch movies whenever we can. I will almost never turn down a good movie. Also, I spend whatever time I can learning about and taking pictures of animals, but mostly the Crocodilian Species. I find them fascinating and mysterious. There is an abundance about them that we still do not know. People really do misunderstand these animals. It makes me sad, because often times this misunderstanding leads to their deaths."