Each year Museums and the Web recognises the best work in museum web design and development in the Best of the Web competition. A panel of judges reviews sites nominated by the community, and selects sites in a number of categories.

Here are the winners. Congratulations to the sites named below (with comments from the Best of the Web 2008 panel).

Exhibition

honourable mention
The Digital Vaults
http://www.digitalvaults.org

see the nomination
the panel said:

• a cool looking tool that immerses the user in documents and images, thus connecting to the mission of the Archives.
• challenging and dynamic interface made me want to continue clicking around
• This is a fun site

winner
The American Image: The Photographs of John Collier Jr.
http://americanimage.unm.edu/

see the nomination
the panel said:

• Brilliant use of Web 2 technologies. The Propaganda film activity is wonderful.
• An excellent site. The live connection to flickr juxtaposed with photos from the collections with shared themes is a great way to bring a perspective to both image sets.
• Excellent use of Flickr, and allowing users to mash up photos, video, and audio was very engaging.

Educational

winner
Great Chicago Stories, Chicago History Museum
http://greatchicagostories.org

see the nomination
the panel said:

• Stories are very compellingly written, and though very linear within the story, incorporate other elements once outside the story. I love the fact they actually evaluated the site--it does make a difference in my judging to see how it actually plays out with real students.
• The Chicago History Museum has brought forth an exemplary educational resource for learning about history through storytelling. The site is rich with artifacts, primary source materials, and engaging stories. Teachers were involved in the site's development, and it shows.
• Great Chicago Stories is an exemplary educational website. The direct involvement of educators is evident throughout, with consideration for the real needs of classroom teachers given to all of the content. I was drawn into the stories at both the elementary and high school levels. ... it is a site that I will return to and can easily imagine teachers treasuring it.

Professional

honourable mention
The IMA Dashboard, Indianapolis Museum of Art
http://dashboard.imamuseum.org

see the nomination
the panel said:

• a viewport into the inner workings of a museum that does a nice job of providing a great snapshot of a ton of museum esoterica
• a professional site with a difference
• a little bit of everything in terms of information one would require from a institutional website. The use of numbers creats a sense of intrigue and hence a desire to find out more or dig deeper for more information. Got sucked in to the site.
• I absolutely love this site

winner
ExhibitFiles, Association of Science-Technology Centers
http://exhibitfiles.org

see the nomination
the panel said:

• I got sucked into it far longer than I expected, browsing through exhibit after exhibit, looking for little nuggets that I could use in the future.
• certainly achieves the 'quality characteristics' of the Museum Professional's Site, and if used by the community can be a valuable resource to many museum professionals

Research

winner
Prints and Printmaking, Australia, Asia, Pacific
http://www.printsandprintmaking.gov.au/Catalogues/Work.aspx

see the nomination
the panel said:

• an impressive gateway reference site. This is what a reference site should be. It covers a wide territory, with a clearly defined focus, but also covering many aspects of that subject. It includes biographical and institutional information, exhibitions and bibliographies, as well as 45,000 works. The information is simply and clearly presented.

Community

honourable mention
Brooklyn Museum of Art Community, Brooklyn Museum of Art
http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/community/

see the nomination
the panel said:

• It is striking to me how infused the community as throughout the institution -- not just a blogger or two on staff, but an apparent museum-wide commitment
• I liked the slogan: “Let us come to you!”

winner
My Brighton and Hove
http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk

see the nomination
the panel said:

• My Brighton and Hove (winner). The quality of the stories sets it apart from other entries. So evocative, with many gems from multiple authors. It's had a while to stew (8 years), and it shows...
• Really sweet. Possibly the best of the local history/memory sites I've seen lately.
• Very vivid story of colorful local character The Great Omani. Such good content! Interesting comments from visitors, who ask if he's still alive (he was at the time), and then offering condolences after he dies

My Brighton and Hove is also recognised as the Best Small Museum site.

Podcast

honourable mention
TateShots, Tate
http://tate.org.uk/tateshots

see the nomination
the panel said:

• Great content, great user interface. Varied in approach and yet consistently entertaining and informative.
• All in all an exemplary site. But the addition of much needed humor in the other sites give them the edge over this.

winner
Roman Art from the Louvre Webisodes, Indianaoplis Museum of Art
http://www.theromansarecoming.com/webisodes

see the nomination
the panel said: 

• These are really engaging and look like they were really designed to be pocasts and not simply repurposed content from other media.
• Sexy, dramatic, informative, fantastic use of the technologies, gives the viewer information about the exhibition process that is much more complete and done in an exciting and engaging way. Bravo!
• The production values are high, the content is compelling and addresses and is appropriate for the media

Innovative

Launchball, Science Museum, London
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/launchball

see the nomination
the panel said:

• Impressive array of interactive, and very stimulating games. Superb graphics and multimedia integration. Very intelligent scripting.
• The visual design is very well done keying on strong, high-contrast colours and iconography. The interface design is simple and easy to learn.
• Man, I have literally played with this for hours now. Even better is the open-endedness of it all and the user contributions. I can't stop fiddling with it.

People's choice

chosen by people registered at http://conference.archimuse.com
Maps: Tools for Adventure, The Children's Museum of Indianapolis (in conjunction with the National Geographic Society)
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/education/toolsforadventure

see the nomination

Best of the Web

Launchball, Science Museum London
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/launchball

see the nomination
the panel said: 

• I was very skeptical about this until I started playing...and couldn't stop.
• Man, I have literally played with this for hours now. Even better is the open-endedness of it all and the user contributions. I can't stop fiddling with it.

Congratulations to all of the winners, and thanks to the judges for their contributions!