Hey,
It’s been almost two weeks since our site was nominated for an Awwward. As you could tell, us Martians were very excited about it, and over the course of the voting period, (methinks) we broke the ‘most voted for’ record. We haven’t seen any other site that’s had more than about 110 votes. We had 186!
Unfortunately, the fact that a week has passed since voting was closed yet we haven’t even been listed as an ‘honourable mention’ may mean that our site didn’t make the cut—according to their jury’s vote which is determinative over and above user votes.
Are we disappointed?
Of course. We hate losing. I particularly hate losing.
However, shall we walk around with our heads hanging low in defeat? Absolutely not! Here are 3 things we are grateful for:
1. Your Support and Encouragement
As we shared in the first post, the support that we received during the voting period, and even to date, has been overwhelming. We’d like to think that it’s not simply because we are Kenyans, or Africans, but rather that you appreciate the attention to detail and creativity that goes into our work. Winning an award can not compare to the privilege of being viewed with honour and dignity by those who are the direct consumers of the work we produce. And for that, we can never thank you enough.
So thanks for voting for us, for commenting, for liking our page, for the tweets and retweets, for sending us emails, for everything… It means more than you may realise.
2. Global Exposure and Feedback
Even though we haven’t won, we got a lot of design feedback from web designers all over the world. We were happy to see people from Italy and Russia and Australia and many other overseas countries vote for us, and even happier to see that most of them thought the design, creativity, usability and content of our website are excellent.
It was during that period that we had the highest number of active users on the site we’ve ever recorded. Just in the past two weeks, we’ve had 30,000 page views, a very low bounce rate of 26%, and an average time of 4 minutes spent on the site per visit. At one point, there were about 60 active users. For a portfolio website, that’s pretty cool.
Visitors from all over the globe.
3. A Rekindled Desire to Inspire
The one thing we have in common with the mythological Antaeus is that throwing us to the ground only makes us stronger. About a year ago, I recorded a video announcing the development of an African site that would showcase authentic web design. In it, I mentioned the challenges that African designers face, and even mentioned awwwards.com. The sentiments expressed in that video are now all the more real, now that I and my team have literally gone through the process.
So stay updated and we just might have a surprise for you soon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xj3QcTPw0sI
Once again, thank you for your kindness and appreciation. You’re the best.
Have a fabulous week, and stay inspired!
Update
So, we got an email response from the Awwwards team. Here’s a quote:
Remember, all sites are eligible for the Site of the Day competition for up to three months from date of submission, so keep your fingers crossed.
Congratulations on all your hard work, and we look forward to seeing more projects soon!
Turns out we still stand a chance. Well, whether we win or not, soli Deo gloria.
Cheers.