Today has been an exciting day. We woke up to an email from Awwwards.com informing us that our website had passed the nomination benchmark, making it a potential recipient of the Site Of The Day award.
We are pleased to inform you that your submission to Awwwards has been approved.
The site will be posted in our “Nominees” section and will be evaluated over the next 7 days by our international jury and Awwwards’ users.
If awarded a high enough score, the site will be placed in a queue to appear as “Site of the Day”. It will also be included in our book “The Best 365 Websites Around The World” in 2014
Aah, you should have seen our reaction: jumping up and down all over the place like toddlers. On a sugar rush. In a bouncing castle. I personally did the Ezekiel Kemboi dance!
So why are we so thrilled to be nominees? And why do we seem so eager to win?
1. It will validate “designing from scratch”
When Skyline was birthed, the aim was to provide something that was virtually non-existent at the time: custom-made websites for the Kenyan market. We’ve been beating that drum since the early days of this blog. Almost 6 years later, many purported web designers still scoff at our emphasis on designing from scratch, claiming (rightly) that it takes a lot more time and effort (yea, welcome to life!) It’s always easier to use templates and attempt to capitalise on volumes rather than focusing on quality design and a well thought out user experience.
Well, try winning an internationally recognised award with that!
Don’t get me wrong, design for the sake of an award is missing the point. The aim is to make something new; something distinct; something creative; something useful; something that works exactly the way you want it to; something memorable; something worthwhile. An award is simply a by-product acknowledging those things.
Winning this award will be proof to all aspiring and current web designers in the country that authentic design is worth it.
2. It will be historic
As you will see on Awwward’s Winners List, only two other African websites have received the award ever since the site was established about two years ago. Two! That means that if we win, we’ll officially be in the African web design hall of fame!
That, my friends, is something worth telling your grandchildren when you’re wrinkled and toothless.
3. It’s much bigger than us
Confession: I almost shed a tear today. Ai! The support and appreciation we’ve been shown has been simply overwhelming!
- In just under 24 hours, our website is the most voted for among the nominees, with 104 votes and counting from all over the world—but especially from Kenya
- We’ve lost track of the big ups on Facebook and Twitter
- Even our co-working space (Startup Garage) sent out an email to members to support us
A win won’t be Skyline’s win. It will be Kenya’s win, and it will be Africa’s win.
How humbling. How humbling…
Our sincere thanks to all who believed in and appreciated our “Martian skills” even before the nominations and awards started coming in. And many thanks to everyone who’s supported us this week in one way or the other. We wouldn’t do this without you. That’s what “African skin” is all about.
So vote and pray we win.
Soli Deo Gloria.