Entry deadline Feb. 10 for Web awards
Soundings Trade Only joins with Boats.com and the NMMA to salute the industry’s leading sites
Boats.com, the National Marine Manufacturers
Association and Soundings Trade Only are sponsoring this year’s North American Marine Industry Web Awards, which recognize the importance of the Internet to the boating business.
The deadline for entries is Feb. 10.
“This is a genuine attempt to get the industry
to buck up, take notice, recognize the effectiveness of the Internet, because these are
tough, challenging times,” says James Nolan,
president of James Nolan Industries, a consultant and former general manager of Boats.com
and Yachtworld.com.
“There are still 17 million boats out there,” says
Nolan. “Most of them are going to be used this
year, new ones will be bought, some of them
will be sold, and most of them will require some form
of product and service. So it’s in our best interest to
be as professional and proactive as possible. Web
sites … are an essential aspect of this.”
Awards will be given in the following categories,
two of which are new for 2009:
• Best OEM/Manufacturer Site: For boat manufacturers’ Web sites that demonstrate creativity in design,
ease of navigation and up-to-date, relevant content.
• Best Marine Equipment Site: For equipment
manufacturers’ Web sites that demonstrate creativity in design, ease of navigation and up-to-date, relevant content.
• Best Dealer/Broker Site: For power- or sailboat
dealer and broker Web sites that demonstrate cre-
Last year’s overall winning Web site was MasterCraft’s.
ativity in design, ease of navigation and up-to-date,
relevant content.
• Best Marine Site — Editorial Content (new): Open
to any marine site with editorial content that engages,
informs, promotes and compels action.
• Best Marine Site — Discover Boating (new): Open
to any marine site with content that embraces and
supports the Discover Boating ethos.
Nolan says it is important to recognize those promoting the Discover Boating message, despite a decision last year to temporarily put a hold on a national
advertising campaign.
“The industry should be supporting the Discover Boating initiative by having on its own Web
sites a similarity of message,” he says. “In order to
keep the industry focused on Discover Boating which is a good program, we’ve added
that category.”
Judges for the Web awards include Jorian
Clarke, Adam Heneghan, Larry Rains and Fernando Regueiro.
Clarke is founder and CEO of SpectraCom, a
Milwaukee-based interactive marketing
agency focusing on strategic developments in
market research, marketing, sales and electronic publishing.
Heneghan is president of Elevation, a Chicago-based digital agency that includes the Chicago
Mercantile Exchange, Discover Boating and Orb-itz as clients.
Rains is marketing manager for Boats.com and
YachtWorld.com. Prior to working with Boats.com
and YachtWorld.com, Rains owned a Web development company.
Regueiro is the director of Internet services at the
NMMA, and leads the team responsible for development and maintenance of more than 45 Web sites
under the NMMA umbrella.
To nominate a company or an individual, complete
the online application on the Web Awards Web site,
www.marinewebawards.com, which includes all relevant award information.
The winning companies in each of the categories will be featured in the April issue of Soundings Trade Only.
— Beth Rosenberg
