a must see sight
week of september 21, 1997 		cool site of the day
may 13, 1997
 		a project cool sighting
march 18, 1997
reviewed in the net
august 1997 issue 		high five award
(school of a+d @ uiuc)
week of december 13, 1995 		blonde ambition hit list
july 1997


 
ez connect
best of the net award		 ARK featured site award
summer 1999 		editor's choice, 4anything.com
fall 1999


   
  britannica internet guide award
awarded february 2000 		  












Hey Alfabette Zoope :

 Your   has been chosen as Cool Site of the Day
for April 13th. Congratulations! If possible, could you announce
this award on your page and link back to us at
http://www.coolsiteoftheday.com/?
I'm also including a copy of our trophy graphic for placement on your
page as proof of the award.

     Thanks,

     Richard Grimes
     Cool Site of the Day



so i won an award. sigh.

a few years ago, back when my site was new & unique, when there were still few people creating artwork on the web, i would have been creaming in my pants over winning such an award. that was back before we'd been exposed to the web-design sermons of david siegel, before the likes of geocities & hotmail, before webrings and the link exchange, before java & script & shock & flash & vrml etc., before even the almighty browser wars... before every-other-page-out-there sported an award of some sort, & before most of those awards even existed.

and i can't help but think there are plenty of others out there doing much more creative, better, newer stuff. but i guess that's always going to be the case. bigger, faster, brighter, younger - isn't that how it goes? (jeez, am i ranting or just whining here? probably both. anyone who knows me will probably mutter "wie typisch" right about here.)

it's ironic that i've gotten more recognition & praise for my site now (after it's been sitting pretty much stagnant for over a year) than when it was actually being obsessed over in the wee small hours of the morning, designed, redesigned & tweaked till i couldn't see, think, or walk straight.

i've only once submitted my site to win an award. the one time i did, i sent my url to the highfive site (siegel again), probably in some sort of stupor from the repeated all-nighters. or it might have been panic over finding a job after graduation... but whatever my semi-self-serving reasons at the time, & so much as i still swear i'll punch david siegel in the nose if i ever run into him on the street (for calling me "honey" or "hon" numerous times in his e-mail messages), the school of art & design at uiuc did actually receive a highfive award back in december of 1995 - & he mentioned me personally (which i was thankful for & appreciated... but it still didn't make up for the "honey"s). it was kinda a neat way to finish off an otherwise bitter ending to my 4.5 years of college.

alfabette zoope was shown/mentioned in the sunday chicago suntimes a few months ago, too. not an award, as such, but a really wonderful pat on the back. it would have been more like a great big hug if the reporter had found the site on her own... tis not the case, though. i responded to her request for names/info. about anyone creating artwork on the web, intending to just pass along the name of a cool college professor (wave!) who can talk rings around most people on & off the web, & who was a great influence on me (if i had an "amazing person" list, he'd be on it)... but i also included my url in the e-mail; & ba-da-bing, i was interviewed by phone & a screenshot from alfabette zoope was published right there at the top of the article.

so i've gained another little pat on the back. it would feel better if i felt my site had some great content to offer. i mean, it has a few poems, some pretty neat photos, a pretty cool-lookin' interface (if you don't mind the wait while it all loads the first time), and my pet-project (the name lists - which i'm working on expanding & updating & reformatting, but am nowhere near completing or publishing), but it's far away from where i want it to be. it will never be done - i know. i'll never be satisfied - got that right, baaaaybeeeee.

and even the note, the notification of winning the cool site of the day award - even this has been botched to a degree. april 13th? gee, wasn't that a month ago??? okay, so the guy means may 13th - or so i'm assuming. wouldn't it be a wonderful joke if i really haven't won anything at all? despite what the note says, there was no graphic sent along with it. oops. so i snagged it off someone else's site. well, i guess the above (disjointed as it may be) note is my proof. it's my evidence, man. and this one i did not expect. this one found me.


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hindsight: despite how one may interpret the above, i *am* thankful for the recognition of being a cool site of the day. it was and is, in fact, very coooooool - coming from one of the _original_ & _first_ awards sites out there.

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