The DrupalCon Singapore Splash Awards welcomes two different types of projects: "Drupal Websites and Digital Experiences", and "Open Source Drupal Projects".
Drupal Websites and Digital Experiences
The best and brightest Drupal websites are recognised in six separate categories:
- Government
- Publishing
- Not for Profit
- Education
- Design / UX
- Corporate
Each entry is then assessed by an independent panel of judges who assign a score in one of five criteria:
Concept - The plan behind the website.
Is the concept clear, unique and consistently implemented? Does the website tell a clear story? Does the chosen strategy and the final elaboration of the product fit the objectives that served as the starting point of the project?
Design and Accessibility - Everything that is visible for the end user, including UX, motion and visual design on both desktop and mobile. Judges will be looking for a design that is of a high quality, fits the target audience and supports the message that needs to be conveyed. Accessibility is also a key element in the consideration process.
Technology - Websites should be assessed for their speed and whether they function properly. In this criteria, the Drupal application is also being considered: has the build followed Drupal standards? Is the implementation innovative? Integrations with third party systems is also considered. For judges who know how, feel free to run Lighthouse scores and other synthetic user tests to measure technical efficiency.
Business case - In this criteria we are looking for a positive business outcome for the website. Has the website increased sales, lowered costs, and provided a better brand experience? Do the analytics from the site show that the goals have been achieved or even exceeded?
Community value - Drupal is an open source platform and owes its existence to the community behind it. All submissions will be judged on the value the website returns to this community. This could be code, for example modules published on Drupal.org, but also indirect contributions, such as spectacular case study and well-known brands that use Drupal which contribute to marketing Drupal.
Open Source Drupal Projects
A special category just for open source projects such as modules, Camps, distributions, and any other effort by members of the community designed to make Drupal a more attractive and useful option for it's users.
Entries in the Open Source category are assessed on five different criteria:
Problem - How significant is the problem this project is trying to solve? How ambitious are the project leaders? Judges could award a higher score for a project that solves a big problem for a small group of people, or a project that solves a small problem for a very large number of people. Projects that solve a problem for an underrepresented group of people (ie, accessibility, language) should receive special consideration.
Presentation and Marketing - Does the project communicate its goals effectively? Really great open source solutions that nobody knows about don’t help as many people as they could. Higher scores are awarded for projects that do a good job of communicating with their intended audience by clearly explaining what they’re trying to do, and making a serious effort to always reach out to the community to raise awareness.
Community Activity - Does the project enjoy contribution and engagement from non-maintainers? Open source projects thrive when a new crop of interested people decide to get involved and contribute to the project as well. You could award higher scores based on how effectively the project maintainers engage with their community and encourage contribution, as well as how active that community is. One key test here will be how many users just ask for help, vs how many users help other users without the maintainers being directly involved.
Support - How actively do the maintainers support the project? Are the project maintainers consistently and reliably involved in answering support requests from their community? Is the documentation thorough and up-to-date? Are there nice touches like tutorial videos, conference presentations, and other efforts made consistently to help users of the project get more out of it?
Quality and Consistency - Does the project show the best that Drupal can offer? Quality metrics can vary depending on the type of entry here. Code quality might work for some, but not others. Instead, judges consider if the project is built/delivered to a high standard without any rough edges or clearly unfinished areas. Bonus consideration for projects that have a published roadmap that is delivered against.
