Mark DuBois Weblog

Here are a few photos from the Illinois, WOW/ SkillsUSA web design contest. Thanks again to Lynda.com for the prizes. The winners were thrilled. Thanks again to Jonathan Worent and Shari Tripp for their help with this contest.

I arrived in Springfield, Illinois for the WOW/ SkillsUSA web design contest on April 15, 2010. Abraham Lincoln died on April 15, 1865. So I thought it appropriate to visit his home exactly 145 years after he died. Here are a few photos of the vicinity.

While returning from the WOW/ SkillsUSA web design contest in Springfield, Jonathan and I stopped for dinner. I spotted this sign. I guess I just have a different view of the world. However, can someone please tell me what is so stinkin special about Saturday?

We just concluded the 10 annual WOW web design contest in Springfield, Illinois (and winners were announced today). Everyone who participated in this contest has demonstrated their willingness to step up to challenges and do more than just attend. You are all to be congratulated for trying. The judges had to make some decisions and arrived at the winners after reviewing all the challenges from a number of different facets (there were literally hundreds of different points which had to be evaluated for each of the challenges). Many thanks to Lynda.com for providing the prizes to the first place winners (months of access to their vast library of training materials).

Congratulations to the first place winners at the WOW Web Design contest held at SkillsUSA in Springfield, Illinois on Apr. 16, 2010.

• Secondary – Christopher and Nicholas (Maine Township High School South)
• Post-Secondary – Matt Scachette and Kevin Burke (Illinois Central College)

As an aside, students from Illinois Central College have now won first place in this contest every year for the past decade.

This contest focuses on completing various challenges related to established web standards and web accessibility. Students had 6 hours to complete various tasks. They had to demonstrate professionalism, team work, and various business skills in addition to having a solid knowledge of HTML and CSS.Everyone who participated indicated they enjoyed the experience and the challenge and had fun.

I plan to post some additional comments to provide feedback to all the participants later this weekend (have to get caught up on a mountain of email now).

The next stop for me in this contest cycle is the national contest in Kansas City in June. I am already looking  forward to it.