3232 Design just won two 2008 W3 Silver awards, in the Entertainment category and for Best Visual Appeal for the Ian Tregillis website.  The W3 Award winners include the top agencies in the world, and I'm happy to be counted among them.  Twice.

I've won design awards before, but not one with so much tough competition and recognition.  I can hear those of you not in the design world asking, "What's a W3 Award?"  Well, here's what they say about themselves:

The W3 Awards honors creative excellence on the web, and recognizes the creative and marketing professionals behind award winning sites, marketing programs, and video work created for the web. In honoring outstanding websites, web advertising, and web video, The W3 Awards is the first major web competition to be accessible to the biggest agencies, the smallest firms, and everyone in between. Small firms are as likely to win as Fortune 500 companies and international agencies.  

It's run and judged by the International Academy of the Visual Arts, an invitation-only body consisting of top-tier professionals from a "Who's Who" of acclaimed media, interactive, advertising, and marketing firms.  IAVA members include executives from organizations such as Alloy, Brandweek, Coach, Disney, The Ellen Degeneres Show, Estee Lauder, Fry Hammond Barr, HBO, Monster.com, MTV, Polo Ralph Lauren, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Victoria’s Secret, Wired, and Yahoo!.

The thing I like about the W3 Awards is that it isn't a popularity contest where they only pick winners based on the agency's existing name recognition.  These awards allow smaller design shops like mine to rub elbows with the big boys from New York, San Francisco, and yes, Minneapolis, on an equal basis, based on merit alone.  I've looked through the list of winners, and I've heard of most of them.  And I won two!

I know it's hard to tell by looking at me, but I'm thrilled as hell.