October 2007 - DB Awards (Science Fiction)

The DB awards are presented on a monthly basis to websites that I feel present or offer something new and different. There are 5 different categories, each covering a different aspect of what I believe are important elements to general society. Each month I choose a different ‘genre’ or subject for the awards to be based on, and then distribute them as I feel fit.

Some people may think that Website Awards are SO 1990’s - but I believe that giving ANY credit where credit is due is very important - webmasters have feelings too! Please feel free to nominate websites that you feel cover some important areas too via my Contact page, you never know I might agree!

October 2007 - Science Fiction

[The Geeky Award] - www.war-ofthe-worlds.co.uk
One of my all time favourite sci-fi ‘franchises’ is The War of the Worlds (old school - not the horrid 2005 remake crap!). This is an amazing shrine for all things Mars - from the H.G. Wells classic in 1898 till the present day. There is an amazing resources database full of documentation and newspaper clippings from the time of Orson Welles infamous radio broadcast in 1938. This site is just full of details and stories that has obviously taken years to collect.

[The Community Award] - www.ex-astris-scientia.org
This is one of the most expansive sites I have seen for the Star Trek Universe. Bernd Schneider has allowed members of his community to submit fan-fiction stories, starship & shuttle craft designs as well as participate in the site’s forum. One of my favourite areas of this site is the ‘Journal of Applied Treknology’ which allows members to discuss, expand and invent new technologies for the Star Trek Universe. I have lost many hours roaming around the thousands of pages of information that can be found on this site.

[The Design Award] - www.lcarscom.net
Lcarscom.net is one of the oldest and most well-known of the Star Trek fan sites out there. Running for over 10yrs now, with over 1600 pages of information, most web designers would try to produce a ’simple’ yet boring style for a site like this - however Lcarscom.net has been able to use a clever mix of flash animation, simple buttons and a sampling of the Star Trek ‘TNG’ computer colour scheme to create a truly amazing experience. The official Star Trek site should be ashamed of itself!

[The ‘DIY’ Award] - www.sb410.net
I decided to award Starbase 410 (sb410.net) the DIY award for best use of what they have to hand. With little knowledge and funds, they have been able to create a large database full of exciting information and fan-fiction style material. This general Sci-fi club was setup in 1999, based in Cambridge (UK), and are still going strong.

[The ‘Something Different’ Award] - www.starhyke.com
There are many fan fiction spin-off shows around the web - where people dress up in uniforms (that are normally too big for them) and act out scenes in front of a cheap green screen to give the (really bad) illusion that they are actually on some space craft somewhere deep in space. Star Hyke on the other hand is completely new ’sci-fi comedy drama’ that is based in the year 3034 and created by Andrew Dymond and is actually based on a short film he produced back in 1991. He decided to take over a warehouse in Bristol (UK) and transform the interior in to a complete starship. This process took 3 months. The site shows how the cast and crew made the show, and you can even follow the journey of how they are trying to get the 6-part series picked up by a TV Channel. Do I need to explain anymore about how this site is so different from the rest?