Fastspot Creates Second Baker Artist Awards Website with Social Media Tools
01.05.2009
The Baker Artist Awards, a competition established in 2008 by the William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, is open to artists working in a variety of disciplines and media, including painters, writers, musicians, and sculptors, and who reside in the city of Baltimore as well as the five surrounding counties.
In addition to social media tools such as online voting, a comment area for each nominated artist, and e-mail alerts, the site features a gallery format similar to that found in a museum.
The artists are vying for several cash prizes of at least $20,000, each the result of a private juried process. Additionally, the general public is voting on the Baker Artist Awards site for their favorite artists to receive one of two Baltimore Choice awards, with cash prizes totaling $5,000.
"We designed the site to make it easy for artists to nominate themselves," Halvorsen said. "They simply hit a button and upload their portfolio along with descriptions of their work and their bios. They can also add new work to their online portfolio. And we made voting just as easy." For example, people can vote for more than one artist as well as track votes. Additionally, they can receive e-mail alerts when artists have added new work to their online portfolio.
“An exciting by-product of the concept and design of the site is the exposure that the general public and the artists have to the amazing talent we are fortunate to have in the greater Baltimore area,” Halvorsen said.
Nominations continue to be accepted until February 1, and winners will be announced in March.
In 2006, Fastspot pioneered the use of social media tools for awards programs when it conceived, designed, and programmed the Website for the People’s Design Award for the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York City. Early in the first year of this award, the site was mentioned on the home page of Yahoo.com, resulting in 4 million unique visitors in a single day. Now in its third year, the site continues to receive thousands of nominations and tens of thousands of votes.