Saturday, January 18, 2003

4 county businesses earn website awards

What do an Ashland restaurant, a Frackville photography studio, a Pottsville bookstore and a regional coalition of visitors bureaus have in common?

All four have award-winning presences on the Internet.

The websites for Danny's Drive-In Inc., Ashland; Ernie's Photography, Frackville; Goodwill Christian Bookstore, Pottsville; and the Black Diamonds Tourism Coalition have been given Golden Web Awards for 2002-03.

The award, given by The International Association of Web Masters and Designers, is presented to sites whose design, originality, and content have achieved levels of excellence worthy of recognition.

The four websites were among those nominated by Schuyl Inc., the Pottsville/Schuylkill Technology Incubator tenant that designed and maintains the sites.

"It's exciting," said Roy W. Musser, owner of Goodwill Bookstore, of having an award winning website.

"It's noticed," William T. Snyder, co-owner of Ernie's Photography, said of the website. "We get a lot of hits, we know that."

"They did an excellent job," added Lucinda H. Turner, William's wife and co-owner.

The four websites were designed by Liana E. Evans, project manager for Schuyl, Inc., and multimedia designer Anthony F. Wiscount.

"Really, I'm proud because the work these people have done is being recognized," said Schuyl Inc. President Mark A. Fanelli. "I'm very proud of my staff and the work they've done."

The owners of the four websites gathered at the incubator Thursday morning for presentation of the awards.

In addition to Musser and the Turners, also on hand were Randy N. Snyder, owner of Danny's, and Mark T. Major, executive director of the Schuylkill County Visitors Bureau, representing the Black Diamonds Coalition.

Fanelli presented each with a certificate, plus a framed printout of their homepage.

He also took the opportunity to thank the four for hiring Schuyl Inc., to design their sites, allowing Schuyl - a branch of Frackville-based American Computer Associates and one of the incubator's first tenants - to get a firmer footing in the county.

"Doing business with a local business, we appreciate that," Fanelli said.

Fanelli also commended the businesses for having the business sense to make the move onto the Internet.

"For local businesses, it's getting that information out there, making a brochure that's there 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year," he said.