Before applying for the Green Light Award, please check to make sure that the website you’re submitting is qualified to win this award by reading the Disqualification Criteria. Each site submitted for consideration will be graded upon the following criteria in five categories:

The Topic & Quality of Content - (6 points) The content of the site should be about trains, either prototype or model. The topic should be clearly stated on the home page, and the site should support the topic with relevant text and graphics. Does your site have sufficient written content on each page? A search engine when it "reads" your page needs words; if it doesn’t get them it will rank your page accordingly. While the viewer might be interested in knowing your qualifications about the subject you are conveying, your resume that you’ve put among your pages will not interest them. We will deduct points for site content that is off subject.

Spelling and Grammar - (4 points) should be correct throughout the site, and the sentence structure should make sense and not leave us scratching our heads. To ensure that these errors are kept to minimum we recommend that a spell checker is used. You can check your spelling on line at SpellCheck.net. We allow two spelling errors per page, anything above this and the site will lose points. We are aware of the difference in spelling between different countries and take this into consideration.

Logical Sequence of Information - (4 points) Content should be well-organized and flow in a logical sequential manner from page to page. All of the pages should have a header that defines the information that is being conveyed.

Clarity & Image Relation to Content - (4 points) All graphics including photographs, paintings, maps, etc., should relate directly to the content of each page and should be used in the correct positions on the page. Have someone that you know who is unfamiliar with trains; take a look at your pages to see if they understand what you are saying. We will deduct points for site content that would be incomprehensible to anyone that doesn’t have a degree in "Rocket Science."

Copyright Statement - (3 points) There should be a Copyright Statement on the site so that visitors will know who created the content. This is especially important if any of the text, graphics, music, etc., that are present did not originate with the author of the site. The authors of such items should be noted appropriately, as should the permission(s) to use the content. The Copyright Statement should be prominently displayed and maximum points are awarded if it is accessible from every page.

Privacy Policy - (3 points) A Privacy Policy is very important because it lets visitors know what information is collected on the site, and what is done with this information. Even if the site is non-commercial, if information is asked of visitors in the way of a guest book, or is volunteered by a visitor through E-mail contact, then there should be a Privacy Policy on the site. This policy should be prominently displayed and maximum points are awarded if it is accessible from every page.

Something to Offer - (6 points) The site should offer something to visitors in the way of information/educational material, graphics, music, or awards.

The decision to issue the Green Light Award is based on your point score of the above criteria. 70 out of a possible 106 points are needed to win the Green Light Award. The decision of our judges is final. Wining recipients will be notified by email.

There is a two month waiting period for resubmitting a site for reconsideration.