Judging Guidelines and Judging Criteria with Beth's Notes
Stage One - Voting started Monday 5th October 2026 Stage Two - starts December 2026 Stage Three - February 2027
STAGE ONE Mandatory Criteria
These criteria are mandatory for any website to be considered for the competition. They have been
decided based upon CAMRA policy, legislation and other key factors. There is no score for these criteria, just a pass or a fail for each criterion, but any website not conforming to all mandatory criteria will not progress to the second round.
Important: The judging criteria relate to matters of content and layout, but Brand. Please ignore any matters of compliance with the current brand guidelines, which are entirely outside the scope of the Website of the Year competition.
Please Note: When accessing Mandatory Criteria you are looking for evidence that the criteria has been achieved to the minimum level necessary, and not the maximum quality possible. Quality is assessed in round 2 of the judging. See the qualifications in italics below.
Note that the following criteria will have already been assessed, and sites failing eliminated:
• The website must be secure
• The website must be mobile-friendly
PASS = 6/6 - TO BE OFFICIALLY CONFIRMED
A contact must be displayed clearly, with appropriate contact details, or alternatively a
contact form must be available. Only a single contact is required, and the contact details
can be anywhere appropriate on the site. (Also see Preferred Criteria: The Local Branch: Contacts below). PASS - CONTACT FORM
A branch diary must be available and be up-to-date with details of where and when
branch events are being held. By up-to-date we mean that there is at least one future
branch event publicised. Some branches are relatively inactive and are not holding
regular meetings or socials, but that is not what we are assessing. PASS - EVENTS LIST & PAGE
There must be a clear hyperlink to the national CAMRA website camra.org.uk. Ideally this link should be on the home page, but can be anywhere appropriate on the
site, and the link might not be prominent. PASS - LINK IN FOOTER SECTION
A link to joining CAMRA must be included i.e. join.camra.org.uk. Ideally this link should be on the home page, but can be anywhere appropriate on the
site, and the link might not be prominent.
The link could be in the form of text or an image. PASS - ADDED 2ND OCTOBER 2026
There should be a privacy policy link on the homepage.
The privacy policy could be a link to https://camra.org.uk/terms-conditions/. This link
might not be prominent, but a link that is not prominent still qualifies. PASS - ADDED 2ND OCTOBER 2026
STAGE 2 Preferred Criteria (Quality)
The following criteria are not mandatory, but each are worth up to three (3) points each. Please note, each of these should be clearly evident. If a website requires excessive searching to find evidence it will be marked down accordingly.
0 = no evidence;
1 = little evidence, sporadic; 2 = some evidence but not consistent and with some
minor concerns; 3 = exceptional evidence, consistent throughout with no concerns or omissions.
General: Min Score = 17/21 New Potential Minimum Score = 19/21 Scoring is subject to correction - please let me know if I've missed anything
No content should be offensive, discriminatory or could be considered to bringing the
Campaign into disrepute. Content must not have a party political bias. SCORE = 3
Defunct campaigns or calls to actions for events that are in the past are only found on
archive pages and past posts. SCORE = 3 (REVIEW AFTER EACH MAJOR EVENT)
Does the website content convey a branch that is active and enjoyable? Is there a
variety of different content, e.g. about beer festivals, pub walks, presenting awards? SCORE = 2
Have acronyms been avoided? And where used have they been explained? SCORE = 3
Does the website use good spelling and grammar? SCORE = 3
Are there advertisements or articles about the upcoming Great British Beer Festival
and/or Great British Beer Festival Winter? Are there advertisements or articles about
prominent regional festivals? SCORE = 0 (NO CURRENT CONTENT - LINKS ADDED 7TH OCTOBER 2026) New Potential Minimum Score = 2 (No GBBF events in 2026)
Are there advertisements or articles about the Good Beer Guide? SCORE = 3 (PUB HUB)
STAGE 2 Preferred Criteria (Quality)
The following criteria are not mandatory, but each are worth up to three (3) points each. Please note, each of these should be clearly evident. If a website requires excessive searching to find evidence it will be marked down accordingly.
0 = no evidence;
1 = little evidence, sporadic; 2 = some evidence but not consistent and with some
minor concerns; 3 = exceptional evidence, consistent throughout with no concerns or omissions.
Campaigning: Min Score = 3/12 New Potential Minimum Score = 6/12 Scoring is subject to correction - please let me know if I've missed anything
Is there content promoting wider campaign activities and future campaigning events?
e.g. Good Beer Guide launch, AGM & Members’ Weekend, Mild in May, Cider and
Perry month and Parliamentary Lobby Days? SCORE = 0 (CAMPAIGNS PAGE IN DEVELOPMENT) New Potential Minimum Score = 2 (ADDED BY PAM OCTOBER 2026)
Does the website encourage visitors to get involved in campaigning, e.g. signing a
petition or attending a branch campaigning event or activities? SCORE = 1 (SOME CONTENT IN GET INVOLVED - SEE ALSO CAMPAIGNS) New Potential Minimum Score = 2 (ADDED BY PAM 7TH OCTOBER 2026)
Is there a dedicated, relevant and up-to-date page about local real ale brewers, cider
and perry makers? SCORE = 2 (REFERENCED IN PUB HUB - added clearer heading for LocAle)
Does the site include personal anecdotes of members’ experience of being involved in
both local and regional/national volunteering? SCORE = 0 (NO CURRENT CONTENT - MAY ADD TO GET INVOLVED - PAM TO REVIEW) Most other sites do not include anything that appears to match this criteria
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