Award winning websites

It can be really intimidating when you see the incredible stuff that so many people are doing. But it is inspiring to better work, and it does make you want to approach the solution to the website differently. At least give it a try. Following are some 2010 Communication Arts Interactive Award Winners.

When you mouse over boxes they move and new photos come up. I like how you get a sense of the store brand right away. It is fresh and young and bright. I assume like the fashion should be. It is also easy to find sales/ specials exclusive to the site. I'm always a sucker for big photography on sites. More print-like I guess.
http://www.daffys.com

This one is not CA winner, but I think is a resource similar to the navigation they used in the above site. These 'spicy nodes' are a navigation program. They are really different and interactive. Way beyond Nav. Tabs.
Ultimately this site bugged me because I kept going deeper, following 'the crumbs', and after 5 clicks or so still got to one stupid sentence. Lord love ya, give me some bread!!
spicynodes.com

This site is CA winner and incredible. It features site loader animations, many from movie sites. I like the way the site is set up. I seems very simple while actually the content is very dense. There is a different use of the screen space too.
prettyloaded.com

Another CA winner 2010. This is a more traditional site but really engaging. Again the site seems very true to the 'brand' of Oregon and the destinations featured here. The sub navigation on the lower right is inspired too. I like the graphics there because they feel very natural and like personal doodles from a friend. A tad busy, but I think you are supposed to feel like there is a ton to explore and taste and it's all accessible. Yup.
OregonBounty