Blog Insights
Forum One Takes Home 11 Vega Awards
We’re glad to share some exciting news! Forum One has been nominated for 11 Vega Awards in 8 different categories!
The Vega Awards highlight the vital role that digital pioneers play in the always-changing digital landscape. They are presented by the International Awards Associate, and judged by a group of industry innovators, creators, designers, and communication professionals.
This year, Forum One took home one platinum, four gold, and six silver awards in the categories of cultural, non-profit, science, health, and school/university websites, as well as digital branded content, arts and culture virtual experiences, and family and kids apps and software. Check out the rest of this post to learn more about each of our Vega Award-winning projects.
American Jazz Museum
Platinum – Cultural Websites
Located in the Historic 18th & Vine Jazz District in Kansas City, MO, the American Jazz Museum showcases the sights and sounds of jazz through interactive exhibits and films, and features live music in their venues, The Blue Room, and Gem Theater. We partnered with the Museum to launch their new brand to the world. This work not only included launching a new website, but also revitalizing the entire American Jazz Museum brand as a whole. The new American Jazz Museum brand positions the museum to be a beacon of rich history and vibrancy for the community and neighborhood, and attract audiences from around the country to experience music from a range of eras and artists.
March of Dimes
Gold – Non-Profit Websites
March of Dimes is dedicated to leading the fight for the health of all moms and babies. Their goals are to end preventable maternal health risks and deaths, end preventable preterm birth and infant death, and close the health equity gap. Their work includes research, education for families and health professionals, support for families directly affected by the maternal health crisis, and advocacy.
Forum One partnered with March of Dimes to consolidate their more than 40 web platforms to develop an easy and streamlined experience for audience members to engage as they like, as well as create a website that could clearly communicate their mission.
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Gold – Science Websites
The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC) is a multipurpose research facility operated by Stanford University for the U.S. Department of Energy. Since its opening in 1962, SLAC has been helping create the future, including the launch of the first website in North America in 1991. In order to continue attracting top talent and share its mission with stakeholders, SLAC was looking for a complete redesign of its website. Forum One worked with SLAC to create a Drupal site that achieved all of these goals and more.
National Rural Health Resource Center
Gold – Non-Profit Websites
The National Rural Health Resource Center provides technical assistance, information, tools, and resources for the improvement of rural health care. The work that the center does is crucial in rural communities, where it improves the health of rural populations and helps to keep many rural hospitals open.
Forum One worked with the National Rural Health Resource Center to design their new website in Drupal 9. This redesign took a user-centric approach to better meet the needs of the site’s users and also utilized accessible, inclusive, and scalable design.
2022 State of Babies Yearbook (Zero to Three)
Gold – Digital Branded Content
Zero to Three works to ensure all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life. Their annual report, the State of Babies Yearbook, frames rigorous research, unbiased analyses, and clear communications to influence decision-makers positioned to improve public policies and interventions in support of children and families.
For the second year in a row, Forum One developed a brand-aligned design that was both easy to read and inviting. This 157-page report created a useful tool for Zero to Three’s advocacy at any stage.
NMAAHC: A Seat at the Table
Silver – Art & Culture Virtual Experiences
A Seat at the Table is a signature program at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture that critically examines social justice issues that impact the African American community. Participants observe a conversation on a select topic amongst an expert panel. After the conversation, diners engage in an interactive activity to consider challenging questions about race, identity, and economic justice over a meal.
The 2022 Seat the Table program examined “The Triumphs and Challenges of Black Education.” Forum One worked with NMAAHC to create a unique virtual experience that would feel almost like attendees were there in person. To do this, we found a top-of-the-line event platform, developed video assets to aid in the event’s storytelling, and even sent virtual attendees meals from local caterers. The sold-out event brought audiences from across the country to a uniquely-branded virtual experience to share a meal and create connections over important dialogue.
AARP Livability Index
Silver – Health Websites
AARP is the nation’s largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering Americans 50 and older to choose how they live as they age. Within the organization, the AARP Public Policy Institute maintains the AARP Livability Index, a key tool in their mission to promote the development of sound, creative policies to address common needs for economic security, health care, and quality of life.
Forum One helped the AARP Livability Index meet the needs of their audiences with an easier-to-use website and accessible data that informs consumer and policy decisions nationwide. In addition to winning this Communicator Award, the relaunched AARP Livability Index won accolades for usability and design, including Gold at The W³ and Davey Awards, but the greatest impact was in meeting AARP’s goals for a user-focused, accessible tool that would truly communicate valuable information for AARP’s primary audience.
Pacific Science Center
Silver – Science Websites
The Pacific Science Center is an independent, non-profit museum in Seattle with a mission to ignite curiosity and fuel passion for discovery, experimentation, and science for people of all ages and backgrounds. Forum One worked with the Pacific Science Center to redesign and develop their website in WordPress to highlight the museum’s post-pandemic reopening and connect audiences with their expanded slate of digital events and exhibits. The site offers an intuitive and high-performing experience across devices, with a smooth ticketing process and user-centered design. The Pacific Science Center’s new website launched in tandem with the museum’s physical reopening, successfully serving a high number of visitors on reopening weekend.
The Nation’s Report Card
Silver – School/University Websites
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a U.S. Department of Education program, assesses students around the country on educational outcomes and reports the results to a wide set of stakeholders, including policymakers, education officials, and the media. Since 2012, Educational Testing Service (ETS) has engaged Forum One to design and build more engaging, interactive reports to share the NAEP results, including the most recent 2022 Nation’s Report Cards for Mathematics and Reading, designing and building interactive reports to explore NAEP data at the national, state, and district levels. We also created Highlights pages of infographics, visualizations, and data stories to summarize key takeaways, trends, and insights into the state of K-12 education, including those for the Mathematics, Reading, and Science reports.
Compass by March of Dimes
Silver – Family & Kids Apps & Software
As part of March of Dimes’ mission to fight for the health of all mothers and babies, March of Dimes came to Forum One with the goal of being the digital leader in providing families across the birthing continuum with comprehensive support at the right time to meet their needs. To achieve this, March of Dimes and Forum One worked together to develop Compass by March of Dimes.
Compass is an app designed to support parents in their journey from pregnancy through postpartum by providing answers, resources, and compassion at every step. The app includes journals and trackers to allow parents to record important information about their journey, a glossary of commonly used terms, a community and resource library, a directory of NICU family support partners, a postpartum checkup, and more.
NMAAHC: Freedman’s Bureau Search Portal
Silver – Cultural Websites
In 2016 NMAAHC launched the Freedmen’s Bureau Transcription Project in the Smithsonian Transcription Center. Since then, thousands of volunteers have transcribed hundreds of thousands of image files of the more than 1.7 million pages of documents in the Freedmen’s Bureau archive, the largest transcription project ever undertaken by the Smithsonian. To make these files as searchable as possible, NMAAHC teamed up with Forum One and Quotient, to build the Freedmen’s Bureau Search Portal. Through this online portal, anyone can search the transcribed and indexed Freedmen’s Bureau Archive in one place.
The Freedmen’s Bureau Search Portal was a massive undertaking that could not have happened without the Smithsonian, multiple partners, the thousands of volunteers who transcribed the documents, and the technology that powers the portal. To date, more than 400,000 pages of records have been transcribed. If you would like to help transcribe the remaining documents, please visit the Smithsonian Transcription Center.
It’s a great honor to receive recognition via these Vega Awards for all of the amazing work done by our Forum One teams and fantastic client partners. It’s also rewarding to see our work represented in so many categories, from websites to apps and families and children to cultural institutions, it truly goes to show that there are so always and will continue to be many areas in the mission-driven space that are ripe for innovation and impact!
