awards
March 25, 2002
The Bivings Group wins #1
for Best National Public Affairs Website.
Continuing a string of recent award wins, The Bivings Group received the top honor at the prestigious "Pollie Awards" ceremony in San Diego last weekend.
Sponsored and judged by The American Association of Political Consultants, this annual award competition pits entrants from among the nations top political and public affairs firms, competing for recognition from their peers.
The winning entry was created for the National Clearinghouse for Professions in Special Education. www.special-ed-careers.org 
The new National Clearinghouse for Professions in Special Education (NCPSE) site was launched in summer 2001. NCPSE, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, wanted to significantly enhance their Internet presence to recruit and retain educators and related service personnel for children with disabilities.
To mirror NCPSE's commitment to the special education community, the site was designed with strict WC31 and Bobby2 web-accessibility guidelines, ensuring that the content was viewable by site visitors with visual, physical and cognitive challenges.
The Bivings Group redesigned and reengineered the NCPSE website to make its resources easily accessible to its target audiences: those considering a career in special education; teachers and professionals already in the field; and researchers, grant writers and education policy makers.
The goal of the site was three fold:
- Recruit and retain special education professionals by offering a comprehensive database of colleges and universities offering special education curriculum.
- Provide a listing of federal grants available for special education studies, and a detailed offering of recruitment and retention initiatives by state.
- Raise awareness of the needs and benefits of working with children in special education. Since the launch of the redesign, visitors to the NCPSE site have increased from less than 2,000 a month to over 14,000 visitors a month in February 20023. NCPSE has also reported an increase in the amount of visitors using the "Contact us" section of the site, to request additional information about special education.
1. Conformance to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 as outlined in section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C. 794d).
2. Bobby is the product of CAST - the Center for Applied Special Technology, in conjunction with the W3C. Created to eliminate barriers for people with online accessibility issues.
3. Source: "OpenStats" - Web Analysis program
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