Awards & Recognitions Given to Energy Commission Websites

Welcome to the California Energy Commission

The California Energy Commission is the proud recipient
of the following awards and recognitions for its Websites.

Thank you to all of the organizations that have honored us. We are very proud of our work
and our contributions to understanding energy and its importance in our world!

The Energy Commission's Media & Public Communications Office

Note: This page has many images and may take a couple minutes to download over a regular modem.

Links and award page information below were current at time of award. Links may change or disappear without our knowledge.

Energy Quest was given a "Five Star Rating" from School Zone. [October 2010]

The Energy Commission's Energy Quest website was a "Red Hot Site of the Day!" for Technology by RedOrbit.com for January 9, 2006. RedOrbit.com in one of the premier Internet destinations for space, science, health, and technology enthusiasts around the globe. [January 2006]

Energy Quest was given a "Five Star Rating" from School Zone. School Zone is the major contractor to England's Department for Education and Skills and evaluates digital learning resources (inlcuding websites and software) for the Government's Curriculum Online portal. This service uses a fully trained team of 300 teacher-evaluators who use the resources in a classroom context over a 10 week period and then write an extensive and detailed report focusing on the educational value of the title. [October 2003]

The Energy Commission's page on "Ocean Energy" was listed on the NSDL Scout Report for the Physical Sciences. Since 1994, the Scout Project has focused on developing better tools and services for finding, filtering, and presenting online information and metadata. Located on the University of Wisconsin-Madison's campus, and part of the University's College of Letters and Sciences, Scout has access to highly educated content specialists and a world-class array of computer science and library resources. Our eclectic staff blends academics and professionals from Library Science and Computer Science, along with graduate and undergraduate students studying the sciences, social sciences and humanities. [November 2004]

Energy Quest received a Dottie Award in the Education & History category for the 2002 "Dottie Awards", honoring Northern California's Top Websites. And after all the judges' votes we tallied, Energy Quest, also received the highest number of votes of all 80 finalists for the Dotties, giving it the "TOP DOT" Award. [October 2002]

Energy Quest was selected as one of "the 300 very best Internet sites for 5-13 year olds" in the newly published book SMORK Awesome Internet Sites for Kids written by Sandra Antoniani and Friends (ISBN 0-9731020-0-4). In their e-mail to us they said, "Congratulations! You have a wonderful site!" The book's mission, along with its accompanying website (www.smork.com), is "To help kids and their parents have a safe, fun and educational Internet experience while encouraging children to become environmentally aware and responsible global citizens." [August 2002]

"The Internet Scout Project has selected Energy Quest for inclusion in the National Science Digital Library Report for Math, Engineering, and Technology (June 7, 2002). The report is a biweekly current awareness publication that highlights new and newly discovered Internet resources in these areas. We take care to cover only the most useful resources, considering the depth of content, the authority of the source, and how well the information is maintained and presented. The Internet Scout Project is a National Science Foundation and Mellon-sponsored organization based in the Department of Computer Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison." [June 2002]

Our Energy Quest website is included in the United Kingdom's National Grid for Learning. NGfL is a "...gateway to educational resources on the Internet. The NGfL provides a network of selected links to websites that offer high quality content and information." [May 2002]

Selected as a USA TODAY Education Best Bet Web Site

Energy Quest was chosen as an Education "Best Bet" Website of the Week by USA Today. According to the nation-wise newspaper, "When selecting a USA TODAY Education "Best Bet" website, our staff of education specialists looks for websites that can bring unique and useful resources and information to the classroom in an intriguing way. The site must be appropriate, factual and relevant to teachers, students and parents. Fewer than 150 sites are selected each year as USA TODAY Education "Best Bet" websites. [March 5-11, 2002]

Pages on our Energy Quest website are used by SciLinks, a program of the National Science Teachers Association. [February 2002]

The International Association of Web Masters & Designers awarded a
"2001-2002 Golden Web Award" to our Consumer Energy Center website. [November 2001]

Education World gave Energy Quest an A+ rating. [October 2001]

Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Math and Science Education gave an
"ENC Focus Magazine Award" to our Energy Quest website. This is the second time the ENC has honored EQ. [August 2001]

Ed Helper.com has chosen our Energy Quest as an
"edHelper Honor Roll Site". [November 2000]

"Berit's Best Sites For Children" - from the creators of Theodore Tugboat, a children's program on Canadian TV - recognized "Energy Quest" with a four-out-of-five rating. [January 2000]

Schoolzone has awarded Energy Quest a Five Star rating and included it in their searchable database of outstanding educational web sites which have been selected, described and categorised by 250 expert teachers. [January 2000]

Suite101.com has recommended Energy Quest as a "Youth and the Environment" Site in their Best-of-Web Directory. [January 2000]

Web Feet Seal of Approval. Energy Quest will be included in Web Feet: The Internet Traveler's Desk Reference, an interactive, monthly subject guide to the best Web sites for students, researchers, and the general public. Published by Rockhill Press, the award tells teachers, librarians, parents, and students that our site is especially valuable for research, teaching, or general interest. [November 1999]

Science Net Links is a comprehensive homepage for science educators created by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in partnership with MCI World Com. They feature Energy Quest extensively in science curriculum for 6-8 graders. About our site, they said, "Congratulations! Your site has been reviewed by our Board of Reviewing Editors and has been approved for use in classrooms. It is now featured among the recommended resources." [November 1999]

The GO Network award the Energy Commission a "GO Network Award" for the its Automotive topic page in the GO.com directory. They gave us a Three Star Rating (BEST) and said, " Each site in the directory has been carefully reviewed, and your site is one of the best for its subject area. [October 1999]

Software 2010 selected "Energy Quest" to be featured in their monthly CD-ROM publication, World Online Digest. Each month they preview 100s of Web sites and software programs. They select the best in each category, put them on CD-ROM, and mail them to subscribers who can then enjoy hours of fun and excitement in a kid-safe, offline environment. [August 1999]

Ask Jeeves, the Internet's premiere question answering service, selected our web site as a Silver Platter Site. Their mission is to help Internet users find answers to their questions quickly and easily. [July 1999]

Copernicus Interactive presented Energy Quest with its "Dr. Copernicus Award" and featured our site, "...because of its exceptional quality, content and design....," as a high-lighted site of the day. Copernicus Interactive is a Web site "...dedicated to providing K-12 educators, students and parents with the best educational resources on the Web in a friendly, time-efficiency manner."

Learners On Line recognized Energy Quest as one of its weekly "Super Sites."

Study Web, one of the Internet's premier sites for education resources for students and teachers, selected our page on Daylight Savings Time and our page on Science Fair Projects as "one of the best educational resources on the Web by (their) Researchers."

Votenet.com Award for Outstanding Political Web Site

www.Votenet.com, the Online Community for Politically Active Citizens, presented our site with what they call "...the coveted VoteNet.com Award for [an] Outstanding Political Web Site."

Energy Quest received a Links2Go Key Resource Award in the Energy topic area. According to Links2Go:

"The Links2Go Key Resource Award is both exclusive and objective. Fewer than one page in one-thousand will ever be selected for inclusion. Further, unlike most awards that rely on the subjective opinion of 'experts,' many of whom have only looked at tens or hundreds of thousands of pages in bestowing their awards, the Links2Go Key Resource award is completely objective and based on an analysis of millions of Web pages. During the course of our analysis, we identify which links are most representative of each of the thousands of topics in Links2Go, based on how actual page authors index and organize links on their pages. In fact, the Key Resource award is so exclusive, even we don't qualify for it [yet ;-)]!"

Energy Quest was chosen as one of 100 "outposts" on the World Wide Web taking part in the 1998 CyberSurfari. The world's largest on-line treasure hunt is sponsored by the Software Publishers Association, Lycos Web search engine, Apple Computer, Compaq Computer, and many other companies. The treasure hunt lasts from October 20 to November 20, 1998. Students must go to each of the 100 sites and search for an answer to a clue that is given on the main site.

Energy Quest has been listed as a Featured Education Site on Global Information Network's family-channels/education-channels. We're listed under the education-channels.com K-12 section.

Energy Quest has been included in the venerable BBC's On-Line Education "Web Guide." What is Web Guide? "The BBC Education Web Guide contains our choice of the best Web sites for education. Subject specialists have written reviews on how to integrate each site into learning - both in the classroom and at home." Talking about Energy Quest, the Web Guide says: "Learn more about energy conservation and follow the Kids Tips to increase your contribution to conservation. Do you want to know more about Super Scientists, Einstein or Marie Curie? Read about them and others here. There are games and puzzles on energy themes for you to play and experiments to try out. Find out how much energy there is in a peanut. If you've got Real Audio, play the Internet energy game show called Watt's That."

Skewl Sites is a Current Internet education Web site review newsletter researched by teachers for teachers picking the "Best Educational Web Sites."

Skewl Sites says our "Energy Quest" site was chosen as a quality educational site and reviewed in the Skewl Sites Newsletter. The site is now on the Skewl Sites Online database of sites.

Our Web Site has been chosen as "Site of the Day" on New Scientist Planet Science, the award winning on-line voice of New Scientist, the world's leading science and technology news weekly.

Site of the Day is a feature in New Scientist Planet Sciences' Keysites section which covers internet related topics. The site will eventually be removed from the daily sites page, and be archived in Hotspots, which is a selection of the best science sites on the web.

The Voyager Expanded Learning (a National Education Initiative) awarded us the "Voyager On-line Adventure Award." The educational learning program will use portions of Energy Quest on an educational CD-ROM being distributed to schools in August 1998. About our site, they said "the innovation and educational excellence demonstrated on your Web Site has earned it the...award. Your Web Site has been chosen as an exemplary site by (our) curriculum professionals...."

Surfing the Net Kids is a nationally syndicated column by Barbara Feldman. In May 1998, she awarded our kids page on Wind Energy a Four Star Rating (calling our site "Wonderful!"). This is the second award from Surfing the Net With Kids.

Our Web Site was featured during Earth Day 1998 week and received a weekly selection award from the "suite101.com" "Kids Stuff" site.

Duracell, the people who make the "copper top" battery, have chosen our kids' Web Site as a link to explain how electricity works. They have a section on their Science Center page to us.

"Energy Quest" gets a nice write-up from the Encyclopedia Britannica Internet Guide, which rates our Site as "Exceptional".

The Majon CyberMall gave our site its "Seal of Excellence Award" saying they "...enjoyed a very pleasant visit to (y)our web site!" The awards are presented to "...Web sites which exhibit intuition, graceful design, usefulness in information and/or reliable business services that deserve to be recognized for their achievements and accomplishments" and (say) "...to others that your web site is well worth visiting and is considered to be outstanding in its presentation."

Students at Vienna, Austria's Universities have selected The Energy Story in "Energy Quest" as its Info Value Site of the Week for April 19, 1997. As part of the Austria Information Switchboard, the award honors sites for their information value. "This means our visitors will find interesting and well presented information that is worth their time to visit."

"Energy Quest" was given a five star rating from PacBell Knowledge Network's "Blue Web'n" Internet Site. Blue Web'n is a library of Internet-based instruction with extensive links to educational resources.

"Energy Quest" was awarded an Editor's Choice Award from Bonus.com, The SuperSite for Kids. Bonus.com said,"We hope you will display this award with pride.... The mission of Bonus.com is to provide a fun and enriching experience for children and their families on the World Wide Web. Bonus.com launched in January 1997 with more than 500 games, activities and other educational content spread over five colorful 'CyberWays.' Kids and other visitors who come to our site will have an opportunity to enjoy your outstanding work."

Our web site was given a "5 Star Rating" from Luckman's Official Interactive WWW Yellow Pages CD-ROM, which reviews, rates and recommends the very best sites on the Web.

"Energy Quest" received a First Place Award from the California State Information Officers' Council (SIOC) as "Best Internet Home Page" in the 1996 awards competition, which is open to all California government agencies, departments, commissions and programs.

Here's what they said about Access Energy: "All humans can benefit from the insightful information on energy...given by the California Energy Commission. The Energy Directory gives an alphabetical listing of interesting related topics."

And about Energy Quest NetGuide says: "The California Energy Commission disguises its Energy Quest site as a kid's board game to lure in the little tykes and load them up with information. The Energy Story covers sources from well-known fossil fuels and solar energy to lesser-known ocean thermal energy conversion and biomass energy. (Parents might learn something, too.) Once kids have figured out what energy is and where it comes from, they can perform energy experiments and make a small water turbine or a lemon-powered battery. Energy conservation at home is touched upon, and parents and teachers can assist kids in setting up an energy patrol at school."

"Energy Quest" was chosen for inclusion in the Library for Kids of the NEC Global Network Class "Gakkos." Gakkos means school in Japanese and is a worldwide network of students, ages 10 through 14. The site was chosen as "being outstanding and of interest to participants in Gakkos."

"Energy Quest" will be featured in more than 150 newspapers in February 1997 by the United Press Syndicates' www.4kids.org feature. The mission of www.4kids.org is to provide "fun, educational and safe sites..." on the Web for kids.

"Energy Quest" was chosen as one of the Links of the Week (December 30, 1996) by Computer Currents Interactive, the on-line version of the computer magazine Computer Currents. The magazine said, "Your site has been chosen based on its originality, content and quality."

"Energy Quest" was awarded an ACEKids Cool Link For Kids Award. The panel of student judges said, " There's so much to do and see here, we've been back lots of times and we still haven't seen it all. Don't miss the bi-weekly kids horror story 'Devoured By The Dark', better yet, don't miss any of this very cool link for kids!" ACE stands for Academic Center for Excellence and is based in New Jersey.

"Energy Quest" was awarded a "Best of the Net - 1996 Science Award from Simon & Schuster/GeoSync Interactive/Prentice Hall/Silver Burdett Ginn. The educational publishing giant said that "...the judges have decided that 'Energy Quest' is one of the most outstanding science sites for intermediate students and is deserving of inclusion on the Best of Net - Science CD-ROM."

"Energy Quest" was awarded "Four Paws" from The Digby Awards and the "Just For Kids" Web site.

This is what they said about our site:

"From the USA. Energy Quest^TM is produced by the California Energy Commission. It offers energy education for kids. Enter the 1996 Energy Awareness Poster Contest, visit and participate in various energy projects, solve "Percy's Puzzles", or play "WATT's That?", an online energy game show. Several other pages (and activities) are arranged by level of difficulty. A separate collection of resources are available for parents and teachers. This site offers a truly education experience!"

The Point awarded its "Top 5% of All Web Sites" to the Energy Commission's Access Energy. The "...Point's staff of reviewers surfs the Web daily looking for the best, smartest, and most entertaining sites around...If we review a page, it means we think it is among the best 5% of all Web sites in content, presentation, and/or experience....Excellence is our only criterion." Here's their review of the Commission's Web site...

California Energy Commission

Content: 41/50; Presentation: 36/50; Experience: 33/50

You'll find the real power in California here. Actually, you'll find the folks who govern and regulate the energy industry and just about every document and report they issue. We found plenty of historical data (proven crude oil reserves have declined about 2 percent a year since 1978, but California still has nearly 16 percent of the nation's reserves). Other energy sources aren't neglected, either: check out the report on alternative fuels for vehicles that costs $4 if you want a paper copy. News releases and requests for proposals are also archived (and updated) here regularly. And Energy Quest provides students and teachers with lessons, ideas, and inspiration. Now that's power.

Review category: Government & Politics -- US Government

"Access Energy" and Energy Quest" meet all the requirements as a Family-Friendly Site^TM.

"Access Energy" was awarded a Cornerstone Foundation Award for "Excellence in Information." The Cornerstone Foundation was established in 1995 and created to recognize and identify outstanding achievement in site development on the World Wide Web. According to the Foundation, "all of the winners have exceeded the Cornerstone Foundation's judges guidelines of superior design, impact, image and overall public contribution."

Our Web Site has been named a "Selected Site" by Eye On The Web. The selection is "from among thousands of Web sites and are based on content, usability and design." Eye On The Web says it is "...web navigation for the neXt generation. Sites on the Eye are the best sites in their categories."

The Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Math and Science Education named "Energy Quest" one of its Digital Dozen for February 1996.

Learning In Motion maintains a monthly "list of the ten WWW sites they've found most interesting from an education perspective." The Commission's energy education Web Site "Energy Quest" was honored with a "Learning In Motion Top Ten Selection" in the Science Area.

Theodore Tugboat is a children's program on Canadian TV. The Tugboat Bulletin's (an on-line newsletter) list, "Berit's Best Sites For Children," recognized "Energy Quest" with a four-out-of-five rating.

Surfing the Net With Kids is a column in the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper written by Barbara Feldman. She reviewed our site in June 1996 and awarded "Energy Quest," our energy education Web Site, a Five Star Rating (calling our site "Spectacular!").

"Access Energy" has been awarded a "Four Star Rating" by The Magellan Internet Guide. The Guide gives the site 28 out of 30 possible points saying:

"The official energy regulatory agency of America's most energy-adoring state maintains this page to inform residents about the latest laws, issues and breakthroughs. In addition to introducing internal divisions, directories and mandates, the commission's site provides extensive information on alternative fuels, energy education and efficiency, and consumer assistance. If gas prices skyrocket, this site addresses it. If solar tax credits are implemented, this site explains them. The various divisions cover such areas as energy forecasting, resource assessment, energy development and environmental protection. Use the calendar to learn of energy-related events, hearings, workshops, and meetings. Hit links to other Energy Commissions as well as the California Energy Commission's gopher."

From: "The Stick," (an online, monthly Websurfer newsletter - now defunct)

Selected Site of the Month

"Energy Quest: http://www.energyquest.ca.gov

This site, maintained by the California Energy Commission, aims to educate children on several different energy topics. To accomplish this mission, there are several games, projects, and puzzles with varying degrees of difficulty. Connect the Dots, crosswords, word scrambles, and a whole bunch more make learning fun!"

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