Last Wednesday, we brought together Members and staff for the 111th Congress Gold Mouse Awards to celebrate online innovation on Capitol Hill. For the first time, we gave Platinum Mouse Awards to the #1 website in each category: House Members, Senate Members, committees, and leadership offices.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Vice Chair of the House Republican Conference; Sen. Lisa Murkowski, and Rep. Steve Israel, three of our Platinum Mouse Award winners, took the stage to accept their awards and talk about the importance of using the Web to communicate with constituents.
Some offices tell us that their district or state is rural, so they don't place a premium on online communications. However, Platinum Mouse winner Sen. Murkowski of Alaska said exactly the opposite. She encouraged other Members, regardless of the demographics of their district or state, to use technology to its fullest. It's specifically because her state is so far-flung that she thinks it is even more important for her to have a good website and to use technology to reach as many people as possible.
By contrast, Rep. Steve Israel, whose district is situated in the middle of Long Island, New York, said that his congressional district was far from rural, but that he has chosen to communicate with his constituents in lots of different ways.
This illustrates something we found in our evaluations: any office can and should have a good website. Our analysis showed that no environmental or demographic patterns existed between high performing and low performing websites. We studied a number of factors - party, member age, tenure, constituent demographics, among others - and none had a meaningful impact on the success or failure of a website. Simply put, any office can have a successful Web site if they choose to.
It was exciting to bring the 111th Congress winners together - both Members and staff - to celebrate just how important it is to have a high-quality congressional website. Congratulations to all of our 111th Congress Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze Mouse Award winning offices! They serve as examples for other offices to follow. More information about the project can be found here.
We would also like to thank the many sponsors who helped make the night possible. Their support and enthusiasm made the night a huge success; AT&T; Convio; Fleishman-Hillard; the Hansan Family Foundation; BlackBerry; CQ Roll Call Group; AICPA; iConstituent; Fireside21; National Association of Home Builders; Qwest Communications; Altria Group, Inc.; Credit Union National Association; Fortune Brands; Lynne C. Foster; Honeywell, Inc.; Michael Matton & Associates, LLC; Prudential Financial; Tyco Electronics, Inc.; Wine Institute; Campbell Soup Company; Hurt, Norton & Associates; and National Write Your Congressman.
