How badges are awarded.
Badges recognise agencies on Stacklumen for good work. Our team chooses them at its discretion, separately from StackAwards, and no badge is ever sold.
The rules. For every badge.
The same rules apply whoever gives a badge and whoever holds one.
- Chosen by our team
- Badges are given by the Stacklumen team at its discretion. They reflect our editorial judgement, or the published criteria shown with each badge. There is no application and no fee.
- Separate from StackAwards
- StackAwards is judged by its own published method, with measured scores and a jury. Its shortlist, winner and Agency of the Year badges come from those results, never from our team’s choice.
- Never sold
- A badge cannot be bought, and no plan, payment or partnership includes one. It is not a guarantee of quality, and not a ranking of anyone who does not hold one.
- Connected agencies are named
- Where a badge goes to an agency connected to Stacklumen (our own agency, a client of it, a referral partner, or an agency run by our team), the badge says “Connected to Stacklumen” wherever it is shown.
- The recipient decides
- An agency can hide any of its badges from its showcase settings, and it is then shown nowhere. A badge can be shown on the agency’s own site as we provide it, without alteration, until it is withdrawn.
- Recognition only
- Badges recognise good work. There are no negative badges, and a badge from our team never claims to be the best, number one or top-rated: only recorded results could back that.
- Changed or withdrawn
- We may add, change or withdraw a badge at any time, for example when the work it recognised is no longer live. Some badges are given for a set time and expire.
From our team. At our discretion.
These badges reflect the Stacklumen team’s editorial judgement against the criteria below. Each one shows the reason it was given.
- Rising Star
- For an agency that is new to Stacklumen, or growing quickly on it, whose recent work our team thinks people should see: live sites built with care and clients who stay with them. There is no application and no fee.
- Industry standout
- For strong recent work in one industry, which the badge names. Our team looks at the agency’s live sites for clients in that industry and at what the work did for those clients.
- Craft
- For work our team noticed for its detail: type, layout, motion, accessibility and speed handled with care, on sites that are live.
- Client service
- For an agency our team has seen look after its clients well on Stacklumen: clear handovers, clients who can edit their own sites, and work that carries on after launch.
- Other recognition
- For something that fits none of the kinds above. The badge carries its own name and the reason it was given, and follows the same rules as every badge here.
From StackAwards. From recorded results.
StackAwards is judged by its own published method, with measured scores and a jury. Our team does not choose these badges, and cannot give them by hand.
- StackAwards shortlist
- Given by StackAwards, not chosen by our team: the agency built a website shortlisted in a StackAwards category that year, by the method published at /awards/rules.
- StackAwards winner
- Given by StackAwards, not chosen by our team: the agency built the website that won a StackAwards category (an industry and a size) that year, by the method published at /awards/rules.
- StackAwards Agency of the Year
- Given by StackAwards when an edition is announced, to the agency that edition’s published rules name, from its recorded results. The rules are at /awards/rules.
Connected agencies. Always named.
An agency is connected to Stacklumen when it is Stacklumen’s own agency, a client of it, a referral partner, or an agency run by its team. Every badge it holds says so, like this, wherever it appears.
CraftConnected to Stacklumen An example of how a connected badge is labelled.