[jonathan lall]

This isn't directed at anyone in particular but before we go on... Please. No silly excuses. No whining. Make your site work in the big browsers (or else).

Simple, well-constructed, standards-compliant code will almost always work in all browsers updated in the last three or four years, including IE5.5 and up. And for the record, IE7's beta is out and it's very nice. It's not a bad idea to give that a try, because it's completely revamped and will work like a charm (bear in mind the EULA basically asks you to agree not to browse around with the beta because Microsoft won't lend support for it). If you think the website judges are given strict guidelines other than the scoring rubric, you're sorely mistaken. Not only does each person have different values and judge based on their own subjective ideas as to what is a good site, but each person is liable to use a different browser. Some might use more than one. If you had to bet though, that browser would be IE6.0. Website Award or not, it's just bad design practice to code something that IE can't read.