Awwwards works simply: sites are submitted for evaluation, a professional jury assigns scores across four criteria, and the best works receive Site of the Day status. The feed of these accolades is updated daily, and competition for them is global. For a studio that just a few years earlier was seeking a place in international rankings, the award confirmed the chosen course.
The summer that prepared the award
The award capped a summer in which the studio's site passed through all the major platforms. On May 24, the site received Website of the Day on CSS Design Awards with a score of 7.80. Five days later it was chosen as Site of the Day on CSS Nectar, and on June 3 CSS Light named it Find of the Day. On June 13, CSS Winner awarded Site of the Day status with a score of 7.5; on July 20 the site became Site of the Day on BestCSS, and on July 27 it won on CSSReel.
Each of these platforms operates on its own scale, so the numbers cannot be added or compared directly. What matters more is that over two months the site received day-status three times on different galleries, and by August 8 the studio had accumulated an impressive list of recognitions. Awwwards became the final link in this chain.
The path to it was long. On December 5, 2013, the previous version of the site received an Honorable Mention on Awwwards—that is, it was noted but not selected as the best work of the day. Twenty months passed between these two marks, during which the studio managed to release several new works and enter competitions in Ukraine.
What the jury saw
On Awwwards, the site is described as "Website & portfolio of Sponge D&D company." This succinctly captures its essence: at once the studio's business card and a showcase of its work. The scores across criteria were uneven. Design received the highest mark, 7.43, while usability, 6.57, proved the weakest aspect. Content, 6.86, and creativity, 7, are nearly level.
The spread of opinions within the jury is immediately apparent. Microsoft creative technologist Brian Saftler gave 8.3, Keitaro Suzuki of SHIFTBRAIN gave 7.10, and JB Grasset, co-founder of Ultranoir, rated the work at 6.40. The average, 7.03, emerged where different views converge, and that is precisely why Site of the Day status carries more weight than a single high score.
Studio founder Bohdan Hnatiuk led the project at every stage: from the first public recognitions to entering the international scene. At the time, the studio emphasized that the award concerned not a single screen but the entire logic of the site, in which the portfolio and introduction to the team work together.
The autumn that continued the summer
The summer victories had a sequel. In autumn 2015, the studio's works continued to appear on industry platforms: the company Foundator received a CSS Winner Nominee on July 11 and BestCSS Site of the Day on July 21, while Geeks Empire in June appeared on CSS Light and in CSS Winner nominations. Sponge remained in this stream of awards, and by the end of the year its works were regularly discussed in professional circles.
On October 22, 2015, at the Golden Site 2015 awards, the Sponge site took first place in the "Digital Agency Website" category. Thus the summer series of recognition on international platforms was confirmed in the Russian market as well.
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