This week on EDU Checkup I reviewed three sites at random. Two were recently redesigned and scored strong in two categories but their weak score in the third category brought the overall scores down.

As a side note I wanted to bring to attention a project that I just announced this last weekend. EDU Snippits, a place to collect and get inspired about design elements for higher education web sites. It’s not designed to rate the whole web site (that is what eduStyle.net is for) but to rate snippits of the design that you find appealing or useful. It is a place to gather by category the different design elements of Web pages. Before the full site launch I am only releasing one snippit per day, so subscribe to the RSS so you don’t miss any great higher ed design elements.

• Boston Architectural College (B)
• University of Louisville – Undergraduate Admissions (B)
• Oklahoma Wesleyan University (B-)

Stay tuned to the @educheckup twitter account and RSS feed for more site updated in the coming weeks. Also if you have not subscribed to the iTunes feed yet its a great way to get new episodes automatically.

We’re pleased to announce the judges for the 2nd Annual eduStyle Higher Ed Web Awards. For a list of judges visit the Judges page on the Awards section of the site.

We’re pleased to announce that the nominations for the 2nd Annual eduStyle Higher Ed Web Awards open today. There are 31 categories you can nominate your site in including Best Overall Website, Best Visual Design, Best Integration of Social Media, and many more. For more information on how to nominate a site for an eduStyle Award visit the “how to nominate” page on the eduStyle Awards section of the website. The final list of award categories will be determined based on the number and quality of nominations in each category, so if you want to see your category make it to the awards phase make sure you encourage your friends to nominate sites.

We’re also pleased to announce an exciting new category presented in partnership with CollegeWebEditor.com, the Best Higher Ed Blog. This category is the first eduStyle award to be giving to a site not affiliated with a school. It will be presented to the best blog on any topic in higher ed. The nominations for this category will be handled differently than the rest of the awards. Watch for details on how to nominate your favorite blog in the next few days.

Let the nominations begin.