Eligible Programs

The Shareware Industry Awards were conceived to honor the very best programs marketed using the "shareware" model. Over time, the number of companies using the shareware model has increased dramatically. For the purpose of the Shareware Industry Awards, the definition of "shareware" is as follows:

"Shareware" is any software that offers a "try before you buy" capability. The user must be able to try the actual product, whether it is a program that can be downloaded or a service that is used online. All products that meet this criteria are eligible for the Shareware Industry Awards. Any company marketing a product that meets this definition, regardless of the size of the company, will be eligible for the Shareware Industry Awards.

No program has to be "submitted" in order to be considered. In order to provide authors with another way to bring their products to the attention of those who nominate and vote, however, a submission area on has been created on the Web site. This area is open to software authors and users and accepts PAD files. The area is made available from April 1st to April April 30th each year. The area closes when the nominations begin.

Those who nominate are directed to look at the list of submitted programs and to consider them in their deliberations. It should be made clear, however, that a program does NOT have to be submitted here in order to be nominated. Programs may be submitted, during the specified time, using the link below.

Programs should have been released within 16 months of the current nominations. Any program that has won in the past must have had a fairly significant upgrade in order to be nominated again.

Program suggestion area is closed and will reopen Wed, April 1st.

Voter Eligibility

The following individuals are eligible to nominate and vote on the Shareware Industry Awards provided they have registered as a voter and are in the SIAF database:

• Software authors/developers
• Representatives of companies that develop, package, sell, or distribute shareware products
• Journalists and reviewers

Only one representative per company will be allowed to vote, with the exception of individual journalists and reviewers.

Voter Registration

In order to participate in the nominations and voting for the Shareware Industry Awards, eligible individuals must first register to vote. Once registration information has been verified, a unique registration is generated for each individual. Registration need only be done once as the registration number is good as long as there is participation. If a registered voter goes two (2) consecutive years without nominating, their record will be deleted from the database. Voter registration is open all year.

Register now to particpate in this year's awards!

Register Here to vote in the Shareware Industry Awards!

NOTE: If you filter against SPAM, please be sure to allow the domain "siavoting. com". Rejected emails will NOT be resent. Thank you for your interest in the Shareware Industry Awards.

Nominating and Voting

In order to participate, an eligible person, having registered, would:

Nominate those software program with which they are familiar that display a level of excellence. While software developers are allowed to nominate their own program they may only do so ONCE and in ONE category. Anyone who nominates their own product more than once will be disqualified. After nominations are closed, take time to evaluate all of the nominated programs prior to the voting period.

Note: In order to vote on the nominees, you MUST participate in the nomination process! Those who do not nominate cannot vote. Nominations are tabulated and the programs with the MOST nominations in each category become the nominated programs in a given category. There will be no more than 5 nominees in any category. Once the nominees are determined, each voter will be asked to select one program in each category, and that will determine the Shareware Industry Award winners.

Program/Category Eligibility

The Shareware Industry Awards are coordinated solely by Michael E. Callahan aka Dr. File Finder (tm), Chairman of the SIAF and founder of the awards. The board renders their opinions on award categories, as requested by the Chairman. NO other member of the SIAF board, however, participates in ANY aspect of the actual tabulation of the nomination or voting processes. Because of this fact all other board members are eligible for the Shareware Industry Awards.

A panel composed of five (5) members, appointed by the Chairman and certified by the SIAF board of directors, acts as an objective overseer of the nomination and voting process. They verify the legitimacy of the voting process and disqualify votes that clearly break the rules. The panel is composed of intelligent individuals who have absolutely no personal interest in the results. The panel members are intentionally picked because their own fields of endeavor have nothing to do with software or the computer industry.

Tabulation

The appointed panel will verify all nominations to ensure there are no irregularities, duplicate registration numbers, false registration numbers, and to tabulate the nominations and votes. All nominations and all votes are counted by each of the five panel members and the chairman, twice. All members of the panel concur on the final results. The panel will go over the votes in the same way to determine the winners. In the event of a tie in any category, the entire panel goes over the votes in that category for a third time to positively verify that a tie has occurred.