From Kairotica 1.1, authored by Mick Doherty and appearing June 1, 1998, on ACW-L, the discussion list for the Alliance for Computers and WritingThe Kairos Best Webtext Award is intended to recognize the most effective engagement of the medium in presenting useful and innovative information to teachers of writing in native webbed environments. The winner is sponsored by the journal Kairos: A Journal For Teachers of Writing in Webbed Environments.
The 1998 winner, announced on May 29 at the Computers & Writing Conference at the University of Florida, was "Hypertext Reflections: Exploring the Rhetoric, Poetic, and Pragmatics of Hypertext" by Mike Palmquist, Will Hochman, Beth Kolko, Emily Golson, Jonathan Alexander, Luann Barnes, and Kate Kiefer. The winners received a package of software and other materials generously donated by Daedalus Integrated Writing Environments, Norton, SixthFloor and Lilikoi as well as a plaque and a small cash award.
Other finalists for the 1998 award were Doug Brent for "Rhetorics of the Web: Implications for Teachers of Literacy" and Sandye Thompson's "Speaking of the MOOn: Textual Realities and the Body Electric."
The winner and finalists were chosen, after an initial open nominations process, via anonymous ballot by the Kairos Editorial Staff and Board, along with the invited ballots of all previous finalists. To be eligible for the award, the nominated webtext must have been published during the calendar year 1997, and be available free via the World-Wide Web.