MANHATTAN, KAN.– (November 5, 2012) CivicPlus, the leading provider of government websites and community engagement software, is excited to announce the 10th edition of its “Extreme Website Makeover” contest and is looking for a few government websites in need of makeovers.

“Extreme Website Makeover 2012” kicks off today with the opening of the application process, where communities that would like to be considered for the grand prize of a free Premium website from CivicPlus are able to go to http://go.civicplus.com/EWM to enter the contest by the deadline of 5 p.m., Central Standard Time, on Wednesday, Nov. 21.

In an added twist this year, CivicPlus is looking for citizens to nominate their local government website for the prize! This year, citizen participation and involvement will be a factor in determining the Grand Prize winners, so communities will be encouraged to get citizens to go to (link) to nominate their community for a chance at a free remade website.

“For a decade now, this contest has been a wonderful chance for governments who want and need an upgraded website but perhaps have struggled to fund a redesign initiative to get a financial kick-start on engaging their communities through a site built on the best government content management system available,” said Ward Morgan, CEO. “We are excited about adding the component of citizen involvement to this year’s Extreme Website Makeover contest. We believe that the more ownership citizens can take in this contest and the more their collective voices are heard, the more apt they might be to positively interact with the website – and their government – once it launches.”

CivicPlus will select finalists in different regions across the United State and Canada and notify them by 5 p.m. one week later, on Nov. 28.

Upon being named a finalist, communities will be asked to participate in a three-part qualification process:

- They must take the 6 Stages of Digital Community Engagement Assessment (provided) to score their current website’s functionality.
- The community must post a link to the Digital Citizen Engagement Survey (provided) on their current website to gain feedback on what citizens want and to allow citizens to nominate their community for the prize. The more citizens are involved in nominating their community, the better.
- They must complete an interview with a CivicPlus Representative.

Finalists will have from Nov. 28, until 5 p.m. CST on Friday, Jan. 11, to take the assessment, complete the interview and gain as much citizen feedback and support as possible. Winners will be notified by 5 p.m. CST Monday, Jan. 21.

Grand Prize winners will receive:
- A Premium CivicPlus website with custom design, full development and three days of on-site training, for free
- The first two years of annual fees will be waived

In addition to the Grand Prize, there will be runners-up chosen across the country that will receive a $5,000 discount towards their project development fees of a Premium CivicPlus website.

About CivicPlus
Based in Manhattan, Kan. CivicPlus has designed more than 1,200 local government websites serving 43 million citizens throughout North America. A recipient of the Center for Digital Government’s Best Fit Integrator Award for delivering extraordinary digital solutions to public IT projects, CivicPlus transforms municipal websites into powerful two-way communication platforms that increases citizen participation in local government. The CivicPlus Government Content Management System (GCMS™) now offers more than 60 applications including Citizen Request Tracker, MuniMobile, Facebook and economic development tools. Founded in 2001, CivicPlus was selected by Inc. Magazine as “One of the Fastest-Growing Privately Held Companies in the U.S.” in 2011 & 2012. For more information visit www.civicplus.com.

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