Congrats to Congressman Ed Perlmutter for winning a "Silver Mouse" website award.

The Web site of U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter was honored today by the Congressional Management Foundation (CMF), a non-profit, non-partisan management consulting and research organization in Washington, D.C., for having one of the best Web sites in Congress. The site, www.perlmutter.house.gov, was one of only 104 Web sites commended in The 2007 Gold Mouse Report: Lessons from the Best Web Sites on Capitol Hill. To identify the awards, CMF analyzed 618 congressional Web sites, including those of all Senate and House Members, committees (both majority and minority sites), and official leadership sites. In 2007, CMF awarded 36 Gold, 34 Silver, and 34 Bronze Mouse Awards.

What does it take to earn a mouse award?

Web sites were graded on how well they incorporate five basic building blocks which extensive research identified as critical for effectiveness: audience, content, usability, interactivity, and innovation.

Rep. Perlmutter's site was chosen because,

[it] shows that he understands the value of creating a virtual office to reach specific audiences who have come to expect having their needs met online," said Bell. "The Congressional Management Foundation congratulates Rep. Perlmutter for having a Web site that is among the best-of-the-best on Capitol Hill...."

It's great that our elected representatives in Congress have updated user-friendly, content rich websites. Others I recommend are those of Reps. Diana DeGette and Mark Udall. If you'd like to read the full "2007 Gold Mouse Report: Lessons from the Best Web Sites on Capitol Hill," you can get it here.