Students from Notre Dame and Maine South High School took top honors in the 4th annual web site design contest sponsored by web hosting provider Hostway.

Top winner Dmitry Barsky, 18, graduate from Norte Dame High School, launched www.ndhsdons.org the summer of his freshman year. Since then it has received over 14 million hits, which is a strong indicator of the size of the Notre Dame community and how frequently the community utilizes the site.

Dmitry Barsky, 18, the of Hostway’s contest, redesigned his high school’s Web site, www.ndhsdons.org to create an online destination for the entire Notre Dame community including parents, current students, prospective students and alumni to come together. Andrew Cichowski, 18, the runner-up, who will be attending the University of California, Santa Cruz in the fall, designed the Web site www.plumcreek4seniors.com.

Each student was awarded a Dell Inspiron B130 laptop. The top winner also received a $1000 scholarship and the runner up took home a $500 scholarship from Hostway Corp., the Chicago-based contest sponsor and one of the world’s leading providers of Web hosting and online services. The “Web Developers of the Future” contest was co-sponsored again this year by Mayor Richard M. Daley’s Council of Technology Advisors.

“This is our fourth year holding the contest, and I am very proud to say that it is getting more and more difficult to judge each year,” said John Lee, VP of marketing and co-founder of Hostway. “Hostway is dedicated to furthering Chicagoland’s growth as a technology hub.  In order for this to happen, it’s imperative that Chicagoland technology companies inspire our youth to dive head first into today’s cutting edge technologies.”

“I started toying around with Web design when I was in 6th grade and it’s still exciting every time I create a new Web site” said Dmitry Barsky. “The creation of this particular site was an incredible learning experience for myself and I believe it gives Notre Dame an immense marketing tool, as well as forges a strong relationship between the staff that maintains the Web site.”

“The talent of these winners and the other students that entered Hostway’s contest amazes me,” said Lee. “This generation of Web designers is truly going to make a mark on the technology arena – and we are all looking forward to it.”

Chicagoland area students submitted original Web sites for judging. Contest entries were reviewed and winners selected by a distinguished panel of judges, including, Michael Krauss, co-chair of Chicago Mayor Daley’s Council of Technology Advisors; Lucretzia Jamison of Junior Achievement/Chicago and Hostway’s vice president, John Lee.  Students competed on the basis of content structure and navigation, visual design, functionality and success of their Web sites.