After five years without recognizing the best in Somali football, the Somali Football Awards returned in 2024, aiming to incentivize players, coaches, and teams to continue inspiring Somali youth. When the organization decided to revive the awards, they wanted to ensure that the fans—the lifeblood of football—could have a say in who should be recognized. That’s where Vividscope Productions stepped in and developed the voting website for the organization.
Building the Voting website: The Challenges and Solutions
The key requirements for the voting website were clear: fans should be able to cast their votes easily from anywhere, with just a touch of a button. The Somali Football Awards wanted to make the process as inclusive as possible, allowing the general public to vote for their favorite players, teams, and coaches while keeping the process fair by ensuring each person could only vote once.
We also integrated analytic tools, including Google Analytics, to monitor the voting activity and identify where fans were coming from. This would be helpful for future planning, as it could reveal regions with strong support for Somali football that may not have been previously known.
But there was a catch. We needed a solution that wouldn’t require users to sign up, as this could discourage participation, especially since it was the first time the awards were held online. Our team brainstormed ways to ensure the voting was anonymous yet fair. After much discussion, we decided to limit votes by tracking IP addresses, enabling us to meet our goal of allowing each fan to vote only once without a complicated sign-up process.
Executing the Project: A Tight Deadline, a Team Effort
The clock was ticking. We had just one month to design, develop, and launch the website before the voting needed to begin. Through a rigorous three-week period of trial and error, our expert team—from the CEO to our junior designer—was hands-on in ensuring everything was ready. The website was delivered on time, and the voting process began without a hitch.
The voting system consisted of two sets of polls: one for the general public (fans) and another for coaches, captains, and journalists. The results were weighted to ensure a balanced decision-making process: 20% of the votes came from fans, 20% from coaches, 15% from captains, and 15% from journalists.
Outcome: A Worldwide Engagement
When the votes were tallied, more than 3,150 fans had participated. Interestingly, only 50% of the voters were from Somalia. The rest came from diverse locations, including Kenya (15%), the UK (10%), Germany (5%), Ethiopia (3%), and Uganda (3%). Even smaller regions like Montenegro, Réunion Island, the Czech Republic, and Israel (Tel Aviv) contributed to the voting. It was a surprise to see Somali football’s reach extend beyond the country’s borders, indicating a broad interest in the sport among the diaspora.
Lessons Learned and Skills Gained
As our first voting platform project, the experience taught us a great deal. With a tight deadline, we had to innovate quickly, collaborate efficiently, and anticipate potential problems before they arose. The lessons we learned about voting system development, user engagement, and analytics will surely be applied to future projects. This journey proved our ability to deliver high-quality solutions even under pressure, and we look forward to taking on more challenges like this.
Impact on the Somali Community
Bringing the Somali Football Awards back has given the Somali community, no matter where they are in the world, a stake in recognizing football stars. As our CEO said, “Now every Somali football fan feels included in honoring Somali stars, from voting for their favorite player to supporting their team.” While this year’s campaign had just a month of promotion, future editions will start awareness efforts earlier, as we now have the technology and insights to reach a wider audience.
Does your organization need a voting website?
For organizations considering similar solutions like a comprehensive voting website to engage communities or host digital events, the Somali Football Awards project serves as a testament to what can be achieved with the right technology and a dedicated team. If you’re looking to implement a voting system or bring your audience closer, Vividscope Productions is here to help you make it happen. Contact us to do the same for you
