NASHVILLE—After being listed as a top 10 Web site for eight consecutive years, Katz & Klein optical laboratory of Sacramento, Calif. has emerged as the winner of the 2008 Optical Laboratory Web Site of the Year award contest. For the second year, nominations were solicited from eyecare professionals through Vision Monday’s online survey tool. Over 480 nominations were cast with Katz & Klein receiving 74 of those nominations. followed by Cherry Optical with 72 nominations and Diversified Ophthalmics with 70.

While the top 10 sites were selected based on nominations with each Web site being awarded points for the “popular” vote, these points were added to the scores of the judges to determine the winning order. A panel of eyecare professionals ranked the top 10 sites based on: usefulness to the ECP, ease of use and the site’s overall look and design.

The Web Site of the Year award, sponsored each year by LabTalk magazine, was presented at Labapalooza, the lab party held at the OLA 2008 Meeting. Below is a list of the top 10 optical laboratories and their winning Web sites:


Katz & Klein (1st Place)
Diversified Ophthalmics (2nd Place)
Empire Optical (3rd Place)
Tri-Supreme Optical (tied for 4th)
Pech Optical (tied for 4th)
Cherry Optical (tied for 5th)
iCoat (tied for 5th)
Classic Optical (6th place)
Central Optical (7th place)
FEA Industries (8th place)		 www.katzandklein.com
www.divopt.com
www.empireoptical.org
www.tri-supreme.com
www.pechoptical.com
www.cherryoptical.com
www.icoatcompany.com
www.classicoptical.com
www.centraloptical.com
www.feaind.com


Another highlight of the Labapalooza party at OLA was the winners of the Trash to Treasure art contest using finishing pads. The first annual Trash to Treasure art contest saw 18 unusual creations ranging from a 3-D likeness of Whoopi Goldberg to a Star Wars tie fighter to creatures from the deep including a fish, a killer whale and a man called Squidbeard. Ten of the top entries were displayed at the OLA in the registration area and again during the Labapalooza party. Trash to Treasure was sponsored by LabTalk magazine, DAC Vision, and Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, with the awards being distributed here at the Labapalooza event.

First place honors went to Aearo Company, Chickasha, Okla. for their giant fish complete with finishing pad scales. Second place was presented to Vision Craft, Inc., Huntington, W.Va. for their giant palm tree. Third place was awarded to Landmark Optical, Brandon, Manitoba, Canada for their Squidbeard sculpture all in black finishing pads. An honorable mention was presented to Superior Optical Lab, Ocean Springs, Miss. for their Whoopi sculpture in blue finishing pads complete with tinted sunglasses. Many of the entries were featured in a photo spread in the Nov/Dec issue of LabTalk and the top winners will again be featured in the Jan/Feb issue as well.

View a slide show of all the highlights of the OLA 2008 meeting and read Vision Monday’s exclusive wrapup coverage of the meeting featuring speakers, award ceremonies and other exhibit highlights, only at VisionMonday.com.