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While I agree with Matthew to a certain extent, if you still plan to move forward with this, I do have a few critiques.
First of all, I think the first layout works better. On the second wire frame, you seem to put emphasis on the blog and the site's credibility with testimonials. I don't think this is necessary at all since the main highlight of the site will be beautiful designs.
On that note, I don't think your site's design is designed well enough to be handing out those awards. I would recommend with going something more minimal to let the other designs shine.
Getting into specifics....
1) The whole design does not feel cohesive
2) The icons do not match the design, either get rid of them or find some that match the site's style
3) It is too difficult to tell that the 'make nomination' and 'award winners' are actual buttons/links. They are styled the same way as the intro paragraph.
4) Try including actual images of designs and avatars to get a feel to how the final site will look.
5) Your intro paragraph has way too much text. Keep in mind the type of site you are building, no one will be reading. They will more than likely only be browsing the designs. Your site is practically a CSS gallery. (when was the last time you read more than a sentence on one of those sites? minus blog posts)
