I was wondering if there was a list of the best web sites. I tried to do some searches of “best of the web” and got popular sites (Yahoo, etc) rather than ones noted for their design.
I’m looking for academic sites with easy navigation, consistency, and is aesthetically pleasing and (of course) professional. I want to submit some sites to the web design company.
Of course, I already submitted the Straight Dope!
Is there a listing or can someone point me in the right direction?
The Webby Awards would be a good place to start. http://www.webbyawards.com
There is no single site listing the “best” web sites because such a designation is subjective.
Every best-of-the-web site that has as its objective to present a list of the “best” sites uses their own criteria. Comparing these best-of-the-web sites among themselves to arrive at some sort of master list is also a waste of time. You’re comparing a fish with a bicycle.
Perhaps you should look for web design and useability sites to see what criteria they use when defining what is “best” or something else. They may even provide examples based upon their scoring criteria. In time you should be able to discern similar factors among these useability sites which seem to be universal when it comes to what is “best.”
Why am I providing no links to start your search? Well my list is my list, with my own standards. Of course it’s based upon years of research (and actual) work in this very field and I’m not about to give away a major strength of what I do. 
I will give you this. IMHO, the vast majority of web site designs out there today suck. Just because you see a particular design concept repeated does not a quality site design make. It’s just popular.
If there are a lot of dull people walking around in your neck of the woods wearing similar clothes designs, is it because they have no taste in clothes themselves (creating an outward perception of being dull when they are not?), they wear such clothes because they really are dull and their clothes merely reflect their dullness, they see others around them wearing those clothes (thinking it’s popular to dress that way) when in reality they are too dull to think for themselves, to a combination of any or all of the above?
One should design for the intended audience(s), using time-honored concepts and universal human traits as guides. Add in basic technology standards and human perception techniques and there you go.