Genuinely curious, why does the page make 20+ requests for ~1.5Mb of non-content for a site that quite literally exists to showcase small websites? Oversight?
I think they use another definition of "small" than most of tech-oriented folks here at HN. They don't seem to be interested in filesizes, number of requests, or even usability. They used a WYSIWG builder (see their advertisement somewhere else in this thread), which is responsible for all of the bloat. It looked good on their (fruity?) devices, and they went with it. It doesn't look like anyone with a technical sensibility was ever involved.
“Tiny Awards is a small prize awarded by an equally-small selection committee of online makers to the website which we feel best embodies the idea of a small, playful and heartfelt web.”