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It's that time of the year again...

So who should people be voting for in this year's Irish Internet Association NetVisionary awards?

As usual I have no problem selecting in some categories, serious difficulty in others and almost feel like not voting at all in several.

Best Business Blogger - Mulley

Best Business Podcaster - Krishna De

Best Online Financial Services - no idea. I haven't used any of them, so I have no idea.

Best Online Trader - Hostelworld

Best Use of Social Media - Krishna De

eGovernment - I'm confused by some of the nominations in this one. How is TG4 eGovernment?. In any case I'd probably opt for the Motor Tax one.

Innovation - Micksgarage for the simple reason that they've made me aware car parts.

Internet Entrepreneur - no idea - sorry

Internet Marketer - bit of a toss up here

Journalist - There are a couple of strong contenders .. I'd go for Adrian Weckler this time round

Mobile Internet - Trey Harvin from dotMobi - hands down.

Online Tourism - no idea

Social Contribution - Bernie Goldbach

Web Designer - Sabrina Dent

Web Developer -  Iarfhlaith Kelly

If you haven't done so already take a couple of minutes to nominate people (not companies) for the Net Visionary awards.

Nominations close on 27th March

Nominations are open to anyone.

You cannot be nominated for a category you won in the previous two years

UPDATE: Stupid typo - sorry - was reading an email from Nominet earlier .. that's my excuse

You'll have to excuse me for the Net Visionary Awards overload ...

Anyway here's anothere one...

This time it's of the sponsors etc., with me after the presentation of the Internet Marketer award (click to enlarge image):



Caption:
Maeve Kneafsey, MD Elucidate and Chairperson IIA; Michele Neylon Winner of
Internet Marketer; Brendan Fay, Headline Sponsor Enterprise Ireland;
Category Sponsor Lynne Henderson, Digital Development Manager, Irish
Times.com

Since I'm still in a bit of shock after the Net Visionary Awards the other evening, I'll keep this short..

On the awards themselves...

I am amazed, stunned and humbled that I actually won two awards on the night. I'm always delighted to be shortlisted for awards, but since I'd never actually won any winning two blew me away.

Being nominated for the Internet Marketer award came as a surprise to me and being shortlisted for it was a big surprise. But to actually win that award blew me away completely! I would never have imagined that I could win, so when they announced it the other evening I was left completely and utterly speechless. I wouldn't consider myself to be a marketer and I'd have expected a professional marketer to win - not me!

It was a fantastic night in a wonderful venue and a great chance to meet up with a bunch of people who I haven't seen in a long time (plus a chance to meet people I'd never actually met in person before)

Congratulations to all the other winners, especially Pat Phelan, who got the overall Net Visionary award.

A sincere thanks to everyone who has helped me and the company over the last few years and to those who voted for me this year - I really really appreciate it.

Now my only problem is where do I put those great big lumps of crystal... It's a nice problem to have!

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Voting in the IIA Net Visionary Awards has opened, so head on over to their site to place your votes

If you're feeling generous vote for me!!

There's an interesting selection of people on the shortlist this year, as there is every year. Of course, as usual, some names are very familiar, whereas others don't mean anything to me!

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It really irks me to see organisations like the IIA (the Irish Internet Association) knowingly setting all links in comments on its blog to be "nofollow.

The "nofollow" attribute sucks. Sure, there are *some* circumstances where it can be useful eg. linking to a competitor for example, but if you moderate comments on a blog then nofollow is just inane and dumb.

This blog quite happily "follows" people who take the time to share their opinion via a comment. In fact all the blogs I run or post to use the normal link attributes.

So what the hell is up with the IIA?

They're supposed to be promoting the internet sector in Ireland etc., etc.,

It's that time of the year again.

Web awards season is now open.

So what do we have this year?

Well if you're into commercially run awards ceremonies that require an entrance fee for nominations AND attendance, then there's the Golden Spiders. I've said enough about them in the past, so I won't bother wasting energy on them this year. Suffice to say that charging 150 euro for a nomination and another 290 per seat at an event that is sponsored is sickening.

At the opposite extreme Damien Mulley has launched The Irish Web Awards
Unlike the Golden Spiders you don't have to pay to nominate someone and the tickets for the event are a nominal 30 euro a pop. nor do you have to pay to attend. Yes - there are sponsors, but they're the ones covering the costs. Imagine that!

And then, somewhere in between, lie the IIA Net Visionary Awards. It's free to nominate people, but you have to pay to attend.

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I've just been looking over the list of nominees for this year's Net Visionary Awards and I've been trying to work out who I should vote for...


Best Blogger - It would have to be a toss up between Keith and Grandad. I know a couple of the others on the list, but I don't read them regularly so I can't really vote for them.
While it's hard choosing between Keith and Grandad I'd probably err towards Grandad as he's made me laugh so much over the last year. It's also great to see someone of a slightly older generation not only starting their own blog but also getting other people blogging.

Best Online Banking Service - I've no idea. I don't use any of the banks listed. I really don't understand why they even have this category. If it was broader ie. "financial services" you could get a lot more interesting stuff in there, but how many banks are there?

Best Podcaster - Conn O Muineachain. He deserves it

Education Contribution - Bernie Goldbach. (congrats on the new arrival by the way!)
Paul Whelan from Biology.ie would be another choice

E-Government - No idea. Sorry!

Innovation - This is a really tough one, as I know quite a few of the nominees personally. David Curtin and his team successfully launched Enum in Ireland and that is true innovation. Newaddress.ie is a really cool service, so Kevin deserves credit (they were nominated previously, but I don't think they won). Martin Langedijk's work with Teamwork has made life a lot easier for a lot of businesses including my own! Alan's someone I respect and who has been doing quite a few interesting things over the last year or so - keep an eye on him!

Internet Entrepreneur - Obviously I'd have to vote for myself - though I never actually win!. If you don't want to you could do worse than looking at the likes of Derek Quinn, who was also involved with NewAddress and is probably plotting something new already ... Pigsback is a cool idea, CentralR is useful and all the other ones listed are either already cool and useful or have lots of potential. There's just so many of them to choose from! (Maybe you can just pick me and keep it simple! :) )

Internet Marketer - Dave Davis.  I've no experience of the others. RaboDirect has been very successful with their online marketing, though they were nominated for this last year as well when someone else was involved (I think!) . Mark Tarbatt's Generator is an interesting business and unlike some of his competitors he actually does provide quotes when you ask for them!

Mobile Internet Damien Farren from DotMobi
I've mentioned them several times on here and over on both my domain blog and the company one. They're doing cool stuff with the mobile web!

Online Trader - Even though I / we are nominated the list is impressive and I really don't think I should be there. Someone like Geoff Boyle from 123 is much more deserving

Social Contribution - This is always a tough category. Trying to narrow it down is not easy! A lot of the time the nominees are the unsung heroes. The guys and girls that have helped the rest of us in some way (and by "us" I mean people in general)
Damien Mulley has given generously of his time over the last few years in so many ways that it would be hard to know where to start.
Andy Osborn has been slaving away on taking BodyWhys to the next level and it seems to have been paying off.
Paul Clerkin's work with Irish architecture site Archiseek is amazing. You don't have to be into architecture to appreciate that it is a labour of love.
Politics.ie is a fantastic resource, so David Cochrane deserves to be on that list.

Technology Journalist - I'd go with Mulley on this one again, though Eamon McGrane makes that decision difficult.

Web Designer - Oh how I hate this category! Take your pick! Alan, Peter and Darren have all done work for me in either a personal capacity or for the company over the last year, so how I'm going to vote in that category.... God only knows!

Web Developer - I know several people on that list (quelle surprise!) but I am at a loss as to who I'd vote for. I know who I won't vote for, but that doesn't reduce the list enough!

If anyone has any suggestions on how best to vote please let me know!

NB: Anyone can vote. You DO NOT need to be a member of the IIA

Peter from Edenweb has made available a set of nominee logos for the IIA Net Visionary Awards

Nice work Peter!