2010 State of the ENnies Address

reveal

Adventurer
Greetings all and well met!

It's that time of the year again. The time where the ENnies staff and judges begin the countdown to GenCon and start getting all of our dire ducks in a row. With that in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to let y'all know where we're at and where we're headed.

1. This year's ceremony will be our 10th Annual affair and will be held on Friday, August 6th. The wheels are in motion to make this the best. ENnies. ever. More details to come!

2. One of the projects we're working on is to create a photo retrospective. If you have photos you would like to include in this retrospective, please e-mail them to photos@ennieawards.com. It will be a fun trip down memory lane for all.

3. Going forward, electronic submissions will work differently than they have in the past. For our new electronic entry guidelines, please visit The ENnie Awards -- How To Enter. For podcasts and blogs/online magazines, there are some additional guidelines:

- You must send a link to your site and specify one "must-hear" episode or one "must-read" article/issue.
- The judges will select another "must-hear" episode or one "must-read" article/issue that they all listen to/read.
- Each judge will then select another episode/article/issue.

This will mean that each judge will listen to/read three episodes/articles/issues, one of which is chosen by the podcaster/publisher, in order to get a sense of the entire line.

4. If you haven't seen the ENnies blog, it's high-time you take a look at it by visiting ENnie Awards Blog!

5. On the blog, we are keeping a running list of all submissions we have received. At the top of the blog is a link to a page labeled Submissions. This page will let you see exactly which publishers have submitted, what products said publishers have submitted, and a link for each product to give you a chance to get to know them better.

If you're an RPG fan, I highly recommend you go and see who's submitted and prod your favorite publisher to submit the products you want to see win an ENnie.

If you're an RPG publisher, this page will allow you to easily check what you have or have not submitted.

6. Speaking of publishers: This year, we are going to be more stringent with our deadlines. In the last few years, we have had publishers who have sent products that were postmarked after the submission deadline. Depending on circumstances, we have been lenient and allowed these items to still be judged. We have decided that it is in everyone's best interest to stick to the guidelines and only allow products to be judged that are postmarked before the deadline. This means that is in the best interest of the publisher to get a tracking number on their packages and keep an eye on it to verify delivery. It would be a shame if an excellent product was left out simply because it wasn't postmarked on time or because a publisher didn't check to make sure the product was delivered on time. This year, the postmark deadline is on, or before, May 8, 2010. This also applies to electronic submissions.

With this in mind, publishers need to remember that one of our judges, Megan Robertson, lives in the United Kingdom. This means that, for items shipped from outside of the UK, the transit time will be longer than normal. Please make sure to ship your items as early as possible to make sure that they arrive in a timely fashion and give her, and other judges, ample time to review them.

7. With of a completely packed personal schedule, Gertie Barden has decided to step back from her role as Assistant Business Manager and focus on more important things like getting married and going back to college to complete a second Bachelor's degree (crazy, I know!). She will stay on as a staff member, but in a less taxing role. Because of this, I have been asked to step into the Assistant Business Manager role and I have accepted. I will now be pulling double-duty and stay on as the PR Coordinator. Denise Robinson, the current Business Manager, has previously announced her retirement from the position after this year, so I will move up into that role next year. I want to thank both Gertie and Denise for recommending me to step into the new position and I promise to keep the ENnies as fun, exciting, and important as they are currently.

Well that's all for now. I will make sure to keep everyone updated on the latest happenings of the ENnies and, as I've stated before, I highly recommend you read the ENnies Blog to keep up on ENnies news and discussions by the judges. As always, you may respond to me here or e-mail me at pr@ennieawards.com if you have any questions.

Tony Law
 

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Great to hear, all around. Does this mean this year is my last chance to see Denise at Gen Con?

Do we have any idea who some of the big contenders are, at least for best game? What has come out this year?
 

reveal

Adventurer
Great to hear, all around. Does this mean this year is my last chance to see Denise at Gen Con?

Do we have any idea who some of the big contenders are, at least for best game? What has come out this year?
As Business Manager, yes. I'm sure she'll be at future GenCon's, though.

As for the big contenders, I have no idea what's come out yet. But make sure to check out the Submissions page to see what has been submitted. :)
 


Greetings all and well met!

It's that time of the year again. The time where the ENnies staff and judges begin the countdown to GenCon and start getting all of our dire ducks in a row. With that in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to let y'all know where we're at and where we're headed

Thanks for the update, Tony, and to everyone for all the hard work on the awards.

While the topic of this year's awards is on the table, I hope you won't mind if I offer a suggestion.

Please consider adding some sort of PR/award acknowledgment of the designers, writers, editors, and artists who create the products you are recognizing. Last year, the award certificates for finalists listed the publisher and even the names of the ENnie judges, but not any of the individuals who created the games and books.

Determining credit is not always a simple matter, but it seems that an award for a cover should, for example, identify the artists and art director or graphic designer who put the cover together. I also understand that it's impossible to list everyone connected with a product's creation -- the silver ENnie certificate for Hobby Games: The 100 Best would have run to several pages, had all the individual writers been credited -- but it should be possible to list the leads, the people primarily responsible for the product's final form, in whatever category is under consideration. Since publishers are the entities filling out the submission forms, perhaps they should be the ones to list one to three individuals. That's not going to create a full credit list, but it's a step in the right direction.

Publishers are responsible for the games and books making it to the fans who vote for the ENnies, and they deserve credit for that. But the products are the result of a partnership between the publishers and the employees or freelancers who create the rules and prose and artwork. The spotlight an award like an ENnie turns on those products should shine on all the partners in that endeavor a little more equally.

Sincerely,
James Lowder
 
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10th annual... hmmm, guess I should really write that theme music then, 10th annual is a pretty good place to unveil an official theme. :D

Tony, if you need anything, let me know. Hopefully I can secure that last spot on the booth again this year too - it was great working with you and pretty fun too (even if you were a little under the weather.)

See ya there!
 

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