Morrus said:
Yup, six CDs it is. We need to mail them out to the judges physically, as all the anticipated electronic products are going to be a bit much for some email storage limits.
Yet the potential for lost mail, the cost of mail, the cost of CDs, the (while theoretically minor, by some standards) environmental impact of all of the materials involved in converting an electronic entry into a physical format is not a concern?
It's exactly the opposite of the thinking behind the drive toward e-Publishing in the first place.
Print products have a particular advantage in that they have a physical presence that is appreciated (for what it is) as a tangible benefit when someone purchases a print product. Part of their allure, their perceived quality, is in their physicality. When someone creates a print product and wishes to enter it into an awards process it is certainly reasonable to assume that those physical products will need to be transferred in a physical manner to those who need to assess their viability for recognition.
Electronic products have the advantage of being easily disseminated, at low cost, through the Internet. Requiring that they be converted into a physical form is a short-sighted policy and completely unnecessary.
If the nomination committee members do not have the facilities to receive and/or store the electronic entries, EN World should set up a central repository for the electronic entries where they can be uploaded via the Internet by e-Publishers (through an ftp or similar interface) and then downloaded (or viewed online) by the committee members as needed.
Let's catch up with the times, people!
