Ron
Explorer
Morrus said:
1) Publishers felt disadvantaged by the fact that they could only enter one product per category, and felt that they were playing a guessing game trying to match products to categories. The solution to this is to allow publishers to enter as many products as they like for as many categories as they like.
2) Publishers were - by and large - disappointed by the fact that the ENnies were voted for by the public, turning the contest into one of popularity. [...]
I believe that number one is a valid criticism. I would go for a increase of the number of possible enterings per publisher, although unlimited entering would possible create an even bigger problem to the nomination committee.
I am not concerned with the second criticism. There is nothing wrong with the actual system. The nomination committee actually works as a filter, increasing the chances of poorly known products with high quality. Because of that, the ENies are not a pure popularity contest, although, popular good products have a higher chance of winning. I understand that the EN World is a fan site that created a community around it. Nothing more natural to me than allowing this fan community to choose their winners. By creating critics and fan prizes you will double the number of prizes. Every publisher would vote for such increase in prizes as they all want a few of their own to increase their brand recognition.
Remember that there is no sure way to have the best possible choice. There is no reason to believe that the nomination committee will be completely without bias. Everyone is biased, although we usually don't perceive it. I can only suggest to get a large enough committee to minimize any bias problem.