The voting booths are now open and Dream Dates are a go!

[reveal]

2925 product votes and 1167 judge votes in the first 48 hours. Booths close at midnight on the 25th!

 

[kinetic]

I have to say I declined to vote this year. I've been active on these boards and Eric's boards since 2000 (I've changed names a couple of times.) I've participated in the Ennies more times than I can count. However, the sheer lack of material from WotC leaves me with the distinct impression of prejudice that I think has existed for years. Only two products on the list, yet the material I'm buying is some of the best I've ever seen from Wizards.

The whole thing leaves me cold. If these awards are going to focus on smaller publishers, then it should state so explicitly with criteria. If it's supposed to be fair, then WotC is definitely being excluded. You can say what you like about Wizards, but you can't argue numbers. They are the market leader and hold the majority of sales. That can't happen without some quality. I only count TWO products from Wizards on the list.

This feels less like an award and more like a excluding cliche. I think Wizards deserves a fair shake.

Even if WotC had every product they put in nominated they would have essentially been competing with themselves for Best Supplement (which they are right now, getting 2/5 slots in that category). We received several products from them, but aside from Three Dragon Ante (nominated), Revenge of the Giants (nominated), Ebberon Campaign Guide and the minis (nominated), they were -all- supplements (two of which were nominated).

Here's the full list from the submissions page:

Supplements
Adventurer's Vault 2
Divine Power
Galaxy at War
Galaxy of Intrigue
Player's Handbook 3 (nominated)
Primal Power
Rebellion Era Campaign Guide (nominated)
The Unknown Regions
Scavenger's Guide to Droids

Adventure
Revenge of the Giants (nominated for cartography)

Miniatures
Dangerous Delves (nominated)

Setting/Supplement
Eberron Campaign Setting

Regalia
Three-Dragon Ante (nominated)

Doing the math that's a 46% nomination rate for WotC products when you look at what was submitted vs. what was nominated. And this doesn't count the Best Publisher nomination.

 

[JediSoth]

And just a reminder for those of you who think maybe there's a bias where none exists; the judges cannot evaluate nor nominate anything that's not submitted. Both Wizards and Paizo picked and chose the products they submitted carefully; if we didn't get it, it's because they didn't submit it.

 

[AJCarrington]

... if we didn't get it, it's because they didn't submit it.

Thanks for pointing this out - I wasn't aware of this.

AJC

 

[Skeld]

However, the sheer lack of material from WotC leaves me with the distinct impression of prejudice that I think has existed for years.

As an ENnies judge for the past year, this kind of statement makes me sad. In my own humble opinion, we weren't biased at all this year against WotC or any other publisher. As JediSoth pointed out, we are only allowed to review and nominate material if it was submitted, so right off the bat, we can only work with what we're given. Also, as Kinetic (also a judge this past year) pointed out, WotC received a pretty good set of nominations this year.

Also, take a look at last year's awards. Wizards won gold in Best Rules, Best Monster/Adversary, Best Aid/Accessory, Best game, and Product of the Year. They won silver in Best Supplement and Best miniature Product. All that in addition to winning Best publisher. They effectively swept the awards.

I think it's patently unfair to accuse the judges of having a bias against WotC, especially in light of WotC's recent awards performance history, what WotC products were submitted, and what WotC products have been nominated and in which categories. Wizards puts out some great material (for example, I'm a huge fan of Star Wars Saga Edition), but so do several other companies (and individuals). We each had to divorce ourselves from the name behind the product and focus strictly on the material. I'm sorry you didn't like the results, but I stand behind what we nominated.

-Mark

 

[reveal]

Added Posthuman Studios and Triple Ace Games as Dream Dates above.

 

[FunkBGR]

Ah! Voted, and bid on a dream-date. I was all set to skip the awards this year (even though I'm working the booth, what?), but one of the Dream Dates got me excited like a little boy, so now I'm in if I get that.

Dang!

 

[reveal]

Hero Game has been added as a Dream Date.

 

[reveal]

Booths close at midnight tonight!

 

[reveal]

Thanks to everyone who participated in ENnies voting! We had 7202 product voters and 2029 judge voters. Winners announced on Aug 6.