Behind the Scene of the BGIA

After several days of reading, listening and having long talks with myself, I’ve finally turned in my votes for the BGIA to Shannon, who will be doing the magic that turns everyone’s top 5 choices into one final decision. Shannon is also the one who created the logo for the BGIA and it’s so cool, I want a pin or a hat or a t-shirt—something with that logo on it! Maybe a tattoo. Just a small one right on my a..*cough, ahem*…arm. Well, probably not a tattoo. Thank you, Shannon, for the extra work and time you’ve put into these awards.

When I first saw the long list; the long, long, long list of nominees, my mind had a small seizure. I have HOW long to read all of these and decide?! But I found some truly excellent writing and in the end, it was no chore at all to read all the session reports, reviews, thought-provoking or humorous articles, and some blogs I hadn’t been aware of before. The hard part was trying to rank the nominees in each category.

Then there’s the podcasters, which I think are a special breed because it must take a little something extra that the rest of us don’t have to put yourself out there for hundreds of people to listen to. I don’t usually listen to podcasts so I had a lot of catching up to do. I listened to at least two episodes of each of the nominees while trying to determine what my qualifications are for a great podcast; how I could separate the very good from the great in an impartial way. Like a judge at a dog show, I called back a few for another walk around the ring and re-arranged their standings a couple of times before handing out the blue ribbon.

I want to thank all of the readers who placed nominations, and all of the brilliant writers whose different voices were so much fun to discover, and all of the podcasters and videocasters (o.k., Scott stands alone here for now) who give so much of their time to entertain us. You have made my job as a voter both a pleasure and a torture.

I hope you readers have found time to check out some of the sites and articles that you may have overlooked and had even more fun than I did (since you didn’t have to pick a favorite). After all, that’s what these awards are all about: highlighting some of the best information on games to be found on the internet. From what I’ve seen, it’s been a great year.

Good luck to everyone!

Mary