Paul Walsh, the Irish Opportunist

Applications for the UK Young Interactive Entrepreneur award 2009 (UKYXE 09) close on 7 September!

This is a good opportunity to take part in a tour of the interactive industry in India and to join the British Council’s growing network of creative entrepreneurs.

Their definition of ‘interactive’ includes digital and interactive multimedia, leisure software publishers, developers and marketing specialists; entertainment developers for the internet, digital television, radio and mobile phones, internet and web design and experimental media.

To be eligible you must be aged 25-35, resident in the UK and with at least three years professional experience. For further information please visit their Web site.

I’m not sure I agree with the IAB setting up an award for the mobile industry. It’s not as if it’s one of many online advertising categories - it’s aimed specifically at the mobile industry and from what I can see, will end up covering just about every type of mobile application.

This type of award in my opinion, is best left to the mobile related associations such as the MMA (who I don’t think do much, but hey…) or better still, Mobile Monday - who I respect and admire.

Am I a little harsh?

The award serves to celebrate the wealth of female speakers and practitioners of social media living in UK. In doing so its objective is to challenge the current under-representation of females on event panels by offering a high profile platform for women.

Victoria Chowney (AKA @VikkiChowney) get’s my vote without hesitation. I think she’s one of the very few people who can put all this social media-smedia into practice. She’s quietly confident but modest too. That’s why she won the BIMA PR pitch on behalf of Six Degrees and that’s why I recommended her to Quick.TV. What I love about Victoria most is that she loves to help others.

If you agree, then why not take 30 seconds out of your day to vote for her too. Cast your vote now.

If I could cast a second vote I’d go for Judith Clegg, Helen Keegan, Judith Lewis, Katie Lee, Amanda Rose and Katy Howell - in no particular order.

Cast your vote now.

We need more awards and competitions to help celebrate the great women in tech/media.

Leave a comment if you would like to acknowledge other women who don’t appear on the list but who deserve to be promoted for their contribution.

Last year, I was an Advisor to the British Council on its Young International Entrepreneur Award, which is probably why I received an email about the Young Music Entrepreneur Award 2009 - it’s not my bag but thought it was worth promoting on my blog all the same.

This award celebrates entrepreneurial young innovators and future leaders in the UK music industry, offering the opportunity to broaden their international experience through travel to an emerging music market – in this case Poland.  The British Council is seeking applicants aged between 25-35 who want to push the boundaries of the UK industry and have a vision for extending international business and cultural relations through music.

Applicants can be from all sectors of the music industry including agents, record companies, PR, production, recording or engineering etc. They needn’t run their own business as long as they can demonstrate their entrepreneurialism within another organisation and applications are welcome from those successful social or not‑for‑profit enterprises in this sector.

The six finalists will travel to Poland towards the end of March this year to take part in a tailored tour of their music industry. On their return they will compete for the award and a financial prize of £5,000 to be spent a joint project with the UK and Poland.

The deadline for applications is Tuesday 27th January 2009. For more information please visit http://creativeconomy.org.uk/ukyme09

Tonight is the night for BIMA, (British Interactive Media Association) - the Association I Chair. The Awards now in their 24th year, are considered by some, as the BAFFTA equivilant for the creatives within the UK digital industry.

The gala is being streamed live and if you’re lucky, you’ll get to see me being heckled whilst handing out the Grand Prix prize.

More on the BIMA Blog.

Being the Chair of the British Interactive Media Association (BIMA) is just one of the things I love doing during my 26 hour working day. So, it is with great pleasure that I announce this years shortlist for what is arguably the most prestigious awards in the UK digital industry.

The awards, which are now in their 13th year, recognize creativity in digital technology, and focus on all aspects of digital creativity. This year the awards have been refined to reflect the ever-changing digital media scene, with new sub-sections and categories being added.

I’ve posted the full story on the BIMA blog.

I’ve just published a post on the BIMA blog to announce a call for entries. For the first time ever, ‘Best blog’ and ‘Best Network Application’ are on the list.

Here’s a little more information

Social Media - Awesome Little Bit of Wickedness Award

A piece of work within the category that either has a detail to be revered and highlighted for all its gloriousness, or its just that damn good that you don’t want to put a finger on it…It’s just wicked. This could be an uncategorised piece of UGC, a wondrous widget that sits within a social space or just the most incredible piece of social media that’s incredibly wicked!!!

Social Media - Best Blog Award (Personal or Corporate)

A blog within the category that is innovative, informative and entertaining. Open and honest a compelling read that inspires and engages visitors to return to day after day. Whether the content is incredible personal and poignant or just good fun, this is blog is championed by a loyal audience who share this site with friends and contacts both online and off.

Social Media - Best Network Application

A piece of work, within the category, that has been adopted by a broad audience. An audience that recognise the benefits that this innovative application brings to their day-to-day lives. Whether it is just about connecting people or staying in touch it will make everyday online tasks ‘easy’ and ‘convenient’ whilst generating huge page impressions!

Social Media - Viral Campaign

The online destination, site, video clip, tool, application or experience that everyone is talking about and visiting, that taps into popular culture. Cutting edge, this experience is so compelling, emotional, edgy, mysterious and exciting that the advertisers work is done for them when an online audience begin to share it with friends and colleagues and it goes on to join a pantheon.

Enter for an Award

The categories for the BIMAs Awards have completely changed this year. As well as staying true to our core vision of ‘Working to support the creative excellence and craftsmanship within digital media’, we’ve also decided to inject a bit of life into the awards, making them even more relevant to industry.

This basically means focusing on all aspects of digital, ranging from the traditional executions of design teams, right through to innovative craftsmanship, which often results in those awesome little gems of wickedness.

Therefore we think you’ll find the categories a lot wider and more general, allowing for a greater variety of submissions from more areas of our industry.

So, as well as celebrating traditional creative, we’ll also be recognising a few unsung heroes.

Read my full post on the BIMA blog and get the run-down on all the categories. We’ve introduced social networking stuff too, so you can enter the best blog or the best social networking application awards.

BIMA, the industry association which I Chair, is now calling for judges for the BIMAs 2008. Head over to the BIMA blog to learn more.

I’ll update you with a post about the AGM Party shortly. I need to wade through a mass of unread email first.

I need your help. As some of you know, I Chair the British Interactive Media Association (BIMA); the longest established association to represent the interests of the UK’s digital industry. In short, one of BIMA’s goals is to ensure the UK remains as the center of excellence worldwide, for creativity in the interactive world.

When most people think of BIMA, they think of the Awards. Known as the BIMAs™, they rightly take their place on the top shelf of prestigious Awards, alongside the BAFTAs, the Brits and the Oscars. Each year we revisit the categories to ensure they reflect what’s happening in the industry currently. With this in mind, I’d like to solicit your help in defining the descriptions and success criterion for two sub categories under the Social Media category.

What do you think the description copy and success criterion should be for

• Best Blog Award (personal and corporate) and
• Best Network Application (e.g. Faceboo, Bebo)