There are lots of great people and organizations, nominated for this year’s Net Awards. I’m very blessed to have had the good fortune of being nominated in a few categories myself, along with many friends. I’m also a judge too. Because of the combination of those factors, I thought I might share my thought process in who I’m voting—and not voting—for.
My main criterion is this: who did something incredible last year that I can recall? Everyone on this list has done some incredible things, but, seeing as it’s an annual award show, I try to keep the focus on what happened in 2013. Also, if I can’t recall some specific work, then I’m essentially voting for a person/team solely because I like them. I don’t want this to be a popularity contest; I’d prefer that people were rewarded on merit. Here goes.
Arbitrary
for New Agency of the Year
I’ve seen Arbitrary’s excellent work this past year and even collaborated with them on some of it. I’ll leave it to them to decide what to divulge publicly yet, but you’ll be blown away by their quality of work.
Because I’m part of a nomination in this category, I’ll abstain from voting. If you enjoyed our work on TechCrunch or Entertainment Weekly, I’d appreciate if you give us a vote, but I won’t vote in this category myself.
Teehan+Lax
for Agency of the Year
Teehan+Lax launched a great new site, helped make Medium a wonderful platform, released Hyperlapse, and kept their iPhone PSD current with an iOS7 version. They deserve the award.
Simon Willison And Natalie Downe
for Entrepreneur of the Year
Simon and Natalie’s journey from an idea of a product to seeing it succeed and selling it to Eventbrite is a testament to their hard work. It’s the definition of entrepreneurship in action, if you ask me. Natalie’s presentation of their story, “From Idea to Exit,” is one of the most honest and refreshing talks I’ve seen in a long time.
Conor O’Driscoll
for Emerging Talent of the Year
Of everything in this category, I’m most familiar with Conor’s “One Minute With” interviews at The Industry. I’ve combed through these interviews many times before, and I think Conor deserves my vote for the hard work it took to put these together.
Note: I originally abstained for voting in this category, due to lack of familiarity with the nominees and their work, but Net magazine editor Oliver Lindberg astutely pointed out that unfamiliarity was the nature of this particular category.
Anthony Colangelo
for Young Developer of the Year
I’ve used Anthony’s jPanelMenu, learned a ton from his “The Design of Code: Organizing JavaScript” article on A List Apart, and enjoyed reading about his adventures in Switch Programming. He gets my vote.
Sawyer Hollenshead
for Young Designer of the Year
Sawyer helped make the new Creative Mornings site, helped create Siteleaf, and curates Organized Wonder. I once passed up on hiring Sawyer and have regretted it ever since.
Jake Archibald
for Developer of the Year
Jake has been a long time advocate of progressive enhancement, which became a heated discussion again after I launched Sigh, JavaScript. Jake came to the rescue with a real-time defense. Plus, his talks are some of the most hilarious, entertaining ways I’ve heard technologies explained.
Because I’m nominated in this category, I’ll abstain from voting. I think I’m an appropriate nominee because I’ve created some great work and wrote some meaningful pieces this past year. If you agree and/or have gotten value out of my articles, my work, or SuperFriendly’s work, I’d appreciate if you give me a vote, but I won’t vote in this category myself.
Brad Frost
for Outstanding Contribution of the Year
I use Brad’s work and resources almost daily. We worked on projects together that led to the creation of Pattern Lab, a wonderful way to build websites. Also, This Is Responsive is priceless.
Shoptalk
for Podcast of the Year
I never miss any episode of Shoptalk. Chris & Dave are hilarious, and listening to the show is a big part of how I stay updated on what the kids are doing in web development these days.
“How Designers Destroyed the World”
for Conference Talk of the Year
This is an incredibly important topic, and Mike slays it.
Creative Mornings
for Grassroots Event of the Year
One of the things I miss most about living in Brooklyn is Friday mornings with an Almondine croissant and Creative Mornings at Galapagos. What Tina and crew has done with this event by making it worldwide is nothing short of amazing. (On a related note, keep your eyes peeled, Philly.)
I’m not very familiar with anyone’s work in this category. I’ll pass.
Can I Use (beta)
for Side Project of the Year
I use Can I Use very frequently. It’s the easiest way to reference browser support.
I don’t think I saw any of these this past year. I’ll pass.
Because I’m part of a nomination in this category, I’ll abstain from voting. If you’ve gotten value out of the work we did and wrote up—Brad’s, Jonathan’s, and mine—for TechCrunch, I’d appreciate if you give us a vote, but I won’t vote in this category myself.
Because I’m part of a nomination in this category, I’ll abstain from voting. If you’ve gotten value out of the work we did and wrote up—Josh’s, Brad’s, Jonathan’s, and mine—for Entertainment Weekly, I’d appreciate if you give us a vote, but I won’t vote in this category myself.
I’d really like to vote for Patterns, as I think an affordable 1-week intensive that supports the intersection of design and entrepreneurship really is a game changer, but the fact that it’s in a “Technology” category makes me hesitate. Abstaining for now.
I haven’t played with any of these myself. Pass.
Bourbon
for Open Source Project of the Year
I use Bourbon on every single project I do. Very thankful to thoughbot for creating and maintaining it.
Editorially
for App of the Year
This one was tough for me; it was a toss-up between Editorially and Sublime Text, both of which I use multiple times a day. For me, it came down to the fact that I could get by without Sublime Text by using something like TextMate, Coda, Brackets, or even Notepad, but I’d really be missing a lot if I didn’t have Editorially.
So ends my roundup! Don’t buy it? Disagree with my logic? Let’s discuss!
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