Sony World Photography Awards 2013 - Last call for entries

----- Press Release -----

All competitions close 4 January 2013 except Professional categories which close on 9 January 2013. Case studies of winning photographers plus entries from the 2013 awards available for publication.

04 December 2012: The World Photography Organisation (WPO) announces the countdown to the close of the 2013 Sony World Photography Awards, one of the world’s leading photographic awards programmes.

There is just one month remaining for professional and amateur photographers from around the world to select and enter their best images of the year. Professional photographers will compete for the coveted title of L'Iris d'Or/Sony World Photography Awards Professional Photographer of the Year 2013, plus a $25,000 (USD) cash prize. Amateur photographers will contend the Open Photographer of the Year 2013 title, plus $5,000 (USD). All category winners across the awards will receive the latest digital imaging equipment from Sony.

Both winning and shortlisted photographers across the many competition categories receive worldwide recognition and exposure as a result of the awards.

British photographers Palmer + Pawel, 2012 category winners, commented: “The awards allow you to reach a much wider audience, they open doors and enable you to take advantage of opportunities that otherwise might not be available. Winning the Professional Sport category not only allowed us to gain more exposure but it also resulted in us being funded to carry out our Sao Paulo Nights project - we shot the first part when we were invited by Sony Brazil to the city to talk about our work.”

Argentinean photographer Irina Werning described the support of the World Photography Organisation to its winners as “invaluable”. Following her win at this year's awards, Werning spent November 2012 on a five-country tour of Latin America, made possible by Sony Latin America and WPO. Alongside an exhibition of her images, Werning gave master classes and had the opportunity to shoot new pictures for her series ‘Back to the Future’ (which won the 2012 Professional Portraiture category) in each of the five countries.

All 2013 winning and finalist photographers will receive an exhibition of their work at Somerset House, one of London's historical landmarks, from April - May 2013. They will also be featured across the WPO website and all winners, as well as a selection of shortlisted photographers, will be published in the annual Sony World Photography Awards hardcover book.

The deadline for entries for the ten Open categories, for amateurs and enthusiasts, is 4 January 2013. The Professional competition, with 15 categories for serious photographers, will close on 9 January 2013. All entries are free via www.worldphoto.org and the shortlist will be revealed on 5 February 2013.

The 2013 Honorary Jury, who will judge the professional competition, is chaired by leading American agency director and newly appointed Magnum Foundation Director, Catherine Chermayeff. The panel comprises photography professionals from the World Photographic Academy including: travel photographer Macduff Everton; Guardian picture editor Fiona Shields; Magnum photographer Chien-Chi Chang and Director of the Moscow House of Photography, Olga Sviblova.

Further details about the Sony World Photography Awards and the World Photography Organisation can be found at www.worldphoto.org

Ogilvy Dublin Scoop Coveted Lion at Cannes Lions for ISPCC

Pictured (L-R) Lloyd Byrne, Director of Fundraising at ISPCC, Dave Smyth,
managing director, Ogilvy Dublin and Michael Duffy, managing director, Blinder Films.

----- Press Release -----

Ogilvy Dublin’s work for ISPCC was recognised on a global scale at the Cannes Lions where the agency picked up a Bronze Film Craft Lion award for Direction at Cannes. This award was the highlight of a number of accolades bestowed on the ISPCC’s “I Can’t Wait” campaign, which has garnered widespread praise and recognition on a national and international level. The ad was a collaboration led by Ogilvy Dublin working with Blinder.

The International Festival of Creativity, known within the industry as the Cannes Lions, is the world’s leading celebration of creativity in communication. The awards, which have been running since 1954, take place every June in Cannes, France. This year over 28,000 entries were received from all over the world with awards handed out in 16 categories. Ogilvy Dublin was the only Irish agency to pick up an award and furthermore was the only Irish agency to have work shortlisted in the awards.

Speaking on the agency’s success, Dave Smyth, managing director at Ogilvy Dublin said, “This is an amazing achievement for Ogilvy Dublin. The win is a credit to the incredible hard work that our team has put in and I am delighted that our work here in Ireland is being recognized as some of the best in the world. The Cannes Lions were a tremendous success for the wider Ogilvy family, Ogilvy & Mather won the coveted Cannes Lions 2012 Network of the Year Award and we were delighted to be a part of that win.”

Smyth continued, “We have been working with the ISPCC since 2009 and it is an organisation we have the utmost respect for. The work they do is paramount and we are proud to work with them. From the beginning the main aim of the campaign was to create awareness for this important cause and we believe we have achieved that.” Globally, Ogilvy & Mather topped off an impressive year with the most successful Cannes Lions in the company’s history. In addition to winning Network of the Year, Ogilvy won a record 83 Lions in total. Some of the award winning work included Lions for brands including: Coke, Hellmann’s, IBM, Sprite, Forbes, Carling and the ISPCC.

Lloyd Byrne, director of fundraising at ISPCC said, “We are very honoured to have picked up this prestigious award. In the creative process for this campaign our main objective was clear; to make an advert that would attract attention and highlight the cruelty of child abuse. From the awards and recognition this campaign has attracted we believe we have met that objective.”

Richie Smyth of Dublin based Blinder picked up the bronze for Director’s craft at the annual awards, which are regarded as the ‘Oscars’ of the advertising industry. “We are delighted to have been awarded with a Cannes Lion, the most prestigious award in advertising” said Blinder managing director, Michael Duffy. “It is testimony to the courageous creative work of the Ogilvy team and the willingness of ISPCC to embrace challenging ideas which has made this commercial such a worldwide phenomenon.”

In addition to the recent win at Cannes, the campaign was also recognised by the D&AD Book which is one of the most respected creative judging forums in the world. This was the first time that an Irish agency had been honoured in over 7 years. Business Insider also voted the ad as the number one ad in the world for 2011. The campaign was also honoured at the CLIO awards held in May in New York where it picked up one of CLIO’s iconic statues which are the most widely recognized and coveted symbol of the industry’s creative accomplishments. Other awards bestowed on the campaign include; a Gold Award in the “Public Interest” category at this year’s EPICA Awards; a Gold Award at the “Global Best Digital Advertising Awards” in Bangkok, Thailand; a Bronze Award in “TV Cinema/Online Film Direction” at the London International Awards (LIA). It was also named “Advert of the Year” on tvads.ie, and listed as the “#1 Ad Worldwide”. In Ireland the campaign picked up 2 Golds and 3 Silvers at the ICAD Awards. ICAD is Ireland's preeminent creative body - and the annual awards are the greatest opportunity for Irish creatives to have their best work recognised and rewarded by their peers. It was also awarded a Silver at the Kinsale Sharks. This collection of awards makes the campaign one of the most awarded pieces of Irish advertising in history.

Ross O’Carroll Kelly Named Ireland's Favourite Book

---Press Release---

‘The Oh My God Delusion’, Ross O’Carroll Kelly, tops Eason’s book poll as the nation’s favourite read

Wednesday 21st December: Dublin 4’s best-loved resident Ross O’ Carroll-Kelly has certainly captured the heart of the nation as ‘The Oh My God Delusion’ from the series written by author Paul Howard has been crowned Ireland’s Favourite Book.

As part of their 125th anniversary celebrations, Eason, Ireland’s leading retailer of book stationery, magazines and much more launched a search to find the nation’s favourite read as voted by the people of Ireland. For weeks, thousands have been casting their vote via Eason’s new look website, www.easons.com, from a list of 125 top titles but it was Ross O’Carroll Kelly’s ‘The Oh My God Delusion’ that came out on top, competing with classics as such James Joyce ‘Ulysses’, Oscar Wilde’s ‘Picture of Dorian Gray’ and childhood favourites such as Roald Dahl’s ‘BFG’.

Speaking about Eason’s search to find Ireland’s favourite book, Maria Dickenson, Head of Book Purchasing at Eason said “What a diverse bunch of readers we are in Ireland! Thanks to everyone who voted, it’s been incredibly interesting to watch the votes coming in and gaining an insight into what makes us tick when it comes to reading – we each take away something unique from each book we read. Ross O’Carroll Kelly was a certainly a strong contender throughout and we’re delighted to have an Irish book come out on top. Congratulations to Paul for a great win and we trust Ross will be occupying our book shelves for years to come!”

Commenting on his prestigious win on Newstalk’s Tom Dunne show, Paul Howard, author of the Ross O’Carroll Kelly series said, “I am thrilled that ‘The Oh My God Delusion’ has topped Eason’s poll to find the nation’s favourite book. I’ve been writing Ross O’Carroll-Kelly books for 13 years now and it’s very gratifying that readers still find the books relevant and funny. ‘The Oh My God Delusion’ is the tenth novel in the series, which I began writing as a way of poking fun at middle class rugby culture but which became a means of satirising Celtic Tiger Ireland.

“This book was the first recession era book, tracing the descent of Ross and his circle of friends from affluence to penury. It’s great that readers have stuck with the story and are still laughing. And God knows we need a laugh in these grim times! I’d like to say a very special thanks to Eason, who have huge supporters of Ross since the very first book, and everyone who voted”, continued Paul.

The top ten books included:
1. Ross O'Carroll-Kelly: THE OH MY GOD DELUSION, author Paul Howard
2. To Kill a Mocking Bird, author Harper Lee
3. Book Thief, author Markus Zusak
4. Lord of the Rings, author J.R.R. Tolkien
5. Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, author John Boyne
6. PS I Love You, author Cecelia Ahern
7. Kite Runner, author Khaled Hosseini
8. Room, author Emma Donoghue
9. Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
10. Catch 22, author Joseph Heller


Individual Counties’ Favourite Book:

Carlow (tied first)
Hunger Games, author Suzanne Collins
Ross O’Carroll Kelly: The Oh my God Delusion, author Paul Howard

Cavan
Lord of the Rings, author J.R.R. Tolkien

Clare (all tied first)
Book Thief, author Markus Zusak
PS I Love You, author Cecelia Ahern
Kite Runner, author Khaled Hosseini

Cork To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee

Donegal (all tied first)
Da Vinci Code, author Dan Brown
Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas, author John Boyne
Hunger Games, author Suzanne Collins
Ross O’Carroll Kelly: The Oh my God Delusion, author Paul Howard

Dublin
Ross O’Carroll Kelly: The Oh my God Delusion, author Paul Howard

Galway (tied first)
To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee
Book Thief, author Markus Zusak

Kerry (all tied first)
Da Vinci Code, author Dan Brown
PS I Love You, author Cecelia Ahern

Kildare
Ross O’Carroll Kelly: The Oh my God Delusion, author Paul Howard

Kilkenny
My Sister’s Keeper, author Jodi Picoult

Laois
Ross O’Carroll Kelly: The Oh my God Delusion, author Paul Howard

Limerick (tied first)
To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee
Book Thief, author Markus Zusak

Longford (tied first)
Time Travellers Wife, author Audrey Niffenegger
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, author Susan Clark

Louth (all tied first)
Lord of the Rings, author J.R.R. Tolkien
Circle of Friends, author Maeve Binchy
Handmaids Tale, author Margaret Atwood
Life of Pi, author Yann Martel
Twilight, Stephenie Meyer

Mayo (all tied first)
Catch 22, author Joseph Heller
Book Thief, author Markus Zusak
Da Vinci Code, author Dan Brown
The Notebook, author Nicholas Sparks
We need to Talk About Kevin, author Lionel Shriver

Meath
Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas, author John Boyne

Monaghan
Book Thief, author Markus Zusak

Offaly
The Alchemist, author Paulo Coelho

Roscommon (tied first)
Ross O’Carroll Kelly: The Oh my God Delusion, author Paul Howard
To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee

Tipperary (all tied first)
To Kill a Mockingbird, author Harper Lee
Book Thief, author Markus Zusak
Ross O’Carroll Kelly: The Oh my God Delusion, author Paul Howard

Waterford
Book Thief, author Markus Zusak

Westmeath
Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas, author John Boyne Boyne

Wexford (tied first)
Lord of the Rings, author J.R.R. Tolkien
Ross O’Carroll Kelly: The Oh my God Delusion, author Paul Howard

Wicklow
Ross O’Carroll Kelly: The Oh my God Delusion, author Paul Howard

The Carphone Warehouse 2010 Appy Awards

Last night saw the inaugural Appy Awards take place at the Gibson Hotel at the Point Village in Dublin. The awards celebrate innovation and creativity in the app development industry, rewarding its best practitioners for their hard work and business achievements. The Appys are the only dedicated awards programme in Ireland for app development and design, and are open to anyone who developed or paid for the development of a mobile app, on any platform (iOS, Android, Bada, Symbian, Ovi, etc.). The awards featured 17 categories ranging from Best Branded App to Best Travel/Tourism App, as well as a Grand Prix to the best overall app from the last year.

The first ever Grand Prix winner from last night was the RTÉ News Now iPhone app. RTÉ, who were up against a host of innovative and creative apps, were judged to be the best app out of 170 entries.

“I’d like to congratulate RTÉ and the agency that developed the News Now app, DRG, on the Grand Prix win,” said Stephen Conmy, editor of Digital Times and co-founder of the Appys. “The competition for the top prize was quite fierce, there were some great apps entered and most of the apps that made the shortlist show the creativity and utility now abundant in the Irish app sector. I’d also like to thank all our judges for the hard work they put in.”

The full breakdown of category winners was as follows:

Category App name Company Best Augmented Reality / Location Services app Daft.ie iPhone/iPad App Daft Media Ltd Best Branded app Paddy Power Mobile Paddy Power Best Business Solutions app Smartgrid Redwind Software Best Consumer Experience / Retail app Betfair for iPhone Betfair Best Entertainment / Gaming app Movie Challenge Redwind Software Best Media app RTÉ News Now DRG Best Medical/ Healthcare app Pocket Heart eMedia Interactive Ltd. Best Social Networking app Absolut Fringe eightytwenty/interactive Best Sports app RTÉ GAA Furious Tribe Best Tourism/Travel app Ireland's Blue Book Ireland's Blue Book Best Education / Learning App FIS Training Furious Tribe Best use of the Irish Language in an App Greann Gaeilge Miranda Corp Best Developer Daft - Ciaran Maher Daft Best Andriod app Today FM Communicorp Digital Best Bada app Munster Rugby iMobile Best OVI app Mowbli's Halloween Axonista Best Apple app RTÉ News Now DRG GRAND PRIX RTÉ News Now DRG

While each app was judged on seven different attributes including design, relevance to target market, utility and innovation, Des Doris, founder/organiser of the Appys and MD of Alchemy Events said, “We’ve been really impressed with the standard of entries for such a young media sector, and the app sector is a media sector in its own right now. While this year we’ve concentrated on mobile apps, next year we'd like to see tablet apps, social media apps and even Web TV apps entered. The app sector is changing the media landscape and the way many companies do business and the Appys with The Carphone Warehouse aim to showcase the best Irish apps and their developers.”

Edward Conmy, event director and co-founder, commented: “We’re extremely happy with the response, not just from all those who entered but also from our sponsors and the general digital media/marketing community. The app sector in Ireland is thriving and we hope the Appys will shine a bright light on this creative and energetic media sector. Well done to all those who made the shortlist, who won their categories and of course well done to the Grand Prix winner. For those who are a little disappointed on the night, there’s always next year.”

A huge congratulations to all those who were nominated and especially to all those who won.

Bushmills Voted Best Irish Whiskey in the World

A huge congratulations to everyone at Bushmills on a fantastic win at the prestigious 2010 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Bushmills swept the board winning Best Irish Whiskey in the World, two double gold and four gold accolades. Bushmills is now one of only a few international spirit brands ever to scoop 100% gold in the competition. This is pretty spectacular considering that it was only a couple of months back that Bushmills won three World Whiskies Awards in London.

Bushmills won the top award for its entire range, with the Black Bush and 1608 blends each winning double gold, and the Bushmills Original, 10, 16 and 21 Year Old Single Malts all winning gold. Ultimately though it was the Bushmills 1608 that was named Best Irish Whiskey.

Colum Egan, Bushmills Master Distiller, said, "This is an incredible achievement for Bushmills. We like to think that we make the world’s finest Irish whiskey – it’s great to hear that the experts share that opinion and the team at the distillery are absolutely thrilled. We’ll definitely be cracking open a bottle and raising a glass to celebrate our wins!"

With Sarah Miles, Bushmills Global Brand Director, adding, "The awards are further recognition of the outstanding quality of Bushmills. It’s a real achievement to be placed at the forefront of the fastest growing international spirits category in the world today. Irish whiskey is obviously a competitive market and so we’re delighted that the excellence of our liquid has been recognised by our peers."

Again, congratulations to the whole Bushmill team - well done folks!

New York Festival's International Advertising Awards

For over fifty years The New York Festival's International Advertising Awards has represented the pinnacle achievement that any advertiser or creative could receive. The awards honour the World's best advertising from over 70 different countries, across all media and platforms: television, cinema, print, outdoor, interactive, design, mixed media, collateral, radio and student advertising. The 2010 deadline for submissions has now passed and the countdown is on to the Oscar's of the advertising world.

There are two things that make the awards stand out from all others. First, the awards draw on the experience of over 250 jury members from 60 countries. Secondly, the awards are judged completely online with each entry assured it receives the proper amount of time and attention, free from outside distractions and unsolicited opinions. The system is specially designed to prevent any scam ads, with the judges encouraged to flag suspected scam ad and write confidential comments supporting their suspicions.

This year the awards have expanded to include the 'Boutique Agency of the Year' award that honours agencies that are not affiliated with a network and have less than 75 employees. A second addition sees the creation of the 'Best New Agency' award to recognise new agencies that have started up in the last 24 months. The new award allows " agencies in business for less than two years to compete and be recognised for their creative achievements, their ability to garner international exposure and the impact their work has on the marketplace".

Details on the 2010 New York Festivals International Advertising Awards for Digital and Interactive can be found here. To get an idea of the calibre of entries that the awards pull in, just take a look at the judging panel!

Digital & Interactive Advertising GrandJury:

• Mark Addy, Digital Creative Director, JWT, Auckland, NZ
• Fernando Barbella, Interactive Creative Director, BBDO, Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Ana Caralt, Creative Director, TribalDDB, Barcelona, Spain
• Orlando Cristofalo, Digital Planning & Creative Coordination, GLUE, Argentina
• Christian Daul, Creative Director, Scholz & Volkmer, Wiesbaden, Germany
• Pal Dobloug, Creative Director, Mediafront, Oslo, Norway
• Niklas Fransson, Creative Director, Rebenga, Sweden
• Martin Garrocho, Interactive Creative Director, Grey, Santiago, Chile
• Niklas Fransson, Creative Director, Rebenga, Sweden
• Srdjan Gulic, Chief Creative Officer, Zagreb, Croatia
• Kevin Lee, Executive Creative Director, OgilvyOne, Shanghai, China
• Jungwon Lee, CEO/Strategic Director, PostVisual.com, Seoul, Korea
• Anto Noval, Director/Chief Creative Officer, Hungry & Foolish Creative Products Pvt. Ltd., India
• Edu Pou, Creative Director, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Frédéric (Fredo) Sanz, Executive Creative Director, DoubleYou, Barcelona, Spain
• Doug Schiff, Executive Creative Director, OgilvyOne, Beijing, China
• Gabor Spielmann, Executive Creative Director, Grey, Budapest, Hungary
• Raphael Vasconcellos, Executive Creative Director, AgenciaClick, Sao Paulo, Brazil
• Greg Whitham, Interactive Creative Director, Ogilvy, NZ

Irish Blog Awards Nominations Now Open

Nominations are now open for the 2010 Irish Blog Awards. This year there will be a total of 21 different categories for you to submit nominations:

• Best Popculture blog
• Best Food/Drink Blog
• Best Fashion Blog
• Best Music Blog
• Best Photo Blog
• Best Technology Blog/Blogger
• Best Sport & Recreation Blog
• Best Blog of a Business
• Best Arts and Culture Blog
• Best Blog from a Journalist
• Best News/Current Affairs Blog
• Best Group Blog
• Best Political Blog
• Best Blog of a Politician
• Best Use of the Irish Language in a Blog
• Best Specialist Blog
• Best Newcomer
• Best Youth Blog
• Best Personal Blog
• Best Humour Blog
• Best Blog Post

The event itself will be held on March 27th in Galway. Stay tuned for more details!

Meteor Ireland Music Awards: Most Promising New Artist 2010

December isn't over, the jolly fat man hasn't come down your chimney, and not a single chorus of Auld Lang Syne has passed a pair of lips, but even so there are many people already thinking about January. The music community will shortly be gearing up for Ireland's annual celebration of national and international musical artists. This year, however, there may be a slightly longer list of nail-biters when it comes to the big night.

Today, Meteor announced that there's a sunny January for one lucky unsigned artist in search of their big break. Next year's Meteor Ireland Music Awards are introducing a brand new category, the Most Promising New Artist 2010. The brand new category will celebrate the best original song from an individual or group, who is currently not signed to any record label (small independents excluded) or publishing house.

The winner will be determined by composition, lyrics, melody and originality, and will receive the prize a host of seriously, seriously cool prizes, including:

• Live performance on the New Band Stage at Oxegen 2010
• One day of recording in Grouse Lodge Recording Studios
• One day of Mastering in Masterlabs
• 150 copies of the CD single
• Designed CD sleeve and photo shoot with top celebrity Photographer Barry McCall
• Radio/PR distribution

On top of all that, the lucky winner of the new category can also look forward to being presented with a gong, as the winners of The Most Promising New Artist for 2010 award at the award show in January.

Entry is simple and all hopefuls have to do is upload a video of themselves performing their song to www.themeteors.ie. From there it's all down to public vote for the top 10 shortlist, then on to an industry panel to select the top 5 acts to become the official nominees for the Most Promising New Artist 2010 award.

The closing date for applications is January 11th 2010 so if you're interested get cracking now!

Irish Web Awards 2009

Last night the 2009 Irish Web Awards were held in the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel. The awards are run by Damien Mulley and are just about the best awards ceremony you could ever go to. I feel safe saying that this is the only awards that you are guaranteed to have a brilliant time. The award's MC for the evening was Rick O'Shea, who did a stellar job.

Here are two videos from the evening:

An Post DMAs

Just a quick post to say congratulations to everyone who got shortlisted for tonight's An Post Direct Marketing Awards. Especially all the guys who I have the pleasure to work with. A fair batch of Cybercom entries in there...

Best Alcoholic Drink Category
Carlsberg Live It - Euro 2008

Best FMCG Category
Powerade - Never Give Up

Best Direct Digital Category
Vodafone Pass The Pressie
Powerade - Never Give Up

Best Integrated Campaign Category
Powerade - Never Give Up
Carlsberg Live It - Euro 2008 (joint nomination with Strategem, Initiative Media and Irish International)

---Update---

Results just in, straight from the Mansion House...

Best Alcoholic Drink Category
Carlsberg Live It - Euro 2008 >>> Silver Award

Best FMCG Category
Powerade - Never Give Up >>> Gold Award

Best Integrated Campaign Category
Powerade - Never Give Up >>> Silver Award
Carlsberg Live It - Euro 2008 >>> Bronze Award

Digital Round-Up

Congratulations to the Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI) who took second place at Elsevier Grand Challenge. The international competition pushes the development of new and innovative tools to deal with the increasing amounts of life sciences information online. Competing against over 65 groups from research companies and universities, from around the world, DERI's project, 'CORAAL - Dive into Publications, Bathe in the Knowledge', is a prototype system to bring together information representation and artificial reasoning technologies in life science publications to allow better integration, search and retrieval of life sciences information. DERI is a research organisation based at NUI Galway who focus on developing semantic web technologies.

During the week Facebook was hit by a major phishing scam. Through the use of a very convincing fake log-in page, users were tricked into revealing their facebook passwords. The people behind the scam then used this information to access profuiles and trick further numbers of people to the fake log-in page. Facebook has said that the link at the center of the scam is now blocked and that there will be an increase of the security services provided by MarkMonitor to prevent future scams of this nature.

Twitter announced that every public update sent to Twitter is now instantly indexed and made searchable through their new real-time search. Further to this, if you search for the same word or phrase regularly, you can now save your search with the "save this search" tickbox. This will then place those keywords as links into your home page just under the search box, giving you one-click access to your regular searches.

2009 AMPC Awards

A huge congratulations to everyone in Cybercom who worked on the Bushmills Trek and Powerade 'Never Give Up' campaigns - both of which walked away from last nights APMC Awards in the Shelbourne hotel with wins. Awesome stuff for all the guys involved.

Also a congratulations to the guys in Strategem for wins with Danone's 'Ireland's Happiest Babies' and Captain Morgan's 'Got a Little Captain in You?!'

Cybercom wins Agency of the Year

Great news last night at the DMAs, with Cybercom winning Agency of the Year 2009. I'll update with a full list of winners tomorrow.

2009 Irish Blog Awards - Nominations

The lists have been unveiled and all nominations can now be viewed for the 2009 Blog Awards. In what is, genuinely, a huge surprise I have been nominated for two awards - Best Tech Blog/Blogger and Best New Comer. To be honest, I'm over the moon. I'd be happy just to think that people are willing to read my ramblings, but that people took the time to nominate me, that just blows my mind.

Thank you so much.

Rick's Meme

I just read over on Darragh's blog that Rick has just started a meme, and I have to say - I love it. All in all it's a simple, yet brilliant idea.

Basically with the blog awards just around the corner Rick thought that it would be a good idea to post the 5 bloggers whom he hasn't met but would like to, with an aim to doing just that at the awards. Hell, sounds a lot better then going to the awards and seeing people you'd like to talk to, only to return home not having done it.

So here they are, the 5 bloggers I'd love to meet, but haven't:

1. Damien Mullay
2. Rick O'Shea
3. Darragh Doyle
4. Nick McGivney (odd as I'm actually working with Nick at the mo)
5. Phil O'Kane

Hope I get the chance!

Cybercom Win “Best Online Campaign”

Beating off tough competition from Dare (UK), Cybercom last night won the “Best Online Campaign” at the Vodafone Global Creative Awards. The awards run across the entire Vodafone group (and their respective agencies) in all the countries that operate in, to highlight and promote advertising creative excellence.

This is great recognition by Vodafone of Cybercom's leading edge work in Digital Marketing. The campaign itself which sealed the victory was the launch campaign for Vodafone's Postpay Perfect Choice tariffs. The concept was based around Joe Hughes, a struggling Dublin actor, who found himself trapped in the very digital marketing campaign that was to launch his acting career. Joe made the wrong choice! Through Social Media (Bebo, Facebook, a blog and microsite) Joe sought the support of the public to get him out.

Cybercom win Best Digital Promotion in the World!

Fantastic news yesterday morning - Cybercom's Powerade 'Never Give Up' campaign has won the Best Digital Promotion in the World at the 2008 MAA Globes in Toronto. Against tough competition from Vietnam and Australia, this may be the crowning achievement in an already merit studded piece of marketing. The MAA award makes a total of seven awards to date for the campaign, icluding a Coca-Cola Worldwide Marketing Award, Grand Prix at the APMC and Best Digital Campaign at the DMAs.

Congratulation to all the folks in the office who worked on the campaign. A very, very well done!

Thirst!

Perhaps the most impactful presentation I have ever seen. Although the subject matter isn't digital I have decided to share this with you anyway. Hats off to Jeff Brenman who created this.

Irish Web Awards

It's that time of the year again, and the Irish Web Awards are upon us. There are only 12 days to go mind you, to nominate your website, so get nominating!

Right now only the creators/builders/owners of websites are allowed to nominate their own sites.

Webby Winners Announced!

If you got on the short list you'd be over the moon but today find out who the winners are. The 12th Annual Webby Awards Winners List has been released.

For me, personally, the best news was when it was announced that Stephen Colbert was to be honoured for his use of Social Networking and digital interaction with the public, for his show The Colbert Report, as person of the year!

Also worth a look is the Official Honoree's List. I'm extremely happy to say that Cybercom got onto the Business to Consumer: Rich Media Advertising list, for it's Vodafone Mobile Internet campaign.