With the IBA longlist being announced recently and the lot of us selfishly whoring ourselves as a result (including me… by the way, voting closes tomorrow so go over and vote AdamMaguire.com for Best News/Current Affairs blog… please? Thanks), I thought a more noble IBA-related post was in order. So, I figured I’d put forward a small suggestion for this year, which I’ll begin with a little factiod about the list.
For the most part the nominations put forward seem logical – in many instances each of the candidates have just as much reason to win as the other, which will make the shortlisting and eventual jury decision all the harder.
That said, there is one name missing, one that I had figured was a shoe-in for Best Contribution to the Irish Blogosphere.
I’m talking, of course, about the IBA’s Commander in Chief Damien Mulley.
There’s a reason why he’s not there, though, and it isn’t because no-one else thinks he should be. Damien has, understandably, purged the nominations of his name in the interest of fairness, and I think we can all appreciate that.
So rather than suggest we as a community try and talk him into reconsidering (which would only result in cries of ‘fix!’), I’m suggesting we do something else.
The IBAs alone have already had a large impact on blogging in Ireland, and they’re not even two years old yet. They’ve given us a chance to congratulate those amongst us for their efforts, made some MSM take note and perhaps even pushed some bloggers onto bigger and better things.
Then looking at stuff like IrelandOffline, Share IT / BusinessAdvirosry and his involvement in the plethora of conferences we’ve seen in recent years, it’s fair to say that Damien has done more than his bit for blogging.
So here’s my suggestion to show our respect for his work without hindering the IBAs.
Rather than give him the Best Contribution to the Irish Blogosphere award, how about we just name it after him? We don’t have to get his OK on this, he probably won’t give it for fear of appearing as egotistical as we all know he really is, we just have to refer to it as such in future.
So – The Damien Mulley Award for Best Contribution to the Irish Blogosphere? Bit long-winded… how about – The Damien Mulley IBCCA (Irish Blog Community Contribution Award)? Or just – The Mulley Contribution Award? Or ‘Deh Mulley’?
Thoughts?!