Greetings all and well met!

It's that time of the year again. The time where the ENnies staff and judges begin the countdown to GenCon and start getting all of our dire ducks in a row. With that in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to let y'all know where we're at and where we're headed.

1. This year's ceremony will be our 10th Annual affair and will be held on Friday, August 6th. The wheels are in motion to make this the best. ENnies. ever. More details to come!

2. One of the projects we're working on is to create a photo retrospective. If you have photos you would like to include in this retrospective, please e-mail them to [email]photos@ennieawards.com[/email]. It will be a fun trip down memory lane for all.

3. Going forward, electronic submissions will work differently than they have in the past. For our new electronic entry guidelines, please visit http://www.ennie-awards.com/publishers/e-submissions.asp. For podcasts and blogs/online magazines, there are some additional guidelines:

- You must send a link to your site and specify one "must-hear" episode or one "must-read" article/issue.
- The judges will select another "must-hear" episode or one "must-read" article/issue that they all listen to/read.
- Each judge will then select another episode/article/issue.

This will mean that each judge will listen to/read three episodes/articles/issues, one of which is chosen by the podcaster/publisher, in order to get a sense of the entire line.

4. If you haven't seen the ENnies blog, it's high-time you take a look at it by visiting http://www.ennie-awards.com/ennies/blog!

5. On the blog, we are keeping a running list of all submissions we have received. At the top of the blog is a link to a page labeled Submissions. This page will let you see exactly which publishers have submitted, what products said publishers have submitted, and a link for each product to give you a chance to get to know them better.

If you're an RPG fan, I highly recommend you go and see who's submitted and prod your favorite publisher to submit the products you want to see win an ENnie.

If you're an RPG publisher, this page will allow you to easily check what you have or have not submitted.

6. Speaking of publishers: This year, we are going to be more stringent with our deadlines. In the last few years, we have had publishers who have sent products that were postmarked after the submission deadline. Depending on circumstances, we have been lenient and allowed these items to still be judged. We have decided that it is in everyone's best interest to stick to the guidelines and only allow products to be judged that are postmarked before the deadline. This means that is in the best interest of the publisher to get a tracking number on their packages and keep an eye on it to verify delivery. It would be a shame if an excellent product was left out simply because it wasn't postmarked on time or because a publisher didn't check to make sure the product was delivered on time. This year, the postmark deadline is on, or before, May 8, 2010. This also applies to electronic submissions.

With this in mind, publishers need to remember that one of our judges, Megan Robertson, lives in the United Kingdom. This means that, for items shipped from outside of the UK, the transit time will be longer than normal. Please make sure to ship your items as early as possible to make sure that they arrive in a timely fashion and give her, and other judges, ample time to review them.

7. With of a completely packed personal schedule, Gertie Barden has decided to step back from her role as Assistant Business Manager and focus on more important things like getting married and going back to college to complete a second Bachelor's degree (crazy, I know!). She will stay on as a staff member, but in a less taxing role. Because of this, I have been asked to step into the Assistant Business Manager role and I have accepted. I will now be pulling double-duty and stay on as the PR Coordinator. Denise Robinson, the current Business Manager, has previously announced her retirement from the position after this year, so I will move up into that role next year. I want to thank both Gertie and Denise for recommending me to step into the new position and I promise to keep the ENnies as fun, exciting, and important as they are currently.

Well that's all for now. I will make sure to keep everyone updated on the latest happenings of the ENnies and, as I've stated before, I highly recommend you read the ENnies Blog to keep up on ENnies news and discussions by the judges. As always, you may respond to me here or e-mail me at [email]pr@ennieawards.com[/email] if you have any questions.

Tony Law
ENnies Asst. Business Manager/PR Coordinator