In Episode 53, the guys celebrate the fact that the show has been nominated for an Ennie.  They dance like fat, middle-aged white men while shouting "special" messages to all the jealous player haters.  And then they sip bacardi.  They sip it like it is their birthday.  But the bulk of the show is dedicated to interviewing Zach Houghton, one of the Ennies judges.  The guys ask Zach about the process, some of the controversies that have arisen, and all the products he has had to review.  As you would anticipate, the guys then subject Zach to the single most grueling and painful Animalball Hotseat in the history of the show.  Listen and find out if Zach made it out alive.

Link to the Show.

tl;dr

LOl you care

The last 5 minutes were the worst of my life.  I am glad to be done with the Hot Seat--I'll have to get with James Jacobs and commiserate.

Quote from: FASERIP;226671tl;dr

LOl you care

What part of the code am I not cracking here?

Just posting my comments here as well and updating them a bit...

Due to some technical difficulties, voting may not go live today, but I'll be posting around the major 3rd party message boards to spread the word, and will try to keep the ennieawards.com site updated with the latest news.  Once voting begins, it will last for two weeks.

The reason we had so much time leading up to the voting after we announce the nominees is to give voters a chance to educate themselves on the products. Many publishers are putting on sales and making free samples available. This helps reduce the popularity contest aspect, and to stimulate discussion.

Nomination packages and details for the 2009 Awards judge selection process are now on the ENnies site under voting. Voting runs one week from August 4-10th, winners will be announced at the Awards ceremony.

By now, all the nominees should have been contacted about the details of the ceremony, but if you haven't, feel free to pester rsvp@ennieawards.com.

The regalia category was originally dubbed best paraphernalia, but I decided to change it because I was afraid that products crossing borders would be stopped or slowed if the word "paraphernalia" was attached to 'em. I busted out my thesaurus, and regalia seemed to be the best option.

No Cure for the Paladin Blues won for Best Regalia last year, and Rich Burlew smelled lovely.  Options for Monte Cook sniffing this year will be doubtful, since IIRC he's not planning on attending Gen Con. However I could ask one of my daughters who gave him a hug when presenting him an award years ago about his olfactory qualities.  IIRC, he is usually a breath of fresh air in the convention hall, smelling of soap.

For next year's awards, each entrant will be asked if they should be considered a professional or an amateur/fan. Podcasts produced by professionals will be eligible to enter under the "Best Free Product", those produced by fans will be under "Best Fan Product".

This year I mis-handled the duties of Submissions Coordinator in addition to everything else I did as Business Manager, and a few emails slipped through the cracks for which I apologize.  For the 2009 Awards, we have a submissions coordinator who will take care of all correspondence with publishers and respond to questions about entries.

That said, we already contact many potential entrants, but there are so many out there- especially when it comes to fan sites- that we can't possibly hit them all. It is up to fan productions and publishers alike to take some responsibility to enter their product.

Not counting podcasts or fan sites, approximately 250 entries from over 70 publishers were submitted. We have a policy not to discuss exactly what was entered because not only can it cause an embarassment to the publisher who wasn't nominated, it diminishes the accomplishment of those who were nominated.  This year it was a change in policy to let the judges choose whether they would publish or even discuss their selections.  There was considerable discussion about why not- mostly because you can never please everyone, and it would be inviting a shitstorm- but I decided in the end that the judges should be able to share their knowledge of the submitted product.  Seeing as how they're the most experienced and knowledgeable people in the world about the submitted product, I thought it would be a shame to deprive the public of the chance to hear what they thought about the nominees and why they were selected.

If you need any more questions answered about how the ENnies work, feel free to contact me at denise@ennieawards.com.

Quote from: Animalball Brasky;226641In Episode 53, the guys celebrate the fact that the show has been nominated for an Ennie.  They dance like fat, middle-aged white men while shouting "special" messages to all the jealous player haters.  And then they sip bacardi.  They sip it like it is their birthday.  But the bulk of the show is dedicated to interviewing Zach Houghton, one of the Ennies judges.  The guys ask Zach about the process, some of the controversies that have arisen, and all the products he has had to review.  As you would anticipate, the guys then subject Zach to the single most grueling and painful Animalball Hotseat in the history of the show.  Listen and find out if Zach made it out alive.

Link to the Show.

I knew Monte Cook would smell good.  I just knew it!