The nominations are in for the very first a4uawards, to be held as part of a4uexpo later this month. You can’t have failed to notice, as every nominee is currently begging for votes in emails, msn, signatures, forums etc.

In order to avoid all that, I decided to get my votes in nice and early before promising my vote to anyone, and before listening to any propaganda, so my vote was 100% not influenced by anyone or anything other than my opinion, which is how it should work surely?

So, here’s how I voted, and why:

Publisher Choice of Network 2007:

• Affiliate Window
• Affiliate Future
• Buy.at
• Paid on Results
• Tradedoubler
• My choice: Affiliate Future. Not the greatest interface to use, but they’ve had the basics spot on from day 1: Fast payment, Everything approved after 5 days, Auotmatic approval to programs, fantastic affiliate support. Not to mention taking their affiliates to Barbados, or hiring out a Theme Park, just to say thank you!

Publisher Choice of Agency 2007:

• Affiliate Program Advice
• Equator
• Existem Affiliate Management
• RO EYE
• My choice: None of the above. The main reason being I just don’t do enough with any of these agencies. Obviously I know Mark from Existem, and RO Eye were the only non-affiliates to send me birthday greetings last week via email, but when it comes to sales, none of these agencies do it for me.

Publisher Choice of Merchant 2007:

• 3 Mobile
• Buyagift
• HMV
• Prezzy Box
• Sky
• My choice: Prezzybox. A two-horse race for this one between Prezzybox and buyagift, an it’s no co-incidence that their respective affiliate managers are also nominated in a later category. For me though, Prezzybox just edge it as I do more with them than buyagift. How the hell 3 Mobile or HMV got nominated, I’ll never know?

Merchants Publisher of the Year 2007:

• Allkids.co.uk
• eStuff (Holiday Watchdog)
• Freebie Sites UK
• Uk Web media
• I would have voted: eStuff (Holiday Watchdog). A real toughie this, and I’m glad I didn’t have to vote in this category. All of the above would be a worthy winner, but for me Chris and Chris just edge it, having created a behemoth of a brand from nothing.

Innovation in Affiliate Marketing – Network Award:

• Afiliate Future
• Affiliate Window
• Buy.at
• Paid On Results
• Tradedoubler
• My choice: Affiliate Window. Another toughie here, all of the above have made great strides in innovation over the last year, but I plumped for AW, as I feel they’ve consistently innovated everything from the groud up, including stats, report, the AWIN index, etc. That’s before you even get onto Shop Window and the like.

Innovation in Affiliate Marketing – Merchant Award:

• Amazon
• Buy a Gift
• Jessops
• PrezzyBox
  PruHealth
• My choice: Prezzybox. This one’s a no-brainer. With video ads, Wordpress widgets and every manner of content units, there’s no other possible winner. I know Amazon have some cool tools available now, but I’ve not really played with them. And Jessops? PruHealth?? Please! Where were Euroffice, who created this great ink cartridge tool?

Innovation in Affiliate Marketing – Publishers Award:

• eConversions
• Fraser Edwards
• Nectar
• Quidco
• UK Web Media
• My choice: Fraser Edwards. Another easy one for me. Fraser has taken blogging to the next level with his podcasts, and he’s also recently started producing video ads to promote products through social networking sites etc. Lee McCoy should have been nominated too, for his work with monetising Social Networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace etc.

Publishers Manager of 2007 – Merchant Award:

• Chris Bishop (Hotel Chocolat)
• Ennis Al-Saiegh (Jessops)
• Graham Keen (Buyagift)
• Naomi Brown (Firebox)
• Zak Edwards (Prezzybox)
• My choice: Zak Edwards. Another 2-horse race between Zak and Graham I think, but again Zak just edges it for me as he’s always there with a kind word (and usually a “Green Army!” too). Again, I find the Jessops nomination strange – Who has ever heard of their Affiliate Manager?

Affiliate Marketing Blog of 2007:

• AffiliateStuff.co.uk (Kirsty McCubbin)
• AffiliateBlog.co.uk (Fraser Edwards)
• Here.org.uk (Kieron Donoghue)
• Mooseontheloose.co.uk (Paul Wheatley)
• MorleyMouse.com (Dan Morley)
• My choice: AffiliateBlog.co.uk (Fraser Edwards). For me, this is a two-horse race between Fraser and Kieron. Of the two, I’ve plumped for Fraser. I feel that Kieron’s has got to be a little bit “about the money” recently, and I don’t think anyone can touch Fraser for the work he puts in doing the podcasts. As I’m about to find out first hand next week, when we record our podcast, so look out for that on Fraser’s blog soon.

Best Account Manager 2007:

• Fiona McPherson (Equator)
• Hero Gregoraki (Webgains)
• Matt Bailey (DGM)
• Michelle Boxall (All response Media)
• Sean Carter (MediaVest International)
• My choice: None of the above. I was going to vote for Matt Bailey, as the only person from the above list that I’ve had a conversation with in the last year, but thought that’s probably not really grounds to win! So, mainly as I just don’t work with their respective companies, I can’t vote for anyone!

Best New Merchant of 2007:

• Arcadia
• Children’s Rooms
• Next
• Setanta
• Wickes
• My choice: Children’s Rooms. There’s no way in the world that Next are getting my vote, and Setanta’s only been live for like a week. Used to have an Arcadia shop near me, but don’t know their affiliate program that well. Wickes could be a contender, but for me it’s Elaine and Dave at Children’s Rooms that get the nod.

Best New Affiliate of 2007:

• Dealpond
• Maxafi
• Smoolah
• My choice: None of the above. Who, who and who?

Best International Publisher:

• Clicks2 Customers
• eConversions
• Net media Planet
• My choice: None of the above. Who, who and who again?

Industry Champion 2007:

• Clarke Duncan
• Fraser Edwards
• Jess Luthi
• Keith Budden
• Matthew Wood
• Nick Roveta
• My choice: Clarke Duncan. A couple of the people on the shortlist probably expect to win, as they’ve been promoting themselves as Industry Champions for a number of years. However, Clarke is the only person I’ve seen truly stand up for what he believes to be right, even if it hurts him financially, including having stand-up rows with CEOs of networks in the middle of London. He’s not afraid to ask the tough questions, and then question the answer further! How Nick Roveta got nominated I’ll never know – He’s a top guy, and brilliant at his job, but Industry Champion?

Conclusion

So there you go, a few contentious issues for me there. I think there’s been a bit of vote-rigging during the nominations as there are a few “surprises” that crop up in more than one place. But you’re never going to eliminate that – I remember a “Who’s the best network” poll on a4u a few years back that DGM were losing badly. One afternoon later, and they were winning.

But I’ve voted as I see it – I don’t expect to have predicted all the winners, but I’m satisfied I’ve made my vote count for who I want. I encourage everyone else to do the same. Don’t just vote for your mates, or whoever asks you first. Really think about who deserves to win.

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