Where Do the Nominees Come From?
For 2009, we have a committee of eight people who collected and nominated articles and blog posts written throughout the 2008 calendar year. This committee approach has produced a more well-rounded and diverse list of nominees than we had previously. While it’s likely some great content was still overlooked, this nominating process is much more fair to entire industry and all the marketers who create great content.
Also note that, since I was the only person nominating content in the first year, my own material was not eligible for the SEMMY Awards. Now that we have eight people choosing nominees, my own material — and material written by each member of the nominating committee — is eligible to be nominated for the 2009 SEMMYS.
Why Isn’t My Post/Article Included?
Even with a committee of eight people looking for nominees, it’s impossible to read everything written about online marketing. If you feel slighted in some way, please accept my apologies. And please also keep in mind this is just for fun. 
Who’s on this eight-person nominating committee?
We’ve agreed as a group not to list the committee members. This is to prevent outside parties from lobbying the committee to have certain articles or blog posts included on the nominee list. We may revisit this and share the member list at a later date. Take my word that the committee members are some of the brightest people in our industry.
How are the finalists chosen?
In addition to the nominating committee, I have a separate group of search marketing experts who have volunteered to serve as judges. These judges will narrow down the original list of candidates to a group of 3-6 finalists in each category. Judges are not allowed to handle a category in which s/he is also a candidate. Judges will have a week to review the nominees and determine the finalists.
How will the winners be chosen?
When the judges have chosen the finalists in each category, we’ll announce them on SEMMYS.org. At that point, you will be able to vote for a winner in each/any category. Public voting will be open for one week. When public voting ends, we’ll announce the winners in each category here on SEMMYS.org!
You can use the RSS buttons at right to subscribe and get instant updates throughout the process.
Timeline/Overview
Here’s the schedule we hope to keep:
January 19, 2009: Official Launch
January 26: Judges’ deadline to decide category finalists
January 28: Finalists announced; public voting begins
February 2: Public voting closes
February 4: Winners announced
Actual dates may vary slightly, but we’ll do our best to stick to that schedule.
- Matt McGee
