Our judges came to town on January 11th and we went to dinner at SKY. It was a good opportunity to meet each other or catch up with each other, depending on who had met already. Anne Grigsby, AdFed's 4th District Governor, came up from Boca Raton. Jeff Matz, Principal/Designer at Lure, Inc, drove over from Orlando – as did Mark Poulalion, Art Director and Integrator at Bonnier Corporation. We had a great time entertaining them, present were Kip and Cindi Williams, Mark Hershberger, Adriana Rosas and myself.
We gave them their judges' gifts – harmonicas – in keeping with the "Creative Blues" theme of the upcoming gala.
Bright and (way too) early the next morning, we met in a conference room at the lovely new Holiday Inn. The judges poured over the entries, all of which were laid out before them, to get an overall feel for the market. We went over rules and particulars during breakfast and then they got to work. They weren't allowed to talk to each other about the pieces during that stage, so I don't have much feedback there... but Kip and I were on hand to answer questions and keep everything in order. Andy Stracuzzi stopped by, as well as a photographer and a reporter from the Ocala Business Journal. After everything was scored, we then entered it all into the official, national competition site. It was at this point that the judges were allowed to talk everything over as they discussed the special awards like Best of Show.
That's all I can say, really, sorry to disappoint, but rest assured you and everyone else will find out about ALL of the winners (including the brand new people's choice award GO-AdFed's Vox Populi) will be announced an honored at the 2008 "Creative Blues" Addy Awards Gala on February 22nd.
Hope to see you there!!
Jessi
