Oscars and other awards

I've managed to avoid the Oscars and all the other annual awards things so far this year, I tend to try and miss them because all the critics seem to like films I hate. So I don't tend to pay much attention to the critics and the awards.

A few years ago, the amused disinterest spread into what became known at our place as the Sunrise awards ... It grew out of discussion on our works' public folders where the various contributors tended to like having a go at the judges for the awards because they couldn't understand how certain films won. Lots of politics involved I think ...

So I thought "Right - how would the awards end up if these people did the voting ?" And the Sunrise awards were born. We (crazies were conspiring on this one ...) aimed them for around this time of year, aiming for films that had come out in the previous year. There was about a week for nominations, where people would send in emails with a few noteworthy's in each category. Then there was a week for voting, where we had to pick our favourite. After that, I'd tot up the votes and do a winners post that would go on the forums again. And that would be it for that year's Sunrise awards.

A few things to notice with it :

1. Films released towards the end of the year are fresh in the mind and pinch all the silverware
2. Films from the start of the year get forgotten about
3. Art house film fans don't like it that they're in a minority :-)
4. Everyone likes different things - quite right too
5. Completely independent people will still give strange voting results

It was fun while it lasted and showed we had about twice/three times as many silent lurkers on those forums than people who actually posted ... (Probably the same with Blogging ! Get yourselves an account and get commenting :-)

I had to close it down though after a couple of years because I'd got busier with work, my new boss also lurked on forums and I couldn't hide doing the admin for the awards as well as being Captain for the project's indoor cricket team. We couldn't actually run it now because the Powers That Be (well - their minions) decided that we wouldn't have public folders at work any more. They'd been on borrowed time since a few muppets had fun in a free for all folder called "Soapbox", with the resulting trolling getting the forums noticed by the bosses. And if bosses notice high activity in something non-work, they'll start taking an unhealthy interest ...

PS There is a Sunrise Celebration out there and I think I've seen the phrase Sunrise Awards somewhere too. The celebration people are a bit later than us, the third one will be this year. My Sunrise Awards were way back in 02 or 03 ... Completely free from any corporate influence and I believe the only PosterGirls involved with the judging were CQ and RCA, plus one or two I didn't know outside of email.