SUNDAY, MARCH 11. AUSTIN, TX. SXSW
San Francisco has the Webby awards, while Austin's Web Awards takes place during their famed SXSW festival each year in March. Emceed by the-over-the-top John Halcyon Styn, A.K.A Cockybastard.com, on Sunday, March 11th, these awards aren't as much of a show as the Webby, but they still bring recognition to the numerous contestants and the 25 winners. The festivities too place in a standing-room-only ballroom at the recently refinished Steven F. Austin Intercontinental Hotel. Winners included "Who Would Buy That" for the Best Weblog, The Mysterious World of Mummies for the Best High Bandwidth Site, Shortspan for Best Film/Film Industry Web site and The Promise Ring for Best Artist/Band Web site. Dotted among the crowd, applauding the winners were SF-based Wired's ORANGE SHIRT GUY, Denver-based SpireMedia's CEO Michael Gellman, Austin-based SXSW's Interactive Director Hugh Forrest and Networker.com's Harry Pape. Brainfood's Technology Director Ean Schuessler came over to say "hello," and in the most creative job-seeking act I've seen to date, Austinite Jennifer Ayers sat in the back of the room, painted silver and surrounded by computer-related hardware. Her resume sat in front for her performance art piece. Downstairs in the restaurant, I enjoyed a savory salad while chatting with local writer Ken Herbst about Austins' growing cyber scene.
A chronicle of the people and events in technology, internet and media since 1997, mixed in with snapshots of musings and observations.
