Twelve Angry Bloggers - Autoblog gets jury duty... the good kind
The Internet has finally assembled its own collection of esteemed digital-only auto scribes to anoint vehicles as the Internet Car of the Year and Internet Truck of the Year, while also putting a new twist on traditional awards. Rather than just hold closed-door meetings to draw names from a hat, the public is also invited to weigh in on their choices for Consumer Choice categories at the official website.
There's also a journalism contest that invites online-only writers and bloggers to submit entries for consideration. It's a new age, and the Internet Car and Truck of the Year offers a new venue to recognize the best, from fresh voices. Autoblog is excited to participate in this new venture, surrounded by our esteemed colleagues from other online outlets. The awards will be presented at an as-yet-unannounced auto show in November, and there will be regular updates at InternetCarandTruckoftheYear.com in the meantime. More information in the press release after the jump.
PRESS RELEASE
AT LONG LAST, THE INTERNET HAS ITS OWN CAR AND TRUCK OF THE YEAR AWARDS
NEW YORK, NY – The time has come for the Internet to have its own car and truck of the year jury. That's why 12 of the leading Internet's automotive journalists have been selected to vote on these awards that will be presented in November at a major auto show to be announced at a later date.
The following Internet journalists are on the jury:
Aaron Gold - About.com
Dan Roth - Autoblog
Jonny Lieberman - Autofiends
Valerie Menard - LatinosOn Wheels.com
Frank Washington - AboutThat Car.com
Lauren Fix - Carzen.com
Alex Nunez - ConsumerSearch.com
Joe LaMuraglia - Gaywheels
Zack Bowman - Drivers Side
Mark Arnold - Fast Lane Daily/Garage 419
John Paul - Boston.com
Chris Sawyer - OpenRoad Podcast.Com
The interesting twist on this award – something no other jury does – is the consumers will have a vote at the same time as the professional jurors. This will be the only major site on the Internet where consumers will vote on their car and truck of the year without being unduly influenced by manufacturer advertising.
Consumer voting will take place at www.InternetCarandTruckoftheYear.com. The website will have continuous updates on cars and trucks eligible for consideration. There will also be a blog and forum where consumers can share their opinions about the potential choices.
INTERNET CAR AND TRUCK OF THE YEAR
Another exciting aspect of the Internet Car and Truck of the Year is the Internet Automotive Journalism Contest. Writers and bloggers will be invited to submit their best automotive Internet pieces from August 1, 2008 to August 1, 2009. Internet automotive writers will be awarded in the following categories:
• Best Feature written solely for the Internet
• Best Automotive Review written solely for the Internet
• Best Single Blog Entry
• Best Series of Blog Entries.
Prizes will be awarded based on the level of sponsorship participation. All winners will have their work either presented or linked to on www.InternetCarandTruckoftheYear.com (depending on original publication guidelines).
Categories subject to change as the contest approaches.
The emerging dominance of the Internet has created a major opportunity for further recognition of "best of the best." The founding of Internet Car and Truck of the Year LLC fills a void in this important medium. It will be creating four major awards that, because of their nature, will gain instant credibility and prestige: Internet Car of the Year, Internet Truck of the Year, Consumer Choice Internet Vehicle of the Year and the Internet Automotive Journalist of the Year.
The Internet Car of the Year was created by Keith Griffin, the guide to used cars for About.com, as well as a print automotive journalist and vice president of the New England Motor Press Association. Marketing for the awards is being handled by Al Vinikour of Vinikour Communications in Trenton, Michigan.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Avinash machado 9:38AM (4/10/2009)
Alex Nunez - ConsumerSearch.com
Is Alex no longer with Autoblog?
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Alex Nunez 10:28AM (4/10/2009)
Avinash,
I'm still around, but I'm a part-time presence at this point. I contribute what I can, when I can, but you'll mostly find me lurking behind the scenes on the weekends.
Avinash machado 10:37AM (4/10/2009)
Thanks for the reply Alex.Glad to know you are still around.
Erik 9:45AM (4/10/2009)
Just what we need! Another COTY/TOTY!
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Keith Griffin 9:46AM (4/10/2009)
But, as the organizer of this, I would argue we do need another one. All of the other juries are dominated by print. The Internet has the better writers. We do need this!
TigerMil 9:49AM (4/10/2009)
ROFLMAO! www.InternetCarandTruckoftheYear.com has already crashed.
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Keith Griffin 9:54AM (4/10/2009)
Leave off the www. It's a glitch that is being fixed.
Kitko 10:08AM (4/10/2009)
A thought for editors.
This enterprise looks like an AMERICAN internet car of the year award. Internet, however, is exactly what it says on a tin - WORLD WIDE web.
Following below are main reasons why the new award cannot sport the word "Internet" in its title since it, thanks to the US territoriality, doesn't represent global market, technology and economic realities.
1. the US car industry on its way to play the third violin in the automotive world behind Japan and Europe (read Germany) and Korea lurking not far behind
2. US car manufacturers have been leaning towards relying on its European and Asian operations to supply cars that could compete with leaders in what emerges to be new key market segment of small and midsize cars and their variations. (GM - Daewoo, Suzuki, Opel), Ford - Fiesta, Euro Focus, Chrysler (partnership with Nissan and alliance with Fiat).
3. Asian offerings on the US market do not reflect their global presence, take the substantial difference between US and EU Civic and Accord (EU Accord is sold as Accura in the US). US brands' presence outside North America is by no means substantial enough to be branded under "worldwide" moniker, nor does it have a global influence in terms of model proliferation.
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Shawn 10:24AM (4/10/2009)
Well, since everyone's giving out the "...of the year" awards, and frankly some blog readers seem to be more knowledgebale than the bloggers themselves, I propose that the readers of automotive blogs have a Readers of the Internet Automotive Blogs Car of the Year (ROTIABCOTY) award. Of course we don't want to offend those outside of North America, there should also be the Readers of the Internet Automotive Blogs Car of the Year for Cars not Available in North America (ROTIABCOTYFCNAINA).
We'll get Sinbad to host the award show...
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Keith Griffin 10:32AM (4/10/2009)
All kidding aside (and your post had me laughing, maybe even ROFL) we will have the Consumer vote as part of this (i.e. the more knowledgeable blog readers) and they'll be welcome from anywhere around the World Wide Web. Until I can brush up on my college German and learn French, we're going to have to be xenophobic and stick with American jurors!
OK, and the Sinbad idea, definitely ROFLMAO.
Sam 10:32AM (4/10/2009)
Uh....someone needs to do a Google search before creating an award that, um, already exists. It's called the Internet Auto Award and has been given out for the past few years. Oops!
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Keith Griffin 10:35AM (4/10/2009)
I hope Dan Roth gets paid extra for all these comments.
The award you reference is strictly European and strictly consumer. Internet Car and Truck of the Year combines Internet automotive experts and consumers and is American (for the time being).
Thanks,
Keith
Josh E. Oliver 11:40AM (4/10/2009)
No David Thomas?!? WTF.
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Keith Griffin 12:15PM (4/10/2009)
Josh -
A lot of the jurors were brought to my attention by other jurors. I'm not familiar with David Thomas. Let me know who he works for.
Thanks,
Keith Griffin
Josh E. Oliver 12:20PM (4/10/2009)
David Thomas is the former Editor At Large of AutoBlog.com He now runs the Blog for cars.com
Keith Griffin 3:35PM (4/10/2009)
Thanks for the info on David Thomas. I thought I'd been reading AutoBlog for a long time, but apparently not long enough!
Keith
rljones 12:02PM (4/10/2009)
Chris Sawyer - OpenRoad Podcast.Com
An actual name?? WOW. Thought it would only say Mr. Black or Mr. Blonde or Mr. White.
from their website:
Because they have day jobs, the three will remain Mr. Black, Mr. White, and Mr. Blonde for a long time to come.
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Jason parry 12:47PM (4/10/2009)
that is the fugliest logo of all time... please call me so i can make a better logo and site for you guys. I know you do this in your spare time but c'mon
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sjc 12:52PM (4/10/2009)
Best web awards: GCBC's Good 12, Good Supersize, Bad 8, and Bad 8 Supersize. It'll be nice to have something that, though not crossing media platforms, crosses media outlets.
http://www.goodcarbadcar.blogspot.com/search/label/GCBC%20Awards
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EEL 1:59PM (4/10/2009)
...nice to see that no d-bags from autospies were invited
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