My TRAFFIC 2014 / Miami nominations

Being nominated is often more important than winning an award. I didn’t come up with this remarkable observation, Frank Schilling did – despite winning the Domainer of the Year award three times at TRAFFIC.

Nomination is an indication of appreciation, a floating pointer above one’s virtual head stating “they are worthy of noticing!”

Two days ago I urged anyone casting their nominations for TRAFFIC 2014 in Miami, to promote women equally to men. I explained the reasons behind this, and proceeded with nominating – in majority – a female group of professionals from the domain industry.

As the deadline for sending nominations has passed, I can now share openly who I nominated, and most importantly why.

• Developer of the year: Tia Wood.
  I don’t misconstrue the term “developer” and by being one, I must allocate it to a person that designs, processes, programs and codes content for web sites. Tia has been doing a remarkably efficient work as a developer and domainer over the years.
• Domain broker of the year: Amanda Lucas Waltz.
  Amanda is a great professional domain broker, and her involvement with Igloo has been phenomenal. There are many nice people in the industry and her interaction with clients – sellers and buyers – is the paradigm others should ascribe to.
• Domainer of the year: Ilze Kaulins.
  Ilze spends her time between Canada and the US and she’s done some remarkable business in the dot .CA ccTLD, that even .com owners would be envious about. She has been promoting domaining in a male-dominated industry without allowing her ego to take over. If there’s a female version of Frank Schilling, that’s Ilze.
• Best Domain blog: Tia Wood.
  Tia’s ramblings are about efficient designs, domain marketing tips and the occasional personal reference, which makes her perfect for the award. If substance counts, that’s what one will find at her blog, TiaWood.com.
• Most promising new gTLD: Dot .Link.
  The keyword here is “promising”, and I base my nomination on the generic nature of the gTLD that actually makes sense. Since my first interaction with the commercial Internet 20 years ago, “link” and “links” are what we type and visit, as the shortest, cleanest reference to domains, web sites, URLs and other such esoteric terms.
• Best marketing by a new gTLD: Dot .CLUB.
  By nominating dot .CLUB I placed emphasis on positive, unadulterated marketing that promotes a product without any artificial hype or freebiethons. One has to disconnect the gTLD from the marketing side when voting, and I believe dot .CLUB has strong potential for the markets it targets.
• Sponsor of the year: Domaining.com
  Francois Carrillo has been the quiet champion for more than 5 years, promoting every aspect of the domain industry; sometimes in rather creative or even quirky ways. He’s a smart individual that deserves this award 100%.
• Best overall domain solution: Domain Name Sales.
  Combining a great PPC monetization platform with an outstanding selling venue for domains, I can’t see who else would deserve this award. Competition can prove me wrong by making something better; after all, that’s the whole idea, to improve an industry by striving for the best.
• Bandit Berkens Goodwill ambassador: Jodi Chamberlain.
  As an event organizer and person, Jodi has been not only hard working but also selfless, truly caring about a client’s satisfaction. She’s done humanitarian work and even sacrificed her looks by shaving her head for the good cause of the Water School. That’s bigger than showering oneself with ice cubes, in my book.
• Domain hall of Fame: Andee Hill.
  Andee’s involvement with the domain industry spans at least a decade with Escrow.com and now with EscrowHill.com as her personal venture takes off. She’s actively involved with the Internet Commerce Association (ICA) as a quiet contributor of time and effort for the improvement of the domain industry.

So there you have it: 60% of my nominations were for females worthy of being noticed, by acknowledging what they have done and contributed to the domain industry. Hopefully, more women will get appreciated for their work in domaining, as with every other industry.

Best of luck to the nominees, you have already won.