BIMA Awards, why we’ve changed

When I was asked to Chair this year’s Awards I was thrilled. But, I decided if I’m going to be involved, I want to change things…. I thought long and hard about what I wanted to bring to BIMA 2008, and concluded my thoughts with one clear aspiration. “I want to make the awards relevant, aspirational, and fun for the whole community who create interactive experiences. Everyone from the junior, to the developer, to the account handler…and not forgetting recognition and reward for valued contributions from the clients.”

So that’s what we have done this year.

Relevance

This year the awards are going to ambitiously serve the interactive design & development community with the detail of recognition they desire. 2008 sees the a reduction in the top level to 9 categories; B2B, B2C, Website , Games, Integrated Campaign, Social Media , Film & Animation, & Talent.

The top-level categories then have subcategories, into which you submit your abundant talents. The new sub - categories allow the detail, the technology and whatever nuances that play a part within the overall experience to be recognised and revered.

There are so many facets, assets and attributes required in this era of interactivity to = make a truly great experience that are largely unrecognised as a piece of art in their own right. BIMA 2008 will recognise those nuances as well as emerging disciplines in the best ever breakdown of categories and awards.

Within each top-level category we have also introduced a new feature, the wondrous wildcard called ” The Little Bit of Wickedness Award”. We want to see the devil in the detail. You know when there is a piece of work that is just truly mouth watering but you just don’t know why…It’s just perfect. Well, enter it in this category.

It could be the logo of an online game, a sound effect, or an incredible flash component that you developed. It could even be a whole site.

All of this attention to detail, access to specialised areas and talents to enter, are relevant in our current industry. In 2008 we are acknowledging the breadth of what you / we do and recognising new and emerging disciplines.

Aspirational

Not every category will win an award. “Mmmmm”, I hear you say.

Why? Well, while we do our best to recognise great work, if there just isn’t anything great within a category then we can’t justify awarding a BIMA.

Basically, BIMA’s are not easy to get. They are to be loved and desired, and ultimately, you need to work hard to get one! But, having looked at the industry year and some of the folios out there, there is incredible work all worthy of a BIMA!

Fun

The devil is in the pixel. It’s one of the powers behind all of our careers. The necessary detail that we all work with. But it’s a detail that is overlooked and sometimes ignored.

That attention to detail is what this year’s awards are all about. We asked ourselves some questions? It’s not good enough, or fair enough to just have an award for the best website. How many combined talents, technologies, creatives and details go into making that one experience?

Some elements of a site raise the benchmark, while other areas of the same site could have been better.
Whereas the awards of old seemed to bundle all these individual assets, attributes, and important details together; this years awards will recognise them as individual components.

For example that wondrous sound effect on the button of a game that you cannot stop pressing, the incredible flash animation that heads up an otherwise dull site, a social blog that has revolutionised your life, and not forgetting that pioneering user interface that challenges all others. And let’s not overlook the abundant talent in the UK. And my, what enormous talent we have!

And why is all this fun? We are working in the most fun, fast paced, futuristic creative industry. So fun is in everything we potentially do. We need to have fun in awards and this year, the awards ceremony aims to be more relevant and aspirational…and also a massive excuse to have as much fun as possible!