The Internet Commerce Association (ICA) is seeking nominations from within the domain name investment community for the 2021 Lonnie Borck Memorial Award. The award, which is named in memory of Lonnie Borck, is given “to honor those whose contributions have fostered a sense of community within the domain name industry.” This will be the fifth year the Lonnie Borck Memorial Award has been given.
The winner of the 2020 Lonnie Borck Memorial Award was Ron Jackson, Publisher of DNJournal. Previous recipients of the award are John Berryhill, Kathy Kleiman, and David Weslow.
The award has always been given out at the annual NamesCon Global conference in January, and this year is no different. Because the conference will be held virtually this year, the award will also be presented during a special NamesCon session hosted by the ICA.
The nomination form will stay online until November 7th, and the nomination process is open to the entire domain name community. All are invited to nominate someone they believe is deserving of the award. As I recall, the ICA will announce all nominees (along with the supporting information about the nominee), and ICA members will vote to select the top three nominees. The ICA Board of Directors will then select the award winner.
Lonnie was a good friend to many in the domain name industry, and he continues to be missed and honored by his friends and family. In fact, Lonnie was known for calling his friends to wish them a “Good Shabbos” before Sundown on Friday afternoons, and several of us have a weekly text exchange to keep this tradition alive.
The awards ceremony is always one of my highlights from NamesCon. It’s nice to recognize the people who have made this industry into a community.