My TRAFFIC Awards Ballot

I’ve never done this before, but I want to share the 2014 TRAFFIC Awards ballot I plan to submit at some point this afternoon, with a bit of commentary. Most of these selections were difficult choices to make because there are many deserving people and companies in the domain space.

The nomination period is open today through this Friday, August 22nd at 6pm (Eastern). A person or company needs to receive at least 3 nominations to be listed on the final ballot. I believe you need to participate in the nomination period in order to cast a final ballot, so if you are the type of person who complains that the nominees are the same each year, you should make your own nominations.

I am sure I will think of someone else (or another company) later on who may be more deserving of recognition. When it comes to the final vote, I won’t reveal my selections because I might realize that I screwed up and omitted a better choice. Having more options rather than a blank slate tends to do that.

My 2014 TRAFFIC Awards Ballot:

DEVELOPER OF THE YEAR – Tia Wood – She is always quick to troubleshoot and fix issues I have. I don’t really use anyone else because I trust her and when she doesn’t have an answer for something right away, she finds it.

DOMAIN BROKER OF THE YEAR – Domain Guardians – They might not get much press or make the most headlines, but they are getting deals done on both sides of transactions.

DOMAINER OF THE YEAR – Richard Lau – Pulled off one of the largest domain industry events in a short period of time.

BEST DOMAIN BLOG – DomainNameWire.com – I can’t believe Andrew hasn’t won this award yet. That should change this year. He writes insightful articles, and he doesn’t shy away from controversial topics.

MOST PROMISING NEW gTLD – .NYC – I believe geographic new TLDs are going to be winners, and if the City supports .NYC, it is very promising (whatever that means).

BEST MARKETING BY A NEW gTLD – .Club – The registry has been traveling the world promoting .Club.

SPONSOR OF THE YEAR – Uniregistry – Have you seen this blog’s background lately? Their sponsorship is greatly appreciated.

BEST OVERALL DOMAIN SOLUTION – DomainNameSales.com – Love their lead management system that is integrated with my parked pages.

BANDIT BERKENS GOODWILL AMBASSADOR – Escrow.com – Brandon and team are philanthropic and they handle their clients with care and discretion.

DOMAIN HALL OF FAME – Garry Chernoff and John Berryhill – There are many excellent candidates for this award. Garry has amassed a fantastic domain portfolio, and John has successfully defended more domain names than just about anyone.