The video...

...can be seen here.

I would embed it, but I can't work out how.

Of course it's not the taking part...

...winning's all that matters. And here are those that matter from the other night.

Best result in the face of adversity - winner: Hugh MacLeod/Stormhoek/Microsoft
Come on, how much adversity do you want? A year-old cartoon...a bottle of South African plonk...stick one on the other and that's a story? Are you kidding? Oh, and not only that, but if you're anyone other than a Microsoft employee, you won't be able to get hold of a bottle. Still, it was good enough for the Financial Times to run half a page about it. I ask you.

Most valuable piece of coverage - winner: Omnifone for the launch of MusicStation
Rob Lewis - quondam co-founder of Silicon.com - and his chums chose to stay under the radar for four years. Then, on the eve of 3GSM, they unleashed a massive payload of coverage. The full story can be seen on Fullrun.

Fair cop award for the biggest fuck up - winner: Google...
...for its incredible exploding European Press Day in June. Eric Schmidt and the co-founders of You Tube flew in to speak. Then the air conditioning failed, the wi-fi stopped working and water starting leaking through the ceiling. To cap off a lovely day, Google pissed off the German hacks in attendance by giving them nothing to write up. Specifically, the company said that it would launch local language versions of You Tube in France, Spain, Holland and Poland -- but not Germany. That is bad.

Hack nominated tech PR agency of the year - winner: Sonus PR...
...not least for its beautifully orchestrated lobbying of tech hacks which resulted in loads of nominations from journos…all uncannily similar in their wording. Respect

Freelancer of the year - winner: Nikki Alvey
Described by one client as a 'PR terrier' Nikki was urged by our compere Paul Wooding 'not to piss up the lectern...'

Staff hack of the year - winner: Phil Muncaster, IT Week
Described by one voter as: “Probably the best journalist to have to call in the world. He’s always friendly and always honest, but politely so. If you want an opinion about a campaign before you embark upon it, he’ll give you his honest answer. Most of all, he’s up for beers – and not only at the expense of the client or agency. Top bloke.” Phil also won an impromptu award on the night for best haircut.

Freelance hack of the year - winner: Dan Ilett
“Friendly, approachable, willing to give advice - happy to work with you to build a story. Yet equally, still objective and insistent on 'proper' stories.” Enough said.

World's least communicative hack - winner: Jason Stamper, CBR
We're still waiting for confirmation that he actually exists. Jason, if you're reading this, we have a very cheap trophy waiting for you...

Consumer tech publication of the year - winner: Stuff
Couldn't be there to accept the award so sent a text: "sz cnt b there 2nite. Thx 4 award." Nice.

Business tech publication of the year - winner: ZDNet.co.uk
Also won the best acceptance speech award: "Thanks for this...and thanks to The Register and ITPro for being a bit shit."

The keen-eyed among you will have noticed that there weren't awards in the "Hack nominated tech PR person of the year" or the "Loveliest client of the year" categories. This is because we received absolutely no nominations in either. What a wonderfully positive world in which we all work...hacks hate PRs; PRs hate their clients.

The Flackenhacks: About the night before last. . .

OK. Now at least one hoity-toity sort has expressed concern that no one has blogged much about The Flackenhacks.

Melanie at Fake Plastic Noodle -- which deals among other things with "avant-garde PR" -- means that "either A) They were boring or B) Everyone drank so much they forgot what happened".

Avant-garde PR? I wouldn't know it if it hit me in the face.

As for yesterday, I took the day off. Well, mostly. Making up for lost time, here's my stuff:

Stephen Davies of WebITPR has kindly posted some pix here:

Among other things:

• Our spies tell us that the large contingent from Midnight narrowly avoided a ruck with a bunch of "gobby" lads on the train back home to Brighton. The boys had a lucky escape, we reckon.

• Acceptance speech of the night came from the otherwise mild-mannered Matt Loney, editorial director of ZDNet. Taking the gong for B2B site of the year after trouncing The Register and IT Week, Loney thanked his shortlisted rivals for "being so shit".

• We spied two Next Fifteen MDs -- Nick Giles of Text 100 and Grant Currie of Inferno -- bitching about cost pressures. Of course, this is what MDs do over beers. But it would appear that Microsoft's recent decision to cut 20% off its UK PR budget has left the bean counters at Next Fifteen jittery about the costs of Text's impending office relocation. . . Next stop IKEA, Nick. . .

• What goes on tour: Who was the agency fromage who slagged off a particular account manager in front of the cameras on the night? If Fullrun was TWL, we'd tell you. But we're not, so we won't. Anyhow, the boss in question did email us this morning sounding a bit concerned that we'd release this bit of video on to YouTube. . .

• Lost minds, lost property: Sonus did an Amy Winehouse and had their trophy mislaid, nicked, whatever. We're ordering a new one for them. They seem very keen. Which is nice.
  

• One half of TWL managed to mislay a laptop while stumbling around Mayfair trying to locate Daryl Willcox's private members' club in the wee hours. . .

• The Mystery Of The Porn Tree: OK, here's how it goes. On the night, Nicky Alvey, the freelancer, mentioned it to Andrew Smith of Object Marketing. Apparently, it will mean something to anyone who worked at Brodeur in the 1990s. . . We really need to know more about this, so c'mon guys, don't be shy.
  

• Kevin Withnall of Vanson Bourne has no recollection of spilling a glass of wine all over Giles Fraser of Brands2Life. And Tim Hoang of Rainier PR has no recollection of knocking a glass of champagne over Chris Long from the BBC. Which is a pity. Because Long apparently turned round and agreed to run the story they'd been discussing. . . In the words of Andrew Smith: "Barely 8pm and already people falling over -- marvelous!"

• Talking of which, the liveblogging didn’t work very well. The keyboards at the Audi Forum were weird demented German metallic things. Built for looking at, obviously. Which seems to have irritated Fiona Blamey of Prompt Communications a bit. . . Sorry Fiona: we'll get our act together next time round.
  

• We met up with Simon Corbett, late of Edelman and now running the UK branch of Blanc & Otus. Fresh-faced Corbett has a secret history as a dot.com entrepreneur. Sounds like it'll come in handy at Blanc & Otus. . . Someone else -- not Simon, obviously -- suggested that the outgoing Blanc & Otus MD Simon Glazer has been exiled to the PR equivalent of the Aleutian Islands. Ah yes; we think we should be told. . .

• The smokers' huddle outside in Piccadilly was a nightmare. You'd go out there, have a smoke, get ready to go in, only to be pinned up against the wall by a new arrival. The fetching Alexandra Pullen of Text 100 seemed to spend the entire night outside. . .

• . . . As did the wonderful Jessica Twentyman, who was not best pleased that Dan Ilett walked away with freelancer of the year. Putting on her best Judy Garland-on-medication voice, Twentyman was last heard bellowing "I own this town" down the full length of Piccadilly. . . Note to TWL: This was what stopped the traffic, not the big pink cock.

• Sir Big Wadd of Rainier reckons it was like the "Restaurant at the End of the Universe, where everyone gets reunited after a long absence". That's good, we think.

• Hotwire? Is it being sold? Who knows? Alexis Dalrymple of that parish wins our award for bullshitter of the night for his performance on this score. Whenever anyone asked him what was going on, Dalrymple raised his voice to 90Db, flapped his arms in wide circles and talked a load of bollocks. Superb.

• Someone emailed us today saying how taken they'd been with Jennifer Walker of Porter Novelli. Marriage was suggested. Not that we're an advocate of arranged unions or anything like that, but Jennifer, if you're interested, drop us a line. We'll put you in touch with the smitten lad. He's a good 'un.

• Moral guardian of the night: Nick Booth holding a bottle of Becks in one hand and a glass of red wine in the other, urgently telling me to quieten down the audience during the ceremony. At least, that seemed to be what he was saying. . .

• Mike Magee -- recently returned from a two-month sabbatical -- left early, excusing himself with the line that his wife had to be up early in the morning. Said Magee: "She works for the NHS, you know." Nice one, Mike. Tell us, though: exactly how much did you make from flogging The Inquirer to VNU?

• Big thanks to. . . our impeccable (and well-dressed) front-of-housers from Spark and Midnight: you were fantstically well-organised. Thanks also to TWL, DJ John Ozimek (from Liberty Communications) and compere Paul Wooding (of Weber Shandwick). We couldn't have done it without you.

• Thanks, too, to our sponsors, whose proud logos are lined up alongside this post. We hope it worked well for you. . .

• I've got a stack of people to call and enough breakfast, lunch and dinner invites to last six months . . . Meanwhile, everyone's assuming we'll do it again next year. Looks like we've got four sponsors lined up already. We still haven't got a clue about the size of this year's booze bill, though. . .

Brands2Life joins the party. . .

Breakfast at Chez Gerard in Victoria can be a bit hit-and-miss. But our Full English there with Giles Fraser the other morning brought forth another offer of financial support for The Flackenhacks.

Brands2Life has joined Edelman, Golin Harris and O Marketing as a Flackenhacks supporter. In crude terms, they're putting the equivalent behind the bar of their top per-hour consultancy rate. Not a shabby amount, I can tell you.

Thanks to Giles, Sarah and the folk at Brands2Life. See you on the night!

The shortlists...

OK, here's the moment that some of you might have been waiting for. Or not. It kind of depends on the category. Anyway, here are the shortlists for The Flackenhack Awards 2007. There are a couple of categories missing...we have our reasons. Further explanation on the big night itself.

If you've been nominated and, as yet, haven't arranged to attend the event, drop us a line at theworldsleading@yahoo.co.uk and we'll sort you out.

Best Result In The Face of Adversity
BT: For extremely shrewd handling of the emerging debate on network neutrality and broadband capacity limits
Edelman: For its successful launch of the dot.mobi domain on the day the FT ran a front page story with the headline: “Arrival of 'dotmobi' domain raises concerns’ and which in just over 400 words slated the company
Hugh MacLeod/Microsoft/Stormhoek: For sticking a year-old cartoon on a bottle of South African plonk that you can’t even buy and persuading the FT to devote half a sodding page of editorial to it

Most Valuable Piece Of Coverage
Omnifone: For the pre-3GSM launch of MusicStation
Context PR: For the three and a half minutes of work (backed by 15 years of experience, obviously) that he put in to arranging an interview between his client, SurfControl, and a Reuters hack, which resulted in more than 30 pieces of top quality coverage across the globe
Donald MacDonald: For the British-born Intel marketer's interview with hometown newspaper The Swindon Advertiser, which took place as his company planned huge job cuts in October 2006

The Fair Cop Award For Biggest Fuck Up
Brando: For its meaning of Easter cock-up for Somerfield
Google: For its incredible exploding European Press Day in June

The Hack Award For Tech PR Agency Of The Year
Edelman
Sonus
Midnight

The Flack Award For Staff Hack Of The Year
Phil Muncaster, IT Week
Rik Turner, Computerwire
Chris Green, IT Pro

The Flack Award For Freelance Hack Of The Year
Danny Bradbury
Ken Young
Dan Ilett
Miya Knights

Consumer Tech Publication Of The Year
Tech Digest
Guardian Technology
Stuff

Business Tech Publication Of The Year
The Register
ZDNet.co.uk
IT Week

Lastminute tickets: Get 'em here. . .

Need to pick a last minute ticket for The Flackenhacks?

Here is where to do it.

Vanson Bourne joins Flackenhack Supporters Club

Our thanks to Kevin and Graham at Vanson Bourne, who have become Flackenhack Sponsor no.7.

Your help is really appreciated, guys. We promise you a party (and an audience) to remember. . .

BackAHack @ The Flackenhacks

Ever been too shy to ask someone out?

No, we didn’t think so. You work in PR, after all. Asking people out is what we do.

But perhaps you're feeling, um, a bit spotty. Somehow, you've mislaid that last 10% of habitual self-confidence.. .

The client is spanking you for mentions of Wodgetworks point release v.1.0.1. But all you've got to work with is crap.

Folks, we've got the answer: Back-A-Hack at The Flackenhacks.

It works like this:

Step 1: You invite the hack of your choice to The Flackenhacks.

Step 2: They say: "Why yes, I'd love to come."

Step 3: You buy their ticket.

Step 3: We give you a bit of a touch on their tickets. Like this:

-- 10% off the RRP of £65.00 for one or two Backed Hacks.
-- 20% off for four or more Backed Hacks.

Step 4: And then we let the world know who you've invited so that we don’t all start falling over one another to irritate Peter Whitehead.

Back-A-Hack is a good idea, and here's why:

1) Let's share, baby. If every agency invites one hack, we'll have dozens of them at the event. There will be more to go around for everyone. (Hmm, the dating analogy starts getting decidedly dodgy at this point).

2) It should enable you to tell your boss that you're going to The Flackenhacks -- but reluctantly. As it happens, you're going for work purposes. The next step in this particular line of reasoning is to argue that the cost of 20 Flackenhacks tickets should be run through the training budget. . . Nice one.

In the end, we're intent upon throwing a good party. We think hacks should be part of it -- but we've only got so many free invites to give 'em…

Interested in Backing A Hack at The Flackenhacks? If so, drop us a line. . .

A few things: Taffeta ballgowns, seating etc

A couple of people have asked about The Flackenhacks dress code.

There isn't one.

As TWL puts it: "Come as you might for a night down the pub. Or for a party. Or straight from work. A dinner suit would probably be over doing things and fancy dress might stand out a bit."

And another thing.

A couple of people have asked whether they can get a table near the front.

We're not doing tables -- at least in the sit-down-for-a-lump-of-rubber-poultry sense of the word.

There will be plenty of spots where you can lounge about, sit down and generally hang out.

But the accent is on moving around, having a chat, catching up with old friends. And maybe making some new ones, too. In other words: informal. . .

New sponsors!: Spannerworks & O Marketing

Welcome to The Flackenhacks' latest sponsor, Spannerworks.

Thanks to Antony Mayfield, head of content & media at the Brighton-based digital agency (whom some of you will recall from Harvard) for his support. See you on the night, Antony. . .

Thanks too, to the indomitable Rose Ross of O Marketing, who has stepped up to the plate as a supporter with Edelman and Golin Harris.

What's a supporter? It's kind of like a sponsor. But your logo is smaller. . .

Porter Novelli Goes Mpeg. . .

Porter Novelli, one of our sponsors, has suggested sending in a crew to capture The Flackenhacks for posterity.

We were initially hoping that they'd be able to hand out snapshots. . . rather like the pictures of your good self experiencing 4.5 G-Force on the Nemesis Inferno ride at Thorpe Park. . .

But it seems these guys are far more high-falutin than that. They're proposing moving pictures. folks. Anyway, we're up for it. But we need to sort out the details.

Got ideas for rude questions? Feeling inspired in 2D kinda way? Then send us your suggestions for disruptive cross-examination of the massed guest list.

Perhaps we can point them in the direction of agency bosses with awkward news to conceal. . .

Our Tech Blogger Face-Off

Next topic of gentle conversation is our Tech Blogger Face-Off.

We'll be inviting along a bunch of the world's leading tech PR bloggers to write up the awards in real time. . . at least during the early bits.

Or until they fall off their perches. Whichever comes soonest.

You're welcome to drop into The Flackenhacks' Demilitarized Zone and pick a fight with them. Or, as we suggest below, why not try stroking their multi-coloured fur?

(Demilitarized Zone? Yes, it's our version of the dreaded Ch*** O** place that often attracts old folks in clubland.)

Stephen Davies of WebITPR, Fiona Blamey of Prompt PR and Andrew Smith of Object Marketing have agreed to take up the cudgels.

And there will be more. Our hit list contains Benvie, Bruce, Collister -- and a few more besides.

If you want to come along and blog, you don't need to be an A-lister. You just need a blog. Do us a favour, though, and drop us a line in advance. . .

. . . oh, and don't forget to prime your mobile with Flickr log-in details. By doing so, you can upload plenty of embarassing pix while your head is in the clouds. Or thereabouts.

Flackenhacks: The Running Order

So guys. . . here's an update on ticket sales.

One hundred and forty tickets sold thus far. And counting.

So we're on track for a glorious night. . .

Here's our timetable for the evening. We've got a few more things up our collective sleeve depending on how ticket sales pan out during the remaining three weeks until the event.

So this is approximate, but confirmed:

7.30: Doors open
-- Discreet Prosecco-guzzling and lounge sounds.

8.00 Tech PR Blogger Face-Off: Open For Business
-- Watch (and taunt) the community's A-list bloggers as they file live from the party.
-- Stroke their multi-coloured fur in our Blogger Chill Out Zone.
-- Wanna blog from the Flackenhacks? Just join the queue before drink takes over. *

8.15: The Flackenhack Awards 2007
-- Presented by your compere Paul Wooding of Weber Shandwick, esteemed understudy to Bernard Manning Esq., late of Manchester's Harpurhey quarter. With some very special guests . . .
-- Security Alert Status: In Dulux terms, Amber Forest 4.

10.00 Hang The DJ
-- John Ozimek of Chomp (and late of the Ministry of Sound) takes his turn on the wheel of fortune. Apparently, his noise levels will be acceptable. But can he induce an audience of exhausted and drunken screen zombies to dance? We think yes.

10.07 Tech PR Blogger Face-Off: Closed For Business
-- Last A-list blogger falls off perch. Guaranteed.
-- Personal Security Alert Status: Flaming Orange. Carriage of gels prohibited.

11.30 Er, Carriages
-- What this means is taxis for the bosses. And, yeah, the last tube for those of you who have had enough.

12.00 The World's Leading Guide To High-Class Clubbing
-- Can you identify the (necessarily) Masked Avengers and join them on a "louche" tour of London's finest nite spots? The password, in case you need it, is: "Rupert Goodwins".
-- Personal Security Alert Status: Multicoloured and pulsating rapidly. Proceed with caution.

* No, you won't need all of that temperamental wi-fi malarky. We've got four PCs with fast connections on the premises. All you need to do is get the A-listers to move their butts.

Latest news...tickets, sponsors, venue, wheels of steel...

It's been a bit quiet here at Flackenhacks central. Well, on the blog at least. We've been a busy as anything getting stuff organised. So, here's the latest news in the briefest of forms:

• Tickets are on sale! You can buy them online here. Get in quick though; numbers are limited and we'd hate you to be disappointed...
• We have a date. It's October 23rd, 2007.
• We have a venue. It's the Audi Forum opposite the Ritz on Piccadilly (don't worry...it won't have cars in it). It's a little more flash than we'd first wanted...in fact, we did find another venue first but the owner has subsequently decided to kock it down and build on the site. Vorsprung durch Technik.
• We have sponsors. The following companies have very kindly decided to sponsor the awards (logos and links to the right): AxiCom, CNET Networks UK, Indigo Red, Porter Novelli and The PR Network. However, we could do with a few more to make it a truly memorable evening, so do get in touch (we're particularly interested in any booze brands that might want to provide some product...): theflackenhacks@gmail.com
• We have a DJ. Keeping it in the PR family, it's John Ozimek, ex-AxiCom and now running his own show at Chomp. He used to do stuff down at the Ministry of Sound.
• You can still enter. We've extended the deadline for entries to Augsut 31st, so get them in. Categories here...it's easy!

Think that's about it for now.

The dirty dozen…categories

Here are the twelve categories for the Flackenhack Awards 2007 with a bit of explanation and (very simple) entry requirements. All entries on email please and they must be emailed no later than August 31st 2007 to theflackenhacks@gmail.com. Clearly entries need to relate to work carried out in the last year or so.

The cost per entry is: absolutely nothing! Late entries will be frowned upon (but probably included). Not too late though, eh?

Given we’re asking for nominations for some categories on email, the potential for vote-rigging is huge. Please don’t…though if you really can be bothered to set up a load of different email addresses then fair play to you.

Entries in other categories will be judged by our esteemed panel. We’ll announce the members of the judging panel very soon but suffice to say, it’s heavyweight.

Enough preambling, away we go:

1. Best result in the face of adversity
Got a fantastic result when your back was against the wall? Needed to sell a story to a national on the day of a general election? One shot to secure a top notch briefing for a visiting US executive who was also known as liking a drink and punchy in the face of aggressive questioning?

Give us a maximum of 300 words – and make them good - of how you (or someone in your team, modest folks as we know you are) pulled the cat out of the bag when it looked more like you’d be joining it, and you could pick up the coveted statuette. It’d be great if you could give us the contact details of someone else who could confirm the story (and your contact details too, obviously). If it makes us laugh then all the better…

2. Most valuable piece of coverage
Not all coverage is created equal…and by the same token, a splash in the FT doesn’t always have a valuable knock-on result. We’re looking for a single piece of coverage that you can build a case for as having enormous value. Maybe it was the piece that tipped the balance in a huge new contract for a client? Or one that your client’s CEO stuck on the wall which ensured your agency’s retention for another year? Or perhaps a piece that snowballed beyond all expectations?

What we’ll need is a scan or print of the coverage (audio/video files of broadcast would be cool, but don’t break your balls) and a maximum of 300 words stating the case for it being of such immense value it deserves the gong. We’ll need your contact details too, obviously.

3. Loveliest client
In celebration of those tortured beings that end up paying our salaries, we want you to nominate the client that does it right; that celebrates the successes, that gives credit where it’s due, that chases payment, that likes a beer…and that you’re happy to go out for one with (obviously we’re talking about an individual here, not a company).

A maximum of 300 words should do it. We’ll need your contact details but not, at this stage, the client’s.

4. "Fair cop guv'" biggest fuck up
Let’s be honest, we’ve all had that sinking, sick to the pit of my stomach feeling when it’s all gone arse about tit and there’s nowhere to hide; it was undeniably, irrefutably…not even a junior AE to point the finger at…our fault. The CEO’s waiting at the Hilton Park Lane; the journo’s hanging around at the Hilton Hyde Park… Half a second after pressing the send button the realisation dawns that you “replied all” rather than “forwarded” and now your suggestion of “skipping dinner and getting straight down beast with two backs before the girlfriend expects me home” is winging its way around numerous hack inboxes across the capital. You know the sort of thing.

Let’s celebrate the cock-ups! Yours or something you’ve seen. Give us 300 words and your contact details.

5. Hack nominated tech PR agency of the year
First category for the hacks to nominate: give us your tech PR agency of the year (or tech team in a bigger agency)? All we need is an email from a genuine journo email address with one agency name (and some reasons, if you like) and we’ll do the counting. We might also get in touch with a few of you ourselves.

6. Hack nominated PR person of the year
Like the above but for an individual in agency or in-house that represents the best of the best (or the least bad of the bad…whatever you like) in PR execution.

7. PR freeloader of the year
Sorry, did we say “freeloader”? Of course, we mean “freelancer”. This one can be nominated by anyone…agency people, in-housers or even hacks, but it’s for the best PR who has been operating in a freelance capacity, wherever that may have been.

8. Flack nominated tech hack of the year (staff)
Now it’s the turn of all you PRs out there to pick out one tech hack staff writer (B2B or consumer) as the worthy winner...and tells us why. One nomination per person, please.

9. Tech hack of the year (freelance)
It’s a lonely old life, so let’s give one of them a gong to polish. Again, this could be a B2B or consumer tech specialist, or someone who works between the two, and can be nominated by flacks, staff hacks and fellow freelancers alike.

10. Least communicative hack
Go on then, which is the hack that you’d rather email than pick up the phone to, though you know you’re never going to get a response? Who is it harder to get a positive reaction out of than to get a “nice work fella” out of Sir Alan Sugar? Silences on the phone that seem to drag on like a Chelsea v. Man U cup final? Give us the name (clearly we’re expecting nominations from flacks, mostly)...anecdotes welcome too.

11. Consumer tech publication of the year
This one’s for everyone…media and PRs alike. Only thing to note for the hacks is that you can’t vote for your own publication. Yes, yes, I know that makes it almost impossible… We’re not after the one that looks best on top of a pile of clippings, or the one that’s done you the most favours this year…we’re after the one you go to for solid, unbiased consumer tech news, views and reviews.

12. Business tech publication of the year
Exactly the same as the one above but for B2B tech insight. We’re not splitting nationals and trades; online or offline – it’s irrelevant these days – we just want to know who’s got the most biz tech credibility.

The easiest thing, I reckon, would be to cut ‘n’ paste the categories you want to enter or nominate into an email and fill ‘em out. Once again, send entries to theflackenhacks@gmail.com

Over to you.

Doing a lot of work for charity

Well, a bit at least.

Right from the start, it seemed sensible to involve a charity in The Flackenhacks. We've been to so many commercial awards events where conspicuous consumption was encouraged without much to balance it that it just felt like the right thing to do.

We've decided to give 10% of the money generated from ticket sales to the NCH's Byte Night.

Byte Night is a brilliant event for a fantastic charity and I encourage you to take part. Before you ask, yes, I've done it myself. You feel a bit rough the morning afterwards...then you realise that this is what thousands of kids do every night of every week of every year and, in a civilised society, that's crazy. It's a humbling experience and very, very worthwhile.

Ken Deeks, one of the founders of Byte Night, was kind enough to send us these words:

"I think these awards are an excellent idea. Like Byte Night, these awards unite the industry behind a common cause. In this instance to celebrate and reward best practise in technology PR, marketing and journalism; in ByteNight's case to raise money to help homeless children in the UK. I am therefore delighted that some of the money raised from the awards will go to Byte Night's charity NCH, the UK's biggest children's charity."

Welcome, welcome, welcome!

First posts on new blogs are always a bit tricky, aren't they? You must know that, surely, 'cause everyone in the whole wide world has got a blog nowadays. In fact, you should probably have more than one...one for the real you, and one for your Second Life avatar.

OK, so the Flackenhack Awards 2007. What's all that about?

The idea cropped up when Peter Kirwan - the man behind Fullrun - and the mysterious blogger known as ...The World's Leading... (or TWL to save on the typing) had a night on the beers and decided that what the UK technology PR and media industry needed more than anything else in the world was an awards ceremony.

It probably wasn't true, but through the haze of a few pints of Belchington's Old Peculiar it seemed like a bloody good idea. And even when Peter wrote some eloquent words for the Fullrun in a compeltely sober state, it still sounded like something that needed to be done:

"Unlike other awards, where heraldic trumpeters play a fanfare before dinner, the Fullrun-TWL event will take place in the real world. Our ticket prices will be defined in the real world, too. Accordingly,they'll cost far less than the £450-per-seat price point that results in so few PRs ever getting to see the inside of the Grosvenor House during October.

"Without wanting to sound precious, this is a big part of our motivation. High-priced awards ceremonies have the unfortunate effect of reinforcing elitism within agencies and in-house teams. As TWL asks: "How many hard-working AEs and AMs [working on a shortlisted campaign] have sat disappointed as agency heads have wandered around the office in their glad rags prior to jumping in a taxi bound for the Great Room?" Quite a few, we'd imagine.

"Here's something else we'd like to do: open out the event -- so that it becomes a community happening, rather than a creaky sectoral networking opportunity. In other words, journalists will be there. So will publishers, clients and agency folk. Needless to say, dinner jackets and cocktail dresses won’t be mandatory.

"TWL puts the case for a real-world awards event in its own distinctive style. We agree with pretty much every word of it. For good measure, here are a few more details on what's -- hopefully -- going to be involved:

* A judging team of journalists, assessing the work of PRs and marketers.
* A judging team of PRs and marketers, assessing the work of journalists.
* A portion of the ticket price to go to charity.
* Food (this depends on budget...), drink and live music. . .

"What more could you ask for? Not much, we hope."

Quite. You can read another rambling TWL post about the awards here, but it's probably not worth it. All it really says is, "TWL and Fullrun are gonna do some awards together" but in lots more words.

So that's it really. This is the place where all the latest news on the awards will be posted: how to enter, how to buy tickets, when and where it's happening...that sort of thing. If you want to get in touch you can email us at theflackenhacks@gmail.com (we're especially pleased to hear from potential sponsors...)

Stay tuned.