The Games Media Award nominations have been revealed this morning, sparking a certain amount of controversy within the industry.
The Games Media Awards is an annual event, the aim of which is to reward awesome games journalism, blogging and broadcasting with the UK sector.
Every year, via an open vote, several categories’ worth of nominees are selected.
This year, however, there seems to have been a little bit of controversy surrounding the nominees.
Games journalists on Twitter this morning have been debating the credibility of the awards, with many suggesting that the nominees represent just a tiny fragment of the amount of great games writing around.
Accusations of cliquiness abound, then, but there have also been those who suggested that smaller, less popular and lower-quality websites have somehow snuck their way into the mix ahead of established and excellent publications.
Meanwhile, Imagine Publishing – home of the likes of Retro Gamer and GamesTM – said the awards were a “quiet showing” for the company this year, even though they received multiple nominations.
And the ‘Best Blog’ category has been criticised both for its ambiguity – what defines a blog separately from a website, after all? – and for containing a publication whose most recent update, a post encouraging people to vote for it in the GMAs, was dated June 2011.
Some have noticed a “bitterness” on Twitter surrounding the awards. And it’s been suggested that this should be channelled into making some discernible changes, rather than simply ranting about the nominees.
“Honestly, I’m argumentative because I care about the promulgation of good writing and I’m not seeing it,” said long-time journalist Dan Griliopoulos.
However, Svend Joscelyne of Spong.com was more positive.
“Maybe I have an awesome Twitter feed, but I’ve not been seeing many tantrums over GMA nominations,” he commented.
“Let’s not get defensive everyone. At the end of the day, GMAs does represent a wealth of great games writing talent. Let’s celebrate that!”
The Games Media Awards will take place in London on October 26th.
The full list of nominees is as follows:
Games magazine
- Edge
- GamesTM
- NGamer
- Official Xbox Magazine
- Official PlayStation Magazine
- Retro Gamer
Games website
- GameSpot
- Videogamer
- Gaming Union
- Eurogamer
- The Sixth Axis
- God is a Geek
- IGN
- CVG
Specialist writer print
- Matthew Castle – NGamer
- Chris Scullion – Official Nintendo Magazine
- Steve Hogarty – Official Nintendo Magazine
- Jon Blyth – Official Xbox Magazine
- Christian Donlan – Freelance
Specialist writer online
- Jane Douglas – GameSpot UK
- Mark Walton – GameSpot UK
- Keza McDonald – IGN
- Gillen McAllister – Game Reactor
- Gwynne Dixon – Total Video Games
- Wesley Yin-Poole – Eurogamer
Coverage in a national newspaper
- The Guardian
- The Observer
- The Telegraph
- The Sun
- The Star
Coverage in a mainstream magazine
- BBC Focus Magazine
- Shortlist
- T3
- Nuts
- Wired
- Front
Regional games columnist
- Steve Wollaston – Sunday Mercury
- Dan Slingsby – Syndicated Regional
- Dave Cook – The Scotsman
- Ed Hill – Derby Telegraph
- Ian Crump – Southern Daily Echo
- Phil Harris – Craigmillar Chronicle
- James Harvey – Cardiff & South Wales Advertiser
Games broadcast/podcast
- Gamesweasel
- GameSpot UK Podcast
- Saturday Edition 5live
- Start/Select
- Gamewank
- SentUAmessage
- OneLifeLeft
Games blog
- London Calling
- XboxGameZone
- VG247
- Rock, Paper, Shotgun
- Ready Up
Rising star
- Johnny Chiodini – GameSpot UK
- Seb Ford – GameSpot UK
- Martin Gaston – Videogamer
- Andrien Gbinigie – XboxGameZone
- Jamin Smith – Videogamer
- Hollie Bennett – Destructoid
- Dan Webb – Xbox360Achievements.org
- Matt Lees – Official Xbox Magazine
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