AWA Professional Awards 2017 Category Selection

[Ileia]

I don't think that blind judging was accidental as a result of asking for no bumpers/identifying marks. That's what most contests ask and most contests are not blind.

Here's a thread from 2002 about the VHS tapes that went out. Absolute Destiny makes a comment about the blind and Quu asks people not to discuss the contest until after voting. http://www.animemusicvideos.org/forum/v ... 888#p45888 (Same year, Maboroshi saying that the names won't be announced until after the voting is finished http://www.animemusicvideos.org/forum/v ... 099#p66099 ) Here's Ashyukun in 2003 saying that Pro is supposed to be blind: http://www.animemusicvideos.org/forum/v ... 28#p268128

It seems like keeping it blind was very much intentional and a known part of the process.



For shits and giggles, here's a lil baby Vlad (Cretaceous period), talking about how cool it was to meet people at AWA http://www.animemusicvideos.org/forum/v ... 410#p79410

[jingoro]

I don't think that blind judging was accidental as a result of asking for no bumpers/identifying marks. That's what most contests ask and most contests are not blind.

Here's a thread from 2002 about the VHS tapes that went out. Absolute Destiny makes a comment about the blind and Quu asks people not to discuss the contest until after voting. http://www.animemusicvideos.org/forum/v ... 888#p45888 (Same year, Maboroshi saying that the names won't be announced until after the voting is finished http://www.animemusicvideos.org/forum/v ... 099#p66099 ) Here's Ashyukun in 2003 saying that Pro is supposed to be blind: http://www.animemusicvideos.org/forum/v ... 28#p268128

It seems like keeping it blind was very much intentional and a known part of the process.

Again, those were Matt years, and don't speak to how I came up with the idea for Pro. Mind you I only ran Pro for two years before Matt took over. (And Masters for one year.) Quu also had a lot of influence in how things were seen. When I came back, Quu told me people were discussing things here and I said, "Fine, it's a free country". He even told me debate was ramping up, and I'm pretty sure I repeated, "Free speech, nothing I can do." It's pretty clear he expected me to come down like a ton of bricks on things. He felt they were disrespecting the contest, I was delighted people were actually debating what should win for once. ::facepalm:: I didn't even look into the threads until a year or two later... had no idea this would become a problem back then.

[MaboroshiStudio]

I don't think that blind judging was accidental as a result of asking for no bumpers/identifying marks. That's what most contests ask and most contests are not blind.

Here's a thread from 2002 about the VHS tapes that went out. Absolute Destiny makes a comment about the blind and Quu asks people not to discuss the contest until after voting. http://www.animemusicvideos.org/forum/v ... 888#p45888 (Same year, Maboroshi saying that the names won't be announced until after the voting is finished http://www.animemusicvideos.org/forum/v ... 099#p66099 ) Here's Ashyukun in 2003 saying that Pro is supposed to be blind: http://www.animemusicvideos.org/forum/v ... 28#p268128

It seems like keeping it blind was very much intentional and a known part of the process.

Again, those were Matt years, and don't speak to how I came up with the idea for Pro. Mind you I only ran Pro for two years before Matt took over. (And Masters for one year.) Quu also had a lot of influence in how things were seen. When I came back, Quu told me people were discussing things here and I said, "Fine, it's a free country". He even told me debate was ramping up, and I'm pretty sure I repeated, "Free speech, nothing I can do." It's pretty clear he expected me to come down like a ton of bricks on things. He felt they were disrespecting the contest, I was delighted people were actually debating what should win for once. ::facepalm:: I didn't even look into the threads until a year or two later... had no idea this would become a problem back then.

I want to find the pre .org AWA threads now haha

[jingoro]

Thank you for clarifying your position on your event and hopefully people will see this and, whether they are happy with it or not, they'll hopefully understand. Blind judging is a nice idea but it's impossibly hard to enforce even in masters with 1 judge. When I first entered pro I was under the impression that it was a hard rule of being blind. Over the years it's been a debatable issue and hopefully it stops being one and the event can move forward.

This isn't my position on the event... it's a summary of how we got here. My position on the event is in flux. I hear the argument for strict blinds and I don't disagree. I hear the argument for beta testing and I don't disagree. I hear the argument for debate during and debate after, and I don't disagree.

My /position/ is I really don't think things are that broken. No, it's not what some people expected, and I'm sorry for that, but I don't think a radical re-tooling will fix what they're after, and I'd just have another crowd saying "this new thing isn't what we expect" and I'd be right back where I am. Better to be up front about how we got here, take a deep breath, and say "here's where we are, right now, today". Only then can we see where we can go, and decide which direction to set out in.

On your side note, blind judging isn't that hard in Masters, though apparently some of the consultations I've asked for have put others in the odd place of commenting on friends videos they were well aware of. Most of them were cagey enough (or me naive enough) not to tip anyone's hand. And when I consulted with Quu, he was damned sure aware of who made every video, but he was also the best technical critique ever. I /was/ fully aware of Pilk getting the orange apron, since that was a whim that happened after the final decision (I worked at Home Depot at the time, saw the tiny apron on someone's wall, and set about finding if they had any more).

[jingoro]

I want to find the pre .org AWA threads now haha

I'm not aware of any. Maybe on the ancient AWA-run boards of the distant past? They're all digital dust now.

[Shin-AMV]

Again, those were Matt years, and don't speak to how I came up with the idea for Pro. Mind you I only ran Pro for two years before Matt took over.

Ohhhhh now I see. I was a little confused with the history for a bit and it didn't click til this that you came up with pro, handed it off, and took over again later. I was under the impression that pro was just created by a different director/coordinator and its been handed off over the years and evolved with each new person in charge ran it a little differently. Can someone give a brief rundown of the years pro was started and who was coordinator for which years? The history is actually quite fascinating (I'm a nerd) but I only have like vague points in time of what was going on where. It seemed to be around in the late 90's when VCRs where the rage still (which is basically prehistoric to me) and that MCWagner was the coordinator at least sometime in the early to mid 2000s and that from about 2011 onwards is my own experience with the contest where Jingoro has been the coordinator. Also would be cool if the history of expo and masters where thrown in too, including the decision to make masters an every other year thing. Calling out all you dinosaurs to show off and reminisce of all the times gone by here and the whippersnappers won't be rolling their eyes while casually browsing facebook on their phones this time.

[jingoro]

Anime Weekend Atlanta started in 1995. I started with them, running what at the time was simply the AMV contest.

At AWA 4, the contest overflowed the 2 hour block allocated to it. We actually did this at 3 too, but not by much... 20 minutes or so. But others had "had enough" and pulled the plug on us at 4 and I had to run the best videos (since I save the best for last) in another 1 hour block that wasn't on the schedule, it sucked.

At AWA 5, we were in the largest main events ever (til then) and it was standing room only. I carefully kept things to two hours, if I recall correctly, but at the end, I asked the crowd something like "Wouldn't it be great to have a whole track just for AMVs" and they cheered.

At AWA 6, we were given our own room, and to usher in The Video Art Track, I created The Professional Awards as a new contest to be judged by those who entered. Submissions came with a blank tape, we picked a 2 hour limit (Because VHS and SP, I had the power to cut videos to fit on the tape but never had to.), and we collected votes. I don't really recall how we collected votes... anyone? It's just been too long.

At AWA 7 I announced I'd be "retiring" as director and handed things off to Matt.

Matt ran things for then next 7 years, then said he was retiring too. I offered to stay on as an adviser, but Quu convinced me not to. "If you're stepping down, and giving it to Matt, then step down and let Matt run it," I think he said.

When I came back for AWA 15, I ran things pretty much as I always had. Matt "stepped down and let me run it"... we didn't compare notes at all.

So there's your short history of things.

[jingoro]

The contest that is Expo hasn't changed at all since AWA 1. We get a bunch of people in a room, watch and discuss the videos, and decide who gets what. I would always allow "gongs", Matt never did. Matt also used judging forms that had a point value on them if I recall correctly. (I never participated during Matt years, but Quu asked me if he needed to print judging sheets the first year I took it back over and I asked "why would I need those" and he explained a bit of it to me.) I use a big whiteboard, and we write categories and videos on it (until this year... this year it was done on my notebook instead). The whiteboard is better though. And it was used only for Expo... it'd live in my closet, un-erased, until the next year. Erasing last year was how we opened up the judging!

Masters was started because Joe said he was too good and wouldn't enter Expo anymore. And that Expo was really just the "Jingoro's Favorite Video" contest anyway so what was the point. Masters was designed to be, quite literally, the "Jingoro's Favourite Video" contest. I ran it two years before Matt took it over. Hsien got a jacket for what to this day remains one of my favorite Masters' entries, and Joe got his own jacket making the irony complete. Matt eventually changed it to every two years to increase the quality of entries, and he once awarded two jackets because he's a wuss and couldn't make up his mind. I never thought Masters would actually stick around, and am so humbled the care and respect it has been treated with by y'all over the years. It is ALWAYS a difficult decision.

[Kireblue]

really good read

[Castor Troy]

Masters was started because Joe said he was too good and wouldn't enter Expo anymore.

Sounds just like Joe.

Was pro started to make sure Joe didn't get all the votes?