This entry was posted on
Wednesday, July 6th, 2005 at
10:33 am and is filed
under The Political Weblog Movement.

It was announced last night that no award would be granted in the Elected Representative category of the New Statesmen New Media Awards.

I’m angry, but also baffled… so I need to take the time to investigate a few things before going further.

One thing you might want to do in the meantime is take a look at the shortlist and see if you can work out just what the hell happened.

PS – Well done, theyworkforyou.com

UPDATE – Here’s the reason they gave: This award goes to the elected representative who best uses new media technology to communicate with the electorate. This award is open to councillors, MEPs, MPs, MSPs and members of the Welsh Assembly. For the first time in the history of the New Statesman New Media Awards, the judges have decided not to award a winner in this category. After much discussion and thought, they agreed that none of the shortlisted nominations deserved the accolade. Some of the elected representatives have made massive efforts in creating an interesting online presence. But it was recognised that they have done so with little official help, and mostly by being in a fortunate enough position to draw upon the technical and communication skills required. The result is a postcode lottery for citizens who wish to discover and communicate with their elected representatives online. There have been some efforts to redress this balance: ReadMyDay and Councillor.info are just two examples. But there is still more that needs to be done. The judges believe that elected representatives need more support, training and advice to help them use this media more effectively. In doing so there is a real opportunity for the UK to lead the way in communication between the representative and the represented.