We’ve also been rather busy behind the scenes sourcing a new venue for 2010 after seeking a change from the Hilton on Park Lane this year.

You may be surprised to hear that venues that are able to host 600+ people in a black tie setting in central London are actually very limited, we’ve contacted and seen them all over the past few weeks and after careful deliberation we’ve decided to head to none other than the Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane, Mayfair.

If you’ve ever been the The Great Room, which strangely was once an Ice Rink! You are instantly overwhelmed by it’s sheer size (Check this ‘day in the life’ video out) It’s apparently Europe’s largest Ballroom. This certainly gives us a home for the awards and room to grow but that fact does pose a challenge for us and the affiliate marketing community as a whole as we need to fill it!

We love a challenge and making things happen, so on June 9th next year we’ll be bringing together the crème of the industry for what we’re calling the most glamourous night on the affiliate marketing calenedar.

In addition to logistical planning we are busy re-jigging the categories and judging process and will be releasing more details shortly.

For instant updates we encourage you to subscribe to our Awards RSS Feed or follow us on Twitter @a4uawards

Make sure you save the date, and we very much hope to see you there!

Today we’ve been to choose the all important wine, champagne and 3 course dinner - 14 courses, half a dozen glasses of wine and a few champagne flutes later we finally got there with our choice, but must say struggled to get out of our seats!

It’s really exciting to see the venue again, meet up with the A/V company who will be putting the production together and see the event taking shape again.

Entries are 20% up this year, and the 12 or so Industry Judges which this year includes new vertical experts Kevin May the editor of Travolution, Ian Jindal from Internet Retailing and Michael Casselli editor of iGaming magazine. Other judges include Gareth Jones editor of Revolution Magazine and Industry veteran Shawn Collins with an International angle from Affiliate Summit.

All of the judges have some serious work to do next week to rattle the entries down to just one winner and highly commended entrant.

I must say from reading a few dozen already the quality has jumped significantly from last year, a great testament to the quality and progression the affiliate marketing industry is making.

On Monday the final round of voting for the Publishers and Community choice awards open - with all finalists under strict instructions to embargo any announcements until 10am - these special awards chosen by the affiliates themselves hold a special regard with many as they come direct from the roots of the affiliate sector.

It’s not too late to join the 400+ creme of the Affiliate Marketing Industry who will be attending the awards on the 2nd of June 2009 which will be hosted this year by award winning comedian Jason Manford.

Contact us for details on how to book a table or grovel to one of our sponsors for a ticket!

We hope to see you there.

Yes, it has been a year already!

As in previous years, we have a number of award categories, which will be nominated and voted for by the community at affiliates4u.com.

Affiliates4u Publisher members are invited to nominate for the below categories:
•    Publishers’ Choice of Affiliate Network
•    Publishers’ Choice of Account Manager (working at a network or agency)
•    Publishers’ Choice of Affiliate Manager (working for a merchant)

All members are invited to nominate for the below categories:
•    Affiliate Marketing Blog of 2009
•    Affiliate Management Agency of 2009

Nominations for the a4uAwards will close on the 24th April 2009.

To nominate - simply log on to affiliates4u.com, and click the award link at the top of the page.   This will take you to the nominations page, you will be asked to complete the form for the relevant awards and submit.

The tough part is choosing who you think deserves to collect an award this year!

A shortlist for each award will be announced in early May, at which time the final voting process will open.

All winners will be announced during the ceremony, taking place at the Hilton Park Lane on the 2nd June 2009.

Don’t forget, you also have a chance to walk away a winner by entering our judged award categories.  Submissions are now open, for further details please click here.

Good Luck Everyone!

It was a night to celebrate the best in Affiliate Marketing and reward those individuals and companies who have excelled in the sector over the past year.

It’s fair to say we had our doubters from unexpected corners, but my-gosh did we prove them wrong with an amazing, professional, action packed awards night which served as an equally rewarding high quality networking event for the near 400 attending - many of whom partied until the early hours of Friday morning with the Affiliate Window Aftershow party; aided by the Oxygen bar!

One of the stars of the night was our host Michael McIntyre (below), who really kept the audience on their toes. I’ve never been to an awards night where everyone listened and respected the host, categories and winners so intently, thanks to you all!

Last Thursday was the result of over 10 months of planning and I’d like to say a huge thank you to all the team here at Existem for helping to pull it off, especially Claire for managing the logistics and overall event management and Pete who spent many hours on the creative’s for the event.

My personal thanks also go to the judges who it’s fair to say spent longer than expected reading all of the entries and working out our complicated scoring algorithm - ensuring the right people get chosen.

We are already planning the a4uAwards 2009, therefore if you’d like to get involved do get in touch.

Until then - Continue to innovate, excel and manage your relationships and maybe we’ll see you thrusted into the spotlight next year!

Entering the a4uAwards is free, so what are you waiting for - get recognised for your work whether you are a merchant, agency, network or affiliate - find full instructions on the a4uAwards website.

Here is the press release.

Nominations for this year’s prestigious a4uAwards are already flooding in, but there’s only another 30 days left to ensure entries are received in time for the judging process to formally begin.

The a4uAwards, which were launched last year to celebrate the innovation & commitment being demonstrated by those working in the £3bn Affiliate Marketing sector at present, are this year being co-sponsored by jackpotjoy and in association with NMA. They include 16 distinct categories, with the gala event taking place on June 5 at the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel in Central London.

Nine of the prestigious awards will be judged by an independent panel consisting of some of experienced practitioners working in the sector, including Affiliates, Merchants, Network Directors, Agency Heads as well as commentators on the industry. For each award, the panel will be looking for evidence of innovation, creativity, fulfilment of client objectives and effectiveness of delivery.

The remaining seven awards will be Publisher & Community Awards, which apart from the affiliates4u Award for Excellence, will be decided by a controlled online vote via the 20,000 strong affiliates4u forum.

Nominations for the affiliates4u Award for Excellence are to be submitted by members of the Affiliate Community via an online entry form, attaching a testimonial as to why the nominated individual, team or company should win. The number & quality of these nominations will then be taken into account by the independent judging panel.

Matthew Wood, founder of affiliates4u and organiser of the a4uAwards, says: “Giving the Awards their own spotlight, with their own prestigious event, has once again raised the profile of this dynamic industry and will ensure that those delivering the goods will be recognised and celebrated in style.

“We’ve been inundated with entries already, which just goes to show the level of interest & support the industry is giving these awards and I’d like to thank everyone so far for their input, views and comments over how we can make this year’s event as special as it should be. I‘m now very much looking forward to watching the voting debate formally unfold.”

The 16 award categories, which will reward both a highly commended entry and overall trophy winner, are:

- Best Use of Creative
- Best Network Innovation
- Best Merchant Innovation
- Agency of the Year
- Publisher of the Year
- Best Use of AM as part of an Integrated Campaign
- affiliates4u Award for Excellence
- Publishers’ Choice of Network
- Publishers’ Choice of Account Manager
- Affiliate Marketing Blog of 2008
- Affiliate Manager of 2008

plus awards for innovative AM activity in the following vertical sectors:

- Finance
- Retail
- Gaming
- Travel & Leisure
- Technology & Telecoms

Entry for each category is free, and submissions need to be received no later than April 25, 2008. For more information about the event, individual categories and details on criteria for entry, please go to www.a4uawards.com