NEWS An attendee at an industry awards bash was once overheard saying "I should have known I hadn't won when I saw I was sat at the back of the room" - but attendees at this year's New Media Age Awards won't require such insight as many nominees may have already discovered their fate due to a publishing blunder.
New Media Age has today published its latest edition complete with the winners' brochure - potentially spoiling any suspense which may have been injected into proceedings at this evening's ceremony. In previous years the awards edition has come out the morning after the event, but somewhere along the line, wires have been crossed.
One of the NMA Awards judging panel contacted by silicon.com, said: "I think this is a real shame. The issue would normally have gone out tomorrow but now I think this causes a huge problem for the organisers."
"It can be difficult enough to keep people interested during a long awards ceremony as it is, but now that will be even more difficult given that everybody will probably know who has won," he added.
Nominees for the awards will have paid almost £2,000 per table of 10 to attend but it's unlikely to be the food that leaves a bad taste in the mouth if they already know they've lost - while winners will just have greater impetus to work on their speeches.
Ed Tranter, the publisher of New Media Age, confirmed the early release of the winners' names was an unintentional blunder.
Michael Nutley, the magazine's editor, said the company is still trying to work out how the early release happened but he said he is confident only "a small number of copies have got into circulation".
As such silicon.com has agreed not to publish full details of the winners and losers, though it is likely the industry grapevine may spread the news fairly quickly even without our intervention. One award winner already 'out of the bag', and revealed elsewhere, is the Grand Prix winner - the overall top prize on the night - which will be won by Manchester United Interactive.
Nutley said: "This is unfortunate but I don't think it devalues the awards themselves. The winners are no less deserving just because they may already be known by some attendees."
"The night should still provide an excellent, and very enjoyable, networking opportunity for everybody who attends," he added.
The spoiler does make a slight mockery of a double page ad from MSN in the brochure which alludes to the suspense of the occasion, saying: 'It wouldn't be an awards evening without a few butterflies.'
However, the blunder, if it does become widely known, could actually be good news for the neutrals in the crowd. The judge to whom silicon.com spoke said: "I think the organisers' best bet now would be to keep the award ceremony part of the evening very brief, ply everybody with lots of free drink and just get on with the party."
