On Wednesday December 1st, 2010, we celebrated the 10th annual Canadian New Media Awards. This was a special evening for me, since it not only marked the 10th anniversary of the awards that I co-founded 10 years ago, but it really demonstrated how my partnership with Mark Greenspan and Robert Montgomery from Achilles Media has helped to keep my legacy not only going, but really growing in the future.

It was three years ago when I merged the CNMAs with NextMedia and Mark and this year the CNMA production team exceeded my expectations of what I had envisioned as the 10th anniversary of the CNMA. It was truly a special event and it presented the elegance and eminence that I expect from the CNMAs.

The much needed renaming of the Canadian New Media Awards to the Canada’s Digital Media Awards (the DIGI Awards) was smooth and tasteful (apart from me coming close to being blown up by a confetti cannon).

I was blown away when Mark Greenspan announced my name as the recipient of  the 2010 Outstanding Achievement Award. I was just expecting to go up at the end of the Awards show give my annual speech and to share my thoughts on 10 years of the CNMAs. I had to change my speech quickly from simply sharing my thoughts on the industry to thanking Mark and the team for the wonderful acknowledgement of my contribution to the industry.

Although, “Founding Father” was a little over the top and made me feel a lot older than 45 years old. For those that were at the CNMAs, I hope I showed composure when I was up on stage.