2009 Utah Social Media Awards recipients announced

Utah’s best and brightest social media practitioners gathered Nov. 6 to recognize excellence in new media

The world’s first Social Media Club awards event was held in Utah on Nov. 6, 2009. The Social Media Club of Salt Lake City began efforts to present the Utah Social Media Awards earlier this spring. Those efforts culminated in presenting 20 Utah Social Media Awards to individuals and companies in Utah accomplishing great things in the social media space.

The Utah Social Media Awards, affectionately known as the USMAs (#usma on Twitter), recognized 18 people with awards for the best use of a particular new media platform and provided two overall awards, the People’s Choice and Best of Show Utah Social Media Awards.

“More than 140 people gathered at Noah’s in South Jordan for the awards networking, dinner, keynote address and program,” said Pete Codella, program director for the Social Media Club of Salt Lake City and chair of the Utah Social Media Awards. “We couldn’t be happier with the support we received and the outcome of the first annual Utah Social Media Awards. Congratulations to each and every recipient.”

The evening’s keynote address was provided by a man known as “the human Internet,” Utah’s own David Bradford, CEO of Fusion-io. The presentation of the awards was made by Codella and Angie Larsen, anchor of Good Things Utah on ABC Channel 4.

Best of Show was awarded to XanGo for its “impressive online and social media presence, from Web sites to blogs and podcasts,” according to the USMA judges, comprised of members of the awards planning committee with help from the Social Media Club of Phoenix. XanGo also received an USMA for XanGo.tv for Best Video Blog.

The People’s Choice recipient received an impressive 15 percent of the overall vote. It was clearly a crowd favorite. Comments included: “Tons of new content — podcasts, stuff to read, recommendations, Tweet stream and tips,” “A crisp layout, great navigation, right column showcase of ads, links to iTunes feed, RSS, Twitter, etc.,” “This is the cream of this crop,” and “I absolutely love this site.” The People’s Choice USMA was awarded to The FredCast by David Bernstein.

Utah Social Media Awards recipients received a custom made acrylic trophy with the USMA logo etched into it, a printed certificate, an electronic Web banner to display online that they’re a 2009 Utah Social Media Award recipient, and a rose with the USMA logo printed on it courtesy of Speaking Roses.

The complete list of Utah Social Media Awards recipients is as follows:

Best Blog (four recipients) — CraziBeautiful Women, Fat Cyclist, Today’s Mama, and World’s Strongest Librarian.

Best Video Blog (two recipients) — Provo Acoustic, XanGo TV.

Greatest Impact on Podcasting — PodCampSLC by Thom Allen.

Best Use of Twitter (three recipients) — @BigBags by Nate Bagley, @mozy by Nate Kartchner, @sltrib by The Salt Lake Tribune.

Best Use of YouTube — Mormon Messages by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Best Facebook Fan Page (three recipients) — BabySteals.com, Utah’s Hogle Zoo, PC Laptops.

Best Social Media Content Guru (two recipients) — Jordan Kasteler, Janet Meiners Thaeler.

Best Integrated Social Media Campaign (two recipients) — Goldsmith Co. Jewelers Mother’s Day Campaign by Sprout Marketing, Standard-Examiner.

People’s Choice USMA — The FredCast by David Bernstein.

Best of Show USMA — XanGo.

The call for nominations for the Utah Social Media Awards occurred this summer. More than 225 nominations were received by members of the three Utah-based Social Media Clubs — Salt Lake City, Utah Valley and Cache Valley.

Members of the awards planning committee selected finalists, then with help from the Social Media Club of Phoenix, determined the 2009 USMA recipients.

To preserve the integrity of the awards, no members of the Social Media Club of Salt Lake City leadership team or USMA planning committee were eligible to receive awards.

The USMAs were held on Friday evening, Nov. 6, 2009 at Noah’s in South Jordan, Utah.

About the Social Media Club of Salt Lake City

The Social Media Club of Salt Lake City is Utah’s first chapter of the worldwide Social Media Club organization which was founded in 2006. SMC of SLC launched in January 2009 and quickly amassed a membership of several hundred people. While membership in the local chapter is free, members may choose whether or not they join the worldwide organization with varying levels of membership. The nonprofit club holds monthly meetings, usually on the third Thursday in the evening, to foster camaraderie among local social media practitioners. SMC of SLC sponsors professional development seminars and workshops to teach social media skills and provide up-to-date information about happenings in the social media space. Attendance at most meetings is free with meeting facilities and refreshments provided by sponsors.

About the Utah Social Media Awards

The Utah Social Media Awards were presented by the Social Media Club of Salt Lake City, with support from the Social Media Club of Utah Valley and Cache Valley, to recognize excellence in social media practitioners and practices throughout Utah. SMC of SLC plans to build upon the success of this year’s event when it presents the second annual Utah Social Media Awards in 2010. This year’s awards were sponsored by Advanced Brain Technologies, eBay, Merrell Remington, Park City Mountain Resort, SelectHealth, Think Tank Creative Consortium, and UtahPulse.com. Members of the 2009 USMA planning committee were Pete Codella (chair; @codella), Roxy Cross (co-chair; @roxycross), Sarah Buhr (@sarahbuhr), Jack Hadley (@Jack_Hadley), Christopher Katis, Allen Parkinson and Marcus Perry (@marcusperry).