The Sonic Site Awards 2009 Begins!

Oh yeah. It’s that time of year again folks – get your tuxedos ready for the Sonic Site Awards 2009! We were going to launch this yesterday, but site problems prevented us from doing so. Things suck like that. PHASE ONE is the Nominations Round, and you’re able to take part by telling us what sites you think qualify for each award! Visit the Sonic Site Awards page and submit your entries today!

For those who don’t know what the SSA’s are, it’s an annual awards ceremony that The Sonic Stadium holds to encourage new and up-and-coming Sonic fansites to be seen out there. I started the event in 2001, back when it was difficult for TSS (yeah, this site was quite small back then) to catch a break among places such as Sonic HQ and Shadow of a Hedgehog. I figured I’d make an event to give fellow small sites like mine an even break.

A lot has changed in eight years, particularly with how large The Sonic Stadium now is – the difficulty is that we are now the ‘large site that gets in the way of new small fansites’. But I’ve always tried to make sure I don’t heavyweight anyone out of getting popular – continuing the Sonic Site Awards is my way of giving smaller sites the attention they deserve while pushing large sites like mine and Sonic Retro out of the picture.

We didn’t actually hold an SSA in 2008 – largely because I was too busy with organising the very first Summer of Sonic convention, and over the last few years the event had become way too bloated and somewhere, I felt that the SSAs had lost its focus. This year I’ve brought it back in a more streamlined fashion and have a clear direction on what kind of site to focus on, so only the unestablished sites get a look in.

I hope this year’s event will show us some truly unique sites and communities – it sometimes feels that there’s a distinct lack of active Sonic fansites these days. If nothing else, I want the SSAs to show a more visible collection of fansites. Do your bit by taking part!