I’ve been going through the nominations for the Mobile Industry Review Awards. There’s a ton. An absolute ton.
The casting vote on nomination is with me. I am, for example, weeding out the dross. For example, whilst I respect and appreciate one reader’s nomination of a screwdriver as the best mobile gadget, on the grounds that it’s ‘a varied, reliable and multifaceted tool,’ that’s not quite what we had in mind. 
I’d like to see how far a screwdriver or a stapler would get against some of the other gadgets nominated.
It’s difficult enough deciding the final line-up for each category. Initially I wanted to have 3 nominations in each category, with one winner. But in some cases, I simply can’t decide. I reckon we might end up with 5 in some categories.
I’ve given myself a few more days of deliberating.
Then we’ll be going live with the shortlist of nominations.
After that, I defer to the Mobile Industry Review team.
In alphabetical order:
Ricky Chotai
Dan Ilett
Jonathan Jensen
Samantha Kidd
Dan Lane
Krystal London
Ewan MacLeod
Ben Smith
James Whatley
Everyone will have an equal vote. There’s 9 of us so it’ll be uneven and, I hope, straightforward. But if it’s anything like the amount of time I — and in particular, Dan Ilett — have spent on the nominations, it’s going to be a challenging process.
