Congratulations to all the winners of the First Annual Bahamas Web Awards -2003.  The winning Web sites all display an appreciation of the advantages of the World Wide Web and a recognition of the powers of the Internet.  

Each of the Web sites entered in the contest also represent lots of time, talent and loving attention on the part of the site creators, the owners and their webmasters.

The Web Awards Ceremony Ceremony was a Smash Success, thanks to the help of some awesome contributors (see below) and the support of our generous sponsors.

Sure we get to take all the glory, but really, it is the people mentioned below, and the companies behind them, who deserve the credit for last week's successful Web Awards Ceremony.  (See the Photo Gallery Page.)

Behind The Web Awards

First, there is Antonius Roberts who, early on, graciously agreed to design and create the spectacular "Best of the Bahamas" sculpture trophy. Antonius' sculpture brought credibility, distinction, prestige and honour to our Awards contest. We only wish Antonius could have been there to see the delight in John Christie's eyes when he was presented with the exquisitely graceful top Award. 

Thank you, Antonius, for being the first to recognise the potential of this great community event.

Next, there is the British Colonial Hilton. Michael Hooper and his excellent staff bent over backwards to accommodate us. Special thanks to Catering Sales professional Monique Braynen-Hanna who gave us so much attention you'd never know she was coordinating a dozen other events at the same time.

Also, accolades for The Counsellors, whose dynamic opening video set the pace for the exciting evening to follow. The Counsellors is a company whose working style epitomizes "Grace Under Pressure".  Thanks to Joan Albury for her generous contribution and to Khari Albury and Terrance Strachan for their excellent video production.

We sure wouldn't want to forget to thank Shane Albury at QuenCom Audio-Visual Rentals. Shane never flinched as we continually increased our requirements and was there to offer invaluable advice concerning the production logistics. His brother, Quentin Albury, guided us through the intricacies of the show's production, which was saved on more than one occasion by Quentin's quick thinking and technical expertise. This guy must have been a Boy Scout because he came prepared for anything and everything.

Thanks to LOVE97-FM's Greg Lampkin for lending a hand by reading the rules and criteria. He handled the job with his usual eloquence and good natured humour, making the information interesting. He had the crowd chuckling on more than one occasion. Greg was also kind enough to say some great things about the Web Awards and BahamasB2B.

We don't know where would we have been without the appearances of the trio of Bahamian beauty queens; Miss Bahamas Universe Nadia Johnson, Miss Bahamas National Shameka Fernander and Miss Teen Bahamas Brittani Thompson. These gorgeous women brought a lot to the event just by showing up. Without any real rehearsals they handled the presentation of the Awards with grace and dignity, ad-libbing where necessary and making each Award recipient feel special as they presented the Awards and posed for photos with each of the winners.  (See the Photo Gallery Page.)

Each one of these incredibly talented crowd-pleasers had the audience on the edge of their seats. All three are world class performers and Bahamians are blessed that they haven't "flown the coop" to perform in the lights of Hollywood, New York or Las Vegas, because they are certainly talented enough to do so.

But we wouldn't want to forget to thank the two young rising stars either; Keno Thurston and the young rapper, Jamal Johnson, who goes by the name Blue Sphinx. Keno never said more than ten words to us while we were preparing for the show and we wondered how the seemingly shy kid would do in front of the crowd. Once on-stage he morphed into an outgoing entertainer and his a cappella rendition of "The Land of the Sun and Sea" was fantastic. 

And the opening rap by Blue Sphinx set the mood of the evening and absolutely delighted the crowd with lyrics such as, 

"BahamasB2B, It's the Web Awards. 
So if your site been entered people givin' applause. 
If you didn't make the cut, it's because you's a bore. 
While somebody else site gets the one top score." 

These young men are talent waiting to be discovered.

When two members of the String Quartet, scheduled to play at the champagne reception, came down with the flu and canceled at the last minute, Deirdre Armstrong from Chez Willie recommended her house musician. Rusty Armbrister showed up a few hours later and saved the reception with his extraordinary musical talent.

When our contracted photographer also came down with the flu (he must have been photographing the string quartet :-)  Demond Thompson from Bahamas Embroidery stepped in and took over, taking most of the wonderful photos that illustrate our community pages.  (See the Photo Gallery Page.)

We would also like to thank Joanne Smith, from Media Enterprises and Pierre Dupuch from Executive Printers of The Bahamas for their work on the wonderful little Web Awards programme. 

After taking longer than expected to get all of the high-resolution logos from our very busy sponsors, we left these two companies with only a few days to produce a booklet that would normally take more time. Then at the last minute disaster struck when we discovered, in the final stages, that there were corrections needed in the booklet.

Joanne jumped through hoops, after hours, to save the day and make the necessary changes. And Mr. Dupuch and the staff at Executive Printers literally moved mountains to print the book in a time frame that would be considered impossible in the Graphic Arts world. The man is a class act and a pillar of professionalism.

In the background of the event's success were people like Peter Bates, from The Sign Man. We called Mr. Bates to inquire as to the price of a banner so we could display the sponsors logos. He immediately volunteered to make the banner and we stopped by his shop on Shirley Street to drop off the logos. Only when we were leaving did we realise that he never once asked what's in it for him. The expertly printed sign was ready hours after we gave Mr. Bates the final art.

The entire contest would have been meaningless had it not been for our blue-ribbon Judges who graciously donated their time to review all of the finalist Web sites and cast their votes for the Best of the Best. Felix Stubbs from IBM Bahamas, Wil Wheaton whose Web site, wilwheaton.net, is an excellent example of the communicative power of the Web, Mike Moss from Cable Bahamas, Neal Whitley founder and webmaster of e-Travel Media and the talented Antonius Roberts. 

We would also like to publicly and profoundly thank Kevin Strakan of Fifth Avenue Productions, without whose advice, resources and contacts, the success of the Awards Ceremony would not have been possible.

Last, but certainly not least, a big thank-you is due to all of our sponsors whose generous contributions made the event possible: 

Despite our attempt to name each and every person who contributed to this great event it is possible that we have forgotten someone who we shouldn't have. If that's the case we apologise and hope that you'll let us know if you were left out of this tribute.

And finally, we would like to thank the 48 excellent entrants. These companies and individuals saw the benefits of supporting this historic event and entered their great Web sites. Without your participation, support and enthusiasm we wouldn't have had a contest at all.

God Bless all of these "winners" for making the First Annual Bahamas Web Awards a Smashing Success. We look forward to working with all of you on next year's event in our continuing effort to take the Bahamas Web community forward, upward, onward together.  (See the Photo Gallery Page.)

Whether you are looking to reach a highly targeted audience or communicate to mass users, BahamasB2B can help you meet your advertising objectives.  

Advertise on BahamasB2B.com and use the power of the Internet to reach tens of thousands of qualified buyers.

Bahamas - In The News

A selection of the lead stories, from the week, compiled from various sources. 

A Total Embarrassment – September 24, 2003
Why did it take a deluge of tourist complaints about Nassau International Airport before the message got through to the government that the gateway to the nation is a cesspit.

Healthcare in The Bahamas – September 24, 2003
The Blue Ribbon Commission on National Health Insurance declared on September 2nd that National Health Insurance is the best way to provide Bahamians with equitable access to quality health care services.

New Phase Three Blow – September 24, 2003
Kerzner International president Mr. Butch Kerzner said the new project was 'not feasible' unless these important issues were cleared up first.

Tourism Week Focuses On Customer Service – September 24, 2003
Tourism officials will place special emphasis on customer service when Tourism Awareness Week is observed throughout the Bahamas between Sept. 21 and 27.

Atlantis Goes Arabian – September 23, 2003
Kerzner International today announced that it is taking the Atlantis brand international, revealing plans to develop a $650 million Arabian-inspired resort in the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai.

FTAA Miami Clash – September 23, 2003
Executives of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) interim secretariat warned Saturday that countries in the region must get on the 'train' or get left 'at the gate.'

$40 Million Club Med Deal – September 22, 2003
Kerzner International has agreed to buy the Club Med resort on Paradise Island for approximately $40 million.

Poor First Impression at NIA Hurting Tourism – September 22, 2003
Seeing that the NIA is the first place that tourists see when they arrive in the capital, it was the first impression they get of The Bahamas, which clearly was detrimental to the tourism.

HG Christie - "Best of The Bahamas" – September 19, 2003
Real Estate firm takes top honours in prestigious First Annual Bahamas Web Awards contest.  The first leading national honour for the Best among Bahamian Web sites.

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