Remember 27 July 2008.

The day the digital drought broke. Thanks to Net#work BBDO and digital design agency Gloo, we have another Loerie Grand Prix awarded to digital to celebrate as an industry.

Loerie's 2008 was the bomb.

Nothing was spared. The service, the entertainment, the freekin' sound system! and even the pop-up loo's had dedicated cleaners after every visit. From cheerleaders, to Reddy D, to pole dancers, to a massive Philharmonic Orchastra, to Madamé Zingara diva's ... I even met The Parlotone's and Sonia Herald (but not at the same time mind you ... ).

The audio visual work was outstanding, and could have been entered on it's own merits.

From a digital perspective, I thought the number of entries was well up from last year - a good sign. The process was relatively uncomplicated and each jury member judged remotely - making it possible to judge the entries and keep your day routine (more or less - you find yourself viewing work in the wee hours for a couple of days). IMHO there was some very very strong work - but i could count the pieces on one hand. A funny-thing has occurred though. I thought the strong contenders were well above the pack. We have a gap between the leaders and the runner upper's ...

I was pleased to see the glory bestowed upon Gloo on Sunday night. I think that sticky lot have working hard over the past 4 years to grab the honey. And Pete has been a campion voice for the industry at large - something I don't think everybody is aware of. But I must admit feeling disappointed at the results for Hello Computer - whom I thought delivering outstanding work - to walk away with (only) 3 Bronze Awards does not do the work justice. You guy's should've at least had a gold sounding the metal detector off flying home on Monday. Someone else that deserves a mention is Pixel Project. Goodness your stuff rocks! But I think your art is so remarkable, it play's in an entirely different sandbox to that of the rest of us. You make amazing applications - which is very difficult to judge remotely. Your Bronze for the Hansa Expression Session is testament to that. If each jury member had experienced it for themselves it would have been different.

And as for the pathetic number of finalists for the Online Advertising category - four. What's up with that? Kudu's to Ogilvy SA to scoop a Silver - but really. We need to embrace the display space far more aggressively than currently.

And where was Stonewall+? huh? or even Prezence. What about some of the veteran's in the industry ... Red Shift? or Wireframe? Even Aqua Online had a mention at the 2007 Construction Awards last year. Perhaps the stranglehold of budgets, number of projects and project management is too sever to put the care back into the projects that you want to? I would love to know.

Digital is clearly delivering locally - but it seems that this space is only being reserved for the special few. Rubbish! I know there's very clever folk out there. I've worked with you before. Come out come out from wherever you are ...