If you’re on Twitter, you may or may not have heard of the Shorty Awards before. If you’re not on Twitter at all, then this subject and story is irrelevant to you and you might want to find something better to read. The Shorty Awards are an annual social media award, most commonly known for its honoring of the top Twitter accounts / personalities as voted on by fans and judges.
It’s simply a fan vote in unpopular categories, while super-popular categories are part of a formal awards presentation in New York.
The category of #hockey traditionally hasn’t been a very popular one, and last year’s Shorty Award voting season (the month of January) was impacted greatly by the 2012-13 NHL lockout. That, or hockey cynics and unawareness of what the bloody hell the “Shorty’s” are continued to be the norm during voting season.
The following is a listing of the top nominated accounts (top 10) from the 5th annual Shorty Awards (last year.) In no way should this be looked at as the true best-and-brightest of what Twitter has to offer on the subject of hockey.
|
1st |
Devils Army Generals (@DevilsGenerals ) |
35 Votes |
|
2nd |
Caitlin Campbell (@Hockeylife30 ) |
28 Votes |
|
3rd |
Justin Bourne (@jtbourne ) |
16 Votes |
|
4th |
Devils Army Blog (@DevilsArmyBlog ) |
15 votes |
|
5th |
Raw Charge (@RawCharge) |
11 Votes |
|
6th |
“Vee”(@Vee_Decsy ) |
7 votes |
|
7th |
Tasman Smith (@NotARobocop ) |
6 votes |
|
8th |
Happy Gilmore (@Happy_Gilmore ) |
4 votes |
|
T-8th |
4 votes |
|
|
9th |
Agus Irwandi ツ (@aguscliqind ) |
4 votes |
|
T-9th |
Donny Rivette (@LitterBoxCats ) |
3 votes |
|
T-9th |
“Zombie Killer” (@Leo25Guns ) |
3 votes |
|
10th |
Erik Erlendsson (@ErlendssonTBO ) |
2 votes |
|
T-10th |
Pension Plan Puppets(@MLSE ) |
2 votes |
|
T -10th |
Mishey22 (@mishey22 ) |
2 votes |
|
5 others tied at 10th |
Left Wing Lock (@Left_Wing_Lock ), Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger ), Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski ), Defending the Blue Line (@DefTheBlueLine ), Ipswitch Ice Hockey (@ipswichhockey ) |
2 votes |
Of the top five nomination getters in this category, it’s Justin Bourne who’s the only one that truly stands out on an international level as a personality of note on the subject of hockey. No offense intended to the Devils blogs or to Caitlin Campbell.
You can see in the bottom 10 that some of the more must-follow, prominent and entertaining start to pop up with the likes of Greg Wyshynski, Pension Plan Puppets and Darren Dreger.
(I can’t tell you how many people are listed as 11th place (tied with 1 vote) because it takes up so many pages…)
The fact remains that if @RawCharge – normally an aggregate account of our content – is a top 5 finalist on this list while guys like Down Goes Brown, the LA Kings twitter account, or James Mirtle aren’t even in the top 10,something’s messed up.
The nominating / voting season or the 2014 Shorty Awards is expected to open imminently, so keep an eye out for information on how to get involved with the Shorty’s. It doesn’t require a signup…Actually a web click and/or a tweet of 140 characters or less should do it.
[Note by John Fontana, 01/07/14 3:40 PM EST ]
Voting is now open in the 6th annual Shorty Awards. The problem is, #Hockey is not an official category. It’s an unofficial category this year due to lack of interest in previous years, which makes the entire thing sort of lose it’s (already dim) luster.
If you’d like to make a nomination, here’s exactly how to do it:
On Twiitter (or a Twitter client), write a nomination:
“I nominate (Twitter account handle) for a shorty award in #Hockey because…” — list a reason why you want them nominated for an award. For example:
I nominate @johnny_fonts for a Shorty Award in #Hockey because he’s the blogger who pushes the damn thin every year
— John Fontana (@Johnny_Fonts) January 7, 2014
Something like that. And no, I’m not trolling for votes here, I’m just using an example. I’d much prefer you nominate someone in the category that is a major source for your Twitter entertainment in the sport.
You can find results for the (unofficial) hockey category here. Perhaps it would be better if I had created an ICE hockey category for the sake of getting around potential confusion and conflict (field hockey is not thought of as “hockey” to ice hockey people, and vice versa)
