Anything less than the best is a felony…

As I predicted, I didn’t win the IT Journalism Best Technology Reviewer category last night — that award went to Dan Warne — congratulations Dan!
What I genuinely didn’t expect was that I’d garner the Highly Commended Award (otherwise known as second place) gong, in a tie with PC Authority’s Nick Ross. I’m told (by possibly unreliable and mildly drunk witnesses) that my jaw hit the table with an audible clang when it was announced.
In the awards-I-can-vicariously-live-through-because-I’ve-been-a-contributor section, GadgetGuy.Com.au won the Best New Publication gong, and ZDNET/CNET.com.au took a rare #1/#2 placing — which I strangely predicted earlier in the evening, being declared the best Technology Media Web Site and Highly Commended respectively. If there was an award for most vociferous cheer squad, I reckon they would have taken that one too.
And as if to prove that you don’t need to have a big budget — as long as you’ve got a tech guy called John — BRAN got highly commended in the Best Multimedia Coverage category.
Hang on.
It’s just occurred to me that both Dan and Nick are staff writers for their respective publications, whereas I’m a full-time freelancer. Does that make me Australia’s best freelance technology reviewer?