Designed to recognise the good, the bad and the ugly of the media and PR industries in 2009, 'The UKPress Awards (Pressies) 2010' open nominations on February 10.

PRESS DISPENSARY - Tuesday, Feb 09, 2010 - Industry awards often follow the same tried-and-tested formula and some can be downright dull. The usual concept is about to change as UKPress ( <a href="http://www.ukpress.org">http://www.ukpress.org</a> ), the forum for media professionals which celebrates its 10th birthday this year, is unleashing its awards with a twist. Nominations for 'The UKPress Awards (Pressies) 2010', the only industry awards to be voted from both sides of the fence by journalists and PRs, open on 10 February, 2010 at <a href="http://www.ukpress.org/pressieparty.">http://www.ukpress.org/pressieparty.</a>

Designed to recognise the good, the bad and the ugly of the media and PR industries in 2009, The Pressies take an ironic slant on the traditional awards format while retaining a serious side. UKPress, a professional community populated by thousands of British journalists, editors and PRs, as well as publicists, bloggers and photographers, is the ideal place to throw fresh awards into the melting pot and see what comes out.

Nominations open at 11am on Wednesday 10 February and will remain open until 5pm on Friday 5 March, 2010. Entries will be shortlisted by a panel of industry experts on Wednesday 10 March and the final vote will be cast by the members of the UKPress community on Friday 12 March. A tough battle to win some of the accolades is predicted.

The award categories (finalised) are:

• The Bernstein and Woodward Award for Most Distinctive Journalist, 2009

• The My Lens is Bigger than Your Lens Award for Press Photo of the Year, 2009

• The King is Dead, Long Live the King Award for Best News Provider, 2009

• The More Spin than a Doctor Award for Most Influential PR Person, 2009

• The Adam and Eve It Award for Most Original PR Campaign, 2009

• The Svengali Award for Most Distinctive PR Agency, 2009

• The Tw*t Award for Best Use of Social Media, 2009

• The Freddie Star Ate My Hamster Award for Most Memorable Headline, 2009

• The Hitler Diaries Award for Dodgiest Media Story, 2009

• The Gerald Ratner Foot in Mouth Award for Most Regrettable Public Utterance

• The Lemming Award for Biggest PR Blunder, 2009

• The Armageddon in 45 Minutes Award for Most Outrageous Attempt to Influence the Media, 2009

• The unique Leading Leveraged solution Award for the Direst Press Release, 2009

• The Titanic Award for the Biggest Let-down, 2009

• The Joan of Arc Award for the Media Personality We'd All Most Like to Shoot Down in Flames

After Easter, UKPress will hold a media event, the 'Black, White &amp; Red All Over Press Party featuring The Pressies', in central London. This will include an awards presentation with a difference and will also celebrate the 10th birthday of UKPress. The event will be attended by members of UKPress as well as journalists and opinion-formers spanning all media sectors. The dress theme is (unsurprisingly) black, white and red attire. The event will feature an early evening meet-and-mingle opportunity, a PR-journalist challenge, 3D photography installation from respected photographer, Mark Bennett, an exhibition by Smarty Lamps and a disco in conjunction with Margot's Parties.

Jo Chipchase, co-founder of UKPress, comments: "We want to have fun with our awards while also upholding the serious side of recognising the industry's good and bad practices. May the most deserving candidates scoop the Pressies."

Tickets for the 'Black, White &amp; Red All Over Press Party featuring the Pressies' will be available from late February - please see <a href="http://www.ukpress.org/pressieparty">http://www.ukpress.org/pressieparty</a> .

Supporters of the event include Press Dispensary, Midnight Communications and Blackicemagazine.com .

Notes for editors

UKPress currently operates as an online discussion forum populated by media and PR professionals, publicists, photographers, opinion formers and more. It was launched in early 2000 to put journalists and PR people in easy contact with each other using an email discussion list. Members of UKPress now hail from many of the UK's major press and PR organisations and span all sectors. The UKPress website is currently being redeveloped to turn it into a dynamic social networking platform with a range of functionality for media professionals and other industry players.

UKPress is run by Jo Chipchase, whose career spans PR and journalism, Paul Douglas, editor of TechRadar, and Rob Shepherd, a former TV/video director who now runs Press Dispensary ( http:.//www.pressdispensary.co.uk ).

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