FCW Insider: Judging Fed 100s... and a timeline

OK, so I have been somewhat quiet on the blog side because... well, it was a very busy January, so far. In addition to moderating a session for AFCEA Bethesda, I've been working through Fed 100 stuff, as you probably know. I mentioned that we got hundreds of nominations, and I had to read through all of those in preparation for judging.

We had Judgment Day this past Saturday -- a group of hearty souls gave up the Saturday of what is for most people a three-day weekend -- to spend literally the entire day locking down the Fed 100. It takes a lot of time and effort to read all of these things, but I always find the process so heartening because it is so amazing what some people are doing. And I think the judges find the process to be helpful.

So, we're through with the nomination process... and we're through with the first part of the judgment process. What comes next?

Over the next two weeks... Yes, the judges actually meet to come up with the Fed 100, which is always a long day and a long process. We came out of that with about 105 winners, but we also have questions that need to be resolved. Some of the judges have homework so we can ensure that we are giving the award to the correct person. So we're going to be doing that over the next two weeks.

Our goal is to have the list nailed down by Friday, Feb. 1.

We are then going to do something a bit different: We are going to publish the list of Fed 100 winners in February -- even before the March 24 gala.

We always used to keep the list close because we wanted it to be a big surprise. But, in this Web 2.0 world, we are going to post the list as soon as we have done the necessary work... and then all the reasoning behind the decisions -- the analysis -- will be in FCW's Fed 100 issue, which will be out on Monday, March 24.

Another reason is that the list is spread all over the place anyway. After we have the finalized list, we notify the winners... and we send the full list to the organizations that buy Fed 100 gala tables so we can find out who sits at what table. (I know it sounds easy, but... this is no small task.) But, as soon as the list it out there, it is out to all sorts of people -- the wonders of electronic information.

So, I have preached about transparency and openness, so, in that light, we're just going to post the full list so everybody can see it. But we're also going to use the network-centric model: We make information available as soon as possible, but... you're going to have to wait until the March 24 issue to find out why the people won.

At the March 24 gala, we will also announce the FCW Fed 100 Eagle Award winners -- these are the two people (one government, one industry) who are the firsts among equals. We have a separate panel that will vote on those two people based on the full list. And this year, they have all sorts of great choices.

So, stay tuned.

As somebody on the editorial side of the business, I am not involved in the Gala table sales or anything like that, so... if you want to know information about the Fed 100 awards gala, go here.


So that's our current schedule. I don't we'll get the full Fed 100 list in the Feb. 4 issue, but... you can definitely look for it by Feb. 18. And we may do it online even sooner then that. So... stay tuned.