It's bad, and sad, when a respected publication closes, and this weekend saw the last issue of BDFM's The Weekender, which had a lifespan of less than four years and became the latest victim of the recession. It was the end of the road for The Weekender as a result of falling ad revenues, distribution and printing issues. General sentiment seems to be in agreement with the tweet on Saturday, 7 November 2009, that went: "Bought both the Saturday Star and The Weekender today. The wrong paper is biting the dust." Bizcommunity.com trusts that job loss will be kept to an utmost minimum. On a more cheerful note, public voting for The Bookmarks' Greatest Individual Contribution to Online Media and Marketing award, sponsored by The Spacestation, is now open until the end of tomorrow, Tuesday 10 November. This award aims to recognise and reward the individual who has contributed to the overall growth and development of our industry over the past year. The winner - to be announced at the awards event taking place at Movida in Johannesburg on Thursday 12 November [don't forget to book your tickets!] - will depend upon your votes in combination with the Online Publishers Association (OPA) Exco vote. The 11 shortlisted nominees submitted by the industry, in alphabetical order by surname, are: Prezence SA's Tim Bishop; 24.com's Matthew Buckland; Cambrient's Jarred Cinman; Habari Group's Adrian Hewlett; OMG Digital (OMD SA Online Division)'s Conrad Kakebeeke; AdVantage magazine's Louise Marsland; DigiVOX's Andrea Mitchell; Soccer-Laduma's Diogo Peral; Bizcommunity.com's Simone Puterman; Mail & Guardian Online's Chris Roper; and Quirk eMarketing's Rob Stokes. Go to www.bizcommunity.com/BookmarkAwards.aspx to cast your vote now. Simone Puterman & Rod Baker PS In this week's Ornico Ad Showcase, we feature TV ads for LG Boarderless, On Tap, Sanlam, Martini Rosato and Nando's, and radio ads for British Airways, Budget Insurance, Southern Sun, LG and SAA.
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