Sound kinda wrong? I reckon it is. But it’s how some Australian ICT awards work, such as http://www.iawards2010.com.au (AIIA)

This turns it into a “buy a marketing opportunity” rather than a genuine recognition of achievement. Why would a bootstrapped/Upstarta type business spend money on such things? So you get nominations from bigger organisations and others who somehow feel they have money to burn. I think that’s a rather bad pre-selection mechanism.

Interestingly, the QLD ICT Awards (ACS, http://mlaa.com.au/QldIctAwards/Nominations.htm – fabulously bad URL design by the way) used to cost for most categories, but now displays information that there’s no cost to nominate in any category. Attending the gala dinner still costs.

That’s clearly an improvement, but with all the sponsors I don’t see why winners shouldn’t just get a freebie to the gala as part of their prize? That would make it inclusive – because again, a bootstrapped company will have to seriously consider those costs and assess actual value – it’s a bit of an indulgence, even with the networking opportunity (and there’s plenty of other opportunities for effective networking, that don’t cost).