We started the ONYAs in 2010 because we wanted to celebrate the amazing work done by the New Zealand web industry. We wanted to create an occasion and a space for you all to come together — to share, to talk, to learn, to listen and to celebrate.
We wanted the ONYAs to mean something. To be awards that people were eager to enter and proud to win. We wanted them judged by people respected by the industry and clearly knowledgable.
And most of all, we wanted the ONYAs to be for those of you working in the trenches. Building, designing and writing the sites. Cutting the code and building the apps. We created Webstock for you and we wanted the ONYAs to be for you.
We hope we’ve succeeded in that. We’ve certainly tried. We’ve put a lot into the ONYAs these past two years.
We’re not in a position to present the ONYAs for 2012. Financially the burden is too great for us, and we can’t justify the unpaid time we need to spend to produce the event. Whilst we could possibly scale things down — you know us, that’s not really our style! We’d rather the ONYAs were remembered for two fabulous nights and two wonderful competitions.
We’d like to thank everyone who entered the ONYAs — the winners, the finalists and, most especially, everyone else who entered. Your support for something new was wonderful.
We’d like to thank all of our judges over the two years of the ONYAs. The time you gave up, the dedication you brought and the knowledge you shared as immense.
And we’d like to give a huge shout-out to Shift (especially) and to New Zealand Post — our two sponsors for the first year of the ONYAs. Without your support, they would not have happened.
It may be that the ONYAs can come back, but for us, for this year, this is the best decision.
We look forward to seeing everyone at Webstock in February 2012!
