Many will be aware that last night was the second annual Bookmarks Awards, hosted by the Online Publishers Association (OPA) at Movida in Johannesburg. What an event it was - from fresh oysters to bizarrely named pre-drinks and body painted girls - it was one helleva experience!

Painted Ladies - always popular

One of the big shocks of the night was that no Grands Prix were awarded. Now, this may sound strange to some but there is a good reason for this. The judging panel, which included Fernanda Romano of Euro RSCG, and Chris Colborn of R/GA New York, maintained the strict standards that the awards set from last year and Adrian Hewlett (OPA chairperson) had the following explanation for the strict standards; “This is a truly global discipline and we have to be benchmarked internationally” .

Dan (the man), Rob (the ginger general), Heidi, Asher and Gillian - our representing QuirkStars

Personally , we think this is a good thing - but then again we did manage to scoop silver Pixels for both Idea Bounty and our work with Warner Bros. on the Harry Potter - Hogwarts Wizarding Class Twitter campaign. And if that was not enough, to top it off Rob Stokes, (our beloved ginger CEO) landed an award for the Greatest Individual Contribution to Online Media and Marketing over the last year.   

Rob winning for greatest contribution to online in South Africa and the lovely awards.

We have to congratulate everyone else who scooped an award – it’s awesome to see the digital industry in South Africa growing up so fast and the standard of work soaring to new heights! The rest of the night was spent drinking tequila and partying to the sounds of a physical theatre performance by 1st Project and some tight indie rock tunes from Cape Town based band, The Dirty Skirts.  

Rocking out at the awards.

A big well done must also go out to all the QuirkStars who have worked on both Idea Bounty and Harry Potter - to scoop two awards in a single category is something not many agencies get to do! I for one am really looking forward to next years awards. 

Visit the Bookmark Awards site for a complete list of the winners here.