Your Peterborough & Trent University independent press has been selected as one of the candidates for the Petertweeter Award for the best online local news provider.
Set to be held at Aria Night Club this week, the second annual #Petertweeters will put the spotlight on some of the city’s most prominent users of social media.
More specifically, the event will shine a light on people who might otherwise go unnoticed. Donald Fraser, Petertweeter Chair, says that “there are so many people doing groundbreaking things, people who are community leaders of just plain entertaining folk who for the most part don’t get the recognition they deserve.”
The idea for the event came from a flash of insight during Fraser’s own use of Twitter. “I was blown away by the different conversations that were happening. The events that were being promoted, the connections being made, the utter ludicrous conversations… there were so many great things that were happening.”
After a couple of beers, Fraser decided that there should be a social media award show and what it should be called. Within a week, he had recruited Catherine Hanrahan of KRUZ FM and Dani Stover from The Wolf as co-hosts, who are returning for this year’s ceremony.
Divisions of Corus Media, one of the event’s sponsors, have been nominated in a few of the categories. Despite the vested interests, Fraser maintains that Corus’ involvement has actually engaged a greater number of individuals in the social media sphere and sees them as a strong partner in grassroots programs. He also points to last year’s numerous non-Corus affiliated winners.
Hanrahan echoed Fraser’s sentiments, saying that she “love[s] that it’s chance for people who connect online regularly to meet in person and really get to know each other. I also love that it’s a chance to recognize so many deserving people who don’t regularly get attention and accolades.”
“Social media in this community helps forge relationships, partnerships and friendships,” said Stover, further highlighting the significance of interpersonal internet interaction in Peterborough.
The content of the ceremony, including the particular awards themselves, is essentially determined by the community itself.
“It’s unique in that it’s crowd-sourced,” says Fraser. “The content comes to us, and we’re amazed at what’s thrown in our direction; every year the trends change. It’ll probably grow as the community grows, but we want to keep it community-based, holistic, and inclusive.”
Tickets for the second annual Petertweeter Awards are $10 and are available at 101.5 The Wolf (151 King Street), Aria Night Club (331 George St. North), Black Honey Desserts (221 Hunter St. West), and Tango (366 George St. North). Proceeds will go to Kawartha Food Share via Corus Feeds Kids.
