Kami Huyse Nominated for Texas Social Media Award from the Statesman

With the South by Southwest Interactive (SxSWi) festival set to kick off early next month, the Austin American Statesman, the newspaper of the Texas State Capital, made a call for nominations for a Texas Social Media Award.

I was one of 25 people nominated for the award, and while I was off in the hospital having a new baby), some very generous people said some very very nice things, for which I am grateful.

A panel of judges from the paper, including Omar Gallaga (@omarg), Addie Broyles (@broylesa) and Robert Quigley (@robquig and @statesman) curated the list. The criteria they used to judge us included looking for people who had given back to the community. If that is the reason for which I was chosen for the award than I am truly humbled and honored. To give back and share is the whole reason I started this blog and that I continue to write and participate.

I was also amazed by the depth of the social media community in Texas. The award winners are an amazing group of people, and the ones that I don't already know I am making a point of adding to my network.

I suggest that you check them out too. Even if you don't live in Texas, I think you will find them an amazing group of people.

Henry “Rizoh” Adaso, Houston. Music journalist specializing in rap and hip-hop.

• http://therapup.net
• http://twitter.com/rizoh

Joshua Baer, Austin. Developed OtherInBox.com, software to streamline e-mail use.

• http://twitter.com/joshuabaer
• http://twitter.com/otherinbox
• http://austinpreneur.com/

Perry Belcher, Austin. Perry Belcher, Austin. Marketing strategist who blogs on topics from startups to real estate.

• http://www.perrybelcher.com
• http://www.winningatsocialmedia.com
• http://twitter.com/perrybelcher

Michael Chapman, Austin. Former lobbyist who co-founded both Social Media Club Austin and the International Social Media Club.

• http://twitter.com/MikeChapman
• http://budurl.com/aryu

J.R. Cohen, Houston. Café manager who uses Yelp, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter to keep in touch with customers.

• http://www.thecoffeegroundz.com/
• http://twitter.com/coffeegroundz
• http://budurl.com/v5f7

Michael Cote, Austin. Software industry blogger.

• http://www.twitter.com/cote/
• http://www.peopleoverprocess.com/
• http://www.drunkandretired.com/

Sam Decker, Austin. Marketing guru and author of two books.

• http://decker.typepad.com
• http://www.bazaarblog.com
• http://twitter.com/samdecker

Jenn Deering Davis, Austin. Co-founder of Appozite, a company connecting e-commerce buyers and sellers. 

• http://cheaptweet.com/
• http://appozitegeist.appozite.com/
• http://twitter.com/jdeeringdavis

Lori Falcon, Abilene. Blogger who reviews food, critiques products and services and shares blogging tips.

• http://acowboyswife.com
• http://mywoodenspoon.com
• http://twitter.com/acowboyswife

Kyle Flaherty, Austin. Marketing and public relations specialist.

• http://www.engageinpr.com
• http://www.breakingpointlabs.com
• http://twitter.com/kyleflaherty

Matt Glazer, Austin. Political and new media consultant who is editor of BurntOrangeReport.com.

• http://www.BurntOrangeReport.com
• http://www.TexBlogPAC.org
• http://twitter.com/MattGlazer

Lisa Goddard, Austin. Marketing director at Capital Area Food Bank of Texas who uses the social web to mobilize nonprofit action in Texas.

• http://twitter.com/lisa_goddard
• http://austinfoodbank.wordpress.com/
• http://budurl.com/znxe

Michelle Greer, Austin. Web marketing strategist.

• http://nerdaboutaustin.com
• http://www.michellesblog.net
• http://www.claimid.com/michellegreer

David Guenthner, Austin. Social media steward for the Texas Public Policy Foundation and host of Texas PolicyCast, a weekly audio magazine.

• http://budurl.com/l36q
• http://www.texaspolicy.com/policycast.php
• http://twitter.com/DavidGuenthner

Kami Huyse, Houston [by way of San Antonio]. Public relations specialist.

• http://overtonecomm.blogspot.com
• http://twitter.com/kamichat
• http://www.linkedin.com/in/myprpro

Cali Lewis, Dallas. Social media butterfly known for her podcasts of “shiny, happy tech news” at GeekBrief.TV.

• http://www.geekbrief.tv
• http://www.twitter.com/calilewis
• http://facebook.calilewis.me

David Neff, Austin. American Cancer Society communications specialist who developed SharingHope.TV, a Web site for visitors to share their experiences fighting cancer using multimedia.

• http://www.fispace.org
• http://www.daveiam.com

Erica O’Grady, Houston. Social media consultant and award-winning Web designer.

• http://reinventingerica.com/
• http://twitter.com/ericaogrady
• http://peanutbuttermedia.com/

Bryan Person, Austin. Founder of Social Media Breakfast, a multicity networking event.

• http://BryanPerson.com/
• http://www.SocialMediaBreakfast.com/
• http://twitter.com/BryanPerson

Connie Reece, Austin. Social media consultant and co-founder of Every Dot Connects, an online social media consortium.

• http://budurl.com/wapo
• http://everydotconnects.com
• http://budurl.com/gpsv

Benn and Lani Rosales, Pflugerville. Creators of AgentGenius.com, an online magazine for real-estate agents.

• http://nmlab.com
• http://twitter.com/agentgenius
• http://twitter.com/laniar

Dwight Silverman, Houston. His blog at the Houston Chronicle is a favorite stop for tech junkies around the state.

• http://blogs.chron.com/techblog
• http://twitter.com/dsilverman

Aaron Strout, Austin. Vice president of marketing at Powered Inc. and former strategist at Mzinga, a social media consulting firm.

• http://blog.stroutmeister.com
• http://twitter.com/aaronstrout
• http://brightkite.com/people/aaronstrout

Paul Terry Walhus, Austin. Blogger, video blogger, videographer, Web developer and Web host with more than 8,000 followers on Twitter.

• http://spring.net
• http://twitter.com/springnet

Michael Williams, Austin. The chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission is using social media in his run for the U.S. Senate.

• http://williamsfortexas.blip.tv/
• http://twitter.com/michaelwilliams
• http://budurl.com/8y54

Even though SxSwi will be the most well-attended social media focused conference on the planet, and certainly in Texas, I hadn't planned on attending this year due to the fact that I just had a new baby less than a month ago. However, I think I will try to make this event, if only to meet my fellow Texan winners. If you will be at SxSWi, you can attend too on March 15 at Ballet Austin’s downtown building (501 W. 3rd Street). Tickets are on sale now for the event, which will include a cocktail party and an awards show.

I hope to see you there.