MediaConnect is today announcing the categories for the eighth annual Sun Microsystems IT Journalism Awards and the ongoing support of foundation sponsors Sun Microsystems and Watterson Marketing Communications.

"We're delighted that both Sun and Watterson are coming on board for the eighth consecutive year," said MediaConnect CEO Phil Sim. "On behalf of the community I thank both those companies for their ongoing support because without it, these awards would not be possible."

Entries will be accepted from January 4 and close on February 12. Entries can be submitted by nominees themselves or on behalf of journalists by editors, peers, or anyone within the IT or media communities. Entry forms and detailed instructions on how to enter will be posted to thelizzies.com website when entries open. All journalists who enter the awards, receive a complementary ticket to the Gala Dinner event, which will be held at Star City Casino on Friday, April 16th. A $1,000 first prize will be given for Best Title and Best Journalist.

Full category descriptions and updated criteria for next year's awards will be posted to thelizzies.com website tomorrow.

"For the most part, categories have not changed a great deal from last year's revamped awards program, which was highly successful and generated very positive feedback," said Sim. "That said, as we always do, we have continued to tweak the program based on feedback from judges and entrants."

Changes to the 2010 program are:
1. Finalists will be announced for all categories prior to the awards. This change was made based on feedback from the journalist community.
2. We now require the submission of three or four (rather than six) articles for all categories including Publishing awards. Submissions should include no more than three articles above 1500 words and should not exceed 6000 words in total. This change has been made to decrease the time it takes to judge the awards and to introduce a standard way to judge editorial quality across all categories.
3. The introduction of Best Technology Magazine category. This category is now only open to magazines that write predominantly about technology or the technology industry and does not differentiate between business and consumer magazines. This change was made to ensure that the awards stay focused on technology media.
4. Best News Coverage and Best News Journalist is now judged based on the submission of four news stories, rather than the previous Epitome accumulated point totals. This change was made as a result of the replacement of the old Epitome point system with this year's Kudos system.
5. Best Consumer Technology Journalist has been narrowed in scope to focus on news and feature stories written from a consumer persepective. Product reviews, opinion or technical/tutorial writing cannot be submitted. This change was made to eliminate overlap with other categories.
6. Best Reviewer may no longer include game reviews. This change was made to eliminate overlap with the Gaming Journalist award, which has been made up of mostly review content in past years.
7. Best Technical Journalist is being more narrowly defined to include content that is written to educate or explain technology concepts or usage. This includes tutorial content and articles aiming to explain technology concepts to audiences.
8. Best PR Professional has been renamed as Best Media Relations. This change was made to more accurately describe what the award is seeking to recognise, that is the PR professional's media relations performance, as judged by the technology media community.

The awards are split into six categories.

1. The Publishing Awards aim to recognise the entire team behind a publication and incorporate criteria to measure both production quality and commercial success
2. The Coverage Awards aim to recognise editorial quality by a team of journalists working for a single masthead
3. The Beat Awards aim to recognise journalists who demonstrate the greatest skill in delivering content for a particular audience
4. The Journalist Awards aim to recognise journalists who excel in using different journalism forms
5. The PR Award which aims to recognise one PR practitioner for their excellence in professionally handling media relations
6. The Gold Lizzies which recognise the single best journalist and title for the year

This year's awards are as follows:

GOLD LIZZIES
1. Best Title
2. Best Journalist

PUBLISHING AWARDS
3. Best Technology Magazine
4. Best Website
5. Best Audio Program
6. Best Video Program

COVERAGE AWARDS
7. Best News Coverage
8. Best Technology Industry Coverage
9. Best Business Technology Coverage
10. Best Personal Technology Coverage
11. Best Gaming Coverage

BEAT AWARDS
12. Best Technology Industry Journalist
13. Best Business Technology Journalist
14. Best Consumer Technology Journalist
15. Best Gaming Journalist

JOURNALISM AWARDS
16. Best New Journalist
17. Best News Journalist
18. Best Columnist
19. Best Reviewer
20. Best Technical Journalist

PR AWARD
21. Best Media Relations