2013 Powder Awards Music

Powder Poll U

Since the inception of the Powder Awards, thenumber of professional ski films produced increases each year. This, of course, demonstrates the vitality and demand for ski cinematography. But it also makes the job of the Powder editors and videographers at Mountain Sports International (MSI) that much more difficult and demanding. Once we watch every film, Powder asks each film company to submit their nominees for each category except Movie of the Year:

Best Male Performance

Best Female Performance

Full Throttle

Breakthrough Performance

Best Documentary

Best Point of View (POV)

Best Line

Best Powder

Best Air: Natural

Best Air: Manmade

Best Editing

Once we receive each film company’s nomination, we combine their submissions with any notable entries they may have missed, and compile all the footage onto DVD.

How the winning films are chosen

Perhaps the most integral ingredient of the Powder Awards is the expert panel. Each year, we scan and survey the industry for about two dozen industry-wide experts, from photographers, to skiers, to filmers, to writers, to product and marketing managers, in order to judge and select nominees for each category. These experts vote for their top five nominations and a winner in each category.

Online and ballot tallying

And you, the reader, have a place too. As tradition dictates, readers are asked to vote for their favorite men and women athletes in the Reader Poll by voting online at www.PowderAwards.com, or by tweeting, or posting an instagram photo and tagging it #powderawardsvote. So make your voice heard, and see who wins on the night of January 17, 2013. Will Tom Wallisch and Ingrid Backstrom keep their places at the top of your list, or will someone new knock them?

This year we’re offering new online voting options. Twitter users can Tweet the name of the skier they’d like to vote for and tag #PowderAwardsVote. Similarly, Instagram users can post a picture of their favorite skier with the same hashtag to cast their vote. These votes will count in the same way as a No. 1 vote on Powderawards.com. These social media techniques will open up the voting field, allowing surfers and brands the opportunity to campaign for votes, ultimately providing the chance to shuffle up the ruling elite considerably.

Show Production

It seems as soon as one epic night of the Powder Awards and Reader Poll concludes, our marketing team is hard at work planning another unforgettable night for next year. It’s a scramble to organize all the festivities involved, yet somehow, the staff congeals and continues to elevate the fun each year. The wheel of plans and ideas spins around the Powder offices in late-spring, and we decide on a theme in early-autumn. Guest presenters,entertainers, and hosts get slated in the fall. Invitations are mailed out shortly thereafter for the best night in the ski industry hosted at Park City Live in Park City, Utah.

Guest Presenters and Celebrities

The Powder Awards have been hosted in Las Vegas, Aspen, and this year are heading to Park City. Shannon Elizabeth, the foreign-exchange hotty in American Pie, Lonnie Paxton of the New England Patriots Super Bowl championship teams, G. Love, and Jason Lewis from Sex and The City have all graced the fabled red carpet of the Powder Awards and Reader Pollsthroughout the years. Of course, every pro from the last couple of decades from Glen Plake to Kye Petersen has been in attendance in addition to all those scantily-clad pro clingers. Who will elicit the flashes of cameras on the red carpet this year? Which musician will have the packed crowd swaying, jiving, and dancing this year? If you’re on the list, then maybe you’ll find out while rubbing elbows at the bar or dance floor or in line to the bathroom.