I wanted to post a few words about the Online Innovator Award. We revealed the winner during the Digital Media Federation reception at the 2007 NAA Marketing Conference tonight in Las Vegas. Special thanks to Howard Finberg, (pictured here, left, with Steve Yelvington) for making the announcement last night.

The finalists this year were Steve Yelvington of Morris Digital Works, and Dave Morgan, of Tacoda, Inc.

First, some context:

The Online Innovator Award recognizes people who push for growth in online publishing, willingly share their lessons learned and mentor others in the field…. The Online Innovator Award recognizes a leader whose commitment to digital media directly influences the direction of his or her company and inspires positive change throughout the industry.

Finberg, of Poynter Institute, graciously announced Steve Yelvington's win, and Finberg said a few words about Yelvington's work:

“He had his own domain before anyone I knew. And Steve wrote – nagged, begged, prodded, cajoled his colleagues to look beyond today; to look toward the future.”

And this was in the 1990s, Finberg said. 

Finberg also said, “I believe [Steve] is, at heart, an optimist. He believes in newspapers.”

And on top of all that, Steve is an all-around nice person.

Congratulations to all of tonight’s winners.

(Note: NAA is hosting a special 2007 Marketing Conference blog. We’ll post some of the digital media highlights here at the Digitial Edge.)