Disclosure: I’m covering my own story here, a journalistic faux pas, but it is a true milestone for myself and GamesBids.com.
On Tuesday Robert Livingstone (me) was awarded 3rd place in the International Sports Press Association’s (AIPS) Sport Media Awards during a ceremony that took place at Palace Jawhara in Rabat, Morocco where honors were given across eight categories including written, photographic, video and audio mediums.
My story about sports politics and possible corruption surrounding cricket at the LA 2028 Olympics caught the attention of the 12 jurors who evaluated more than 2,065 entries from 136 nations across all categories, earning GamesBids.com a podium finish for the first time in the Best Column category.
The competition among columnists was formidable with first place awarded to Tianhao Shen of China from Titan Sports who told a compelling story about the European Cup in Germany, and second going to Canada’s Shireen Ahmed from CBC Sports who discussed the hypocrisy of the French hijab ban ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
I am thrilled and honoured to be recognized by the AIPS, an organization that works tirelessly to recognize and elevate our important work and our industry. This recognition of GamesBids.com, and my work, marks a significant milestone that puts me among the leaders in our field.
I began publishing original Olympic bid business online-only news in 1998 – the first to ever do it without the support of a previously printed product. Many people thought I was crazy, wondering how online news could be viable and considered credible. I thought I was crazy.
I was a pioneer on a new frontier, vision and perseverance were essential.
News on the internet was so rare that critics then considered GamesBids.com a “watchdog organization,” and one bid candidate referred to us as a “pirate website”, suggesting we were trying to usurp their official site. Legal action was threatened.
Despite covering – sometimes exclusively – important Olympic bid issues, we were largely disregarded by the journalistic community. That made obtaining credentials and getting access to key people and events impossible.
That didn’t stop us. In 1999 we were awarded the Yahoo! sports website of the week – remember that?
The internet soon evolved, and so did we.
In the early 2000’s I began to travel to bid city sites and was offered important access critical to reporting.
For the first time GamesBids.com was accredited for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games, one of the first digital-only publications recognized to cover an Olympics.
In 2014 I was invited to carry the Sochi 2014 Winter Games relay torch in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. In 2018 I placed fifth, and first in the Americas, in the AIPS Sport Media Awards Journalistic Weblog category. Now I’ve reached the podium.
AIPS has always been at the forefront, recognizing new digital media outlets and assessing their credibility and importance. In this new age of influencers and content creators who may not adhere to the journalistic standards and accountability we value, the AIPS has been there to support our diligence.
These journeys are rarely accomplished alone. On a more personal note, I want to dedicate this award to my wife Hyla who passed away in December after motivating me to submit my work to the competition. Her unwavering support and encouragement throughout the years, and her tolerance of the chaos that often comes with a career in journalism, were key components of my success. It’s clear, I would not have stood on that podium in Rabat if she hadn’t lifted me there.
