At the time of writing this column the traditional bombardment of ‘Things of the Year’ was still in full swing. Brace yourself for some astonishing results: Raid Protector fly, wasp & mosquito killer is ‘Insect Control of the Year’ in the UK. Victoria Beckham is ‘Worst Dressed Celebrity of the Year’ according to the infamous fashion designer Mr. Blackwell. And the ‘Fineman PR Blunder of the Year’ goes to an American federal agency that held a fake press conference. During this press conference the agency’s own employees acted as ‘critical’ journalists who asked the questions that their colleagues answered.

It seems there are more ‘Things of the Year’ competitions every year. Next to the more traditional Books and Movies of the Year, TV programs now choose their ‘TV Moment of the Year’. In the Netherlands we give an award to the ‘TV commercial of the Year’. But we also give awards to the ‘Most Irritating Commercial of the Year’ and even to the ‘Most Obnoxious Celebrity in a Commercial of the Year’. If this trend continues pretty soon peanut butter producers will start to choose their ‘Peanut butter of the Year’ annually as well.

I am afraid that magazine publishers might be partly responsible for spreading this ‘Of the Year’ infection. They hand-out loads of awards to themselves: Viva (Sanoma Uitgevers) is Magazine of the Year in the Netherlands. In Australia, G Magazine won Consumer Magazine Launch of the Year. (By the way, for those interested in good magazine ideas: G Magazine is a successful monthly ‘green lifestyle magazine’ with a circulation of 35,000 copies.) The New Yorker’s 11 September issue won ‘Cover of the Year’. And the editor of Bauer’s ‘Take a Break’ became Editor of the Year in England.

Apparently receiving awards must be infectious as well, because magazines hand out awards just as frequently. Just look at the 2007 harvest that I googled in less than twenty seconds. Time magazine’s Person of the Year is Vladimir Putin. Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year is Brett Favre (you have never heard of him because he plays American Football). GQ: Bill Clinton is Public Citizen of the Year. Glamour: Jennifer Garner is one of 14 (!!!) Women of the Year. Playboy: Sara Jean Underwood is Playmate of the year. Reader’s Digest’s Hero of the Year is yet to be announced – if only we will be able to wait until April…

Looking at all these awards I only have one more thing to say: I now announce this column Village’s Column of the Year.

And on a final note: do we want to make sure that our magazines stand out from the competition? Would we like our users* to recognize unique distinguishing features that make our magazines preferable to competitive publications? Do we believe that producing one bland oversupply of magazines with almost identical contents will cause our readers to be fed up with magazines? Maybe we should then refrain from copying ideas from one another. What works for one magazine, doesn’t necessarily have to be copied in another. Who can tell People from US Weekly from OK! from one of the many other celebrity magazines? Maybe we should try to be original. Thank you.

* In the US, it is now hip to call ‘readers’ ‘users’.

Every Village, Robin Janszen from Sanoma Magazines ponders about events that shape our industry.