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Winner and Nominee Announcements For The 2023 GAAD Ad Giveaway Sponsored By Top Tech Tidbits and Access Information News

Released: 5/18/2023

Author: Aaron Di Blasi, Publisher, Top Tech Tidbits

A Brief History of Top Tech Tidbits

Long before I became the volunteer Publisher for the two largest access publications in the world today, people would often ask me, "are you a computer engineer or a magazine publisher?" To which my response was always, "yes."

As you can imagine this response is often met with silence. Which is intentional, because it leads to understanding. While I am indeed a computer engineer by trade that is not the profession that I ultimately chose to pursue. I decided instead to follow my heart into technology, data analytics, design and marketing.

After graduating with the epiphany that I did not wish to live the life of a computer engineer, I began working as Ad Services Artist and Webmaster for the Machine Design and American Machinist Magazines in 1998, where I served both magazines and their respective websites for a little over 5 years. I left in 2004 to start Mind Vault Solutions, Ltd.

Mind Vault began working on Top Tech Tidbits for Flying Blind, LLC (since dissolved) in March of 2007 under Larry Lewis (as Publisher) and Dean Martineau (as Editor).

This partnership lasted from 2007 to 2020, at which time Mind Vault took over Top Tech Tidbits as a not-for-profit project with the goal of getting the publication to fund itself.

Something I am very happy to report that we have been able to achieve with the help and support of everyone in the access community.

The 5 Groups Required To Birth A Successful, Community-Funded, Not-For-Profit, Access Media Publication

With that short historical foundation laid, let's quickly identify the 5 groups required to birth a successful, community-funded, not-for-profit, access media publication, and how each group benefits by being a part of the publication.

#1: Readers 📖

Also referred to as subscribers or an audience. The bigger, the better. The more frequent, the more current. The more specialized, the more sought after.

➜ Benefit: Readers get high quality, current access news and trends delivered to them each week, free of charge.

#2: A Publisher 📰

Someone whose job is to make sure that the publication remains funded and is consistently distributing high quality and current news and trends to its readership. This person is also responsible for keeping all Sponsors, Supporters and Readers both satisfied and happy with the direction of the publication. This person manages and makes the final decisions on all of the feedback requests submitted for consideration. The Publisher and his sponsoring company pay to keep the publication running anytime it does meet sponsorship requirements.

➜ Benefit: The Publisher benefits by giving back to the community while establishing authority for his company in a specific field, or fields. In this case, access technology, design and marketing.

#3: Sponsors and Supporters 🤝

Also referred to as advertisers. These are the persons, businesses and organizations that pay the actual dollars that keep the publication running. (Thank you.)

➜ Benefit: In return for their financial support both Sponsors and Supporters receive reader exposure in each newsletter, while Sponsors reserve the EXCLUSIVE ability to sell or promote their products and/or services within the newsletter each week. That's right. No one else can sell within the newsletter except for Sponsors. Which now includes Sponsored Tidbits. All other information is kept purely informative for the benefit of readers.

#4: Editors 📕

These are persons that specialize in fields related to accessibility who consistently surface high quality and current news and trends for consideration.

➜ Benefit: Editors benefit by adding world-class access journalism credentials to their portfolios.

#5: Content Creators ✍

Also referred to as Access Influencers. These are the persons, businesses and organizations that actually CREATE the high quality, informative and current access content that our publications deliver to you each week.

➜ Benefit: Content Creators receive free exposure in one of the two largest and most specific not-for-profit access publications in the world today, anytime they create a piece of content that our editors deem "reader-worthy." While this exposure increases their follower count and authority each time we publish them, for most content creators, this just doesn't happen often enough.

And that's why today is all about them.

Because we all know from experience that content creators don't get enough love (read as exposure) for the amount of work they have to put in to create top notch content.

So we put this contest together as a way to say thank you to those content creators (read as Access Influencers) that actually create the bulk of the high quality news that you and I read each week.

" We want them to know that we support them, love them for what they do, and genuinely appreciate their ongoing efforts to educate the access community. "

And so, without further ado, here are the winners of the 2023 Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) Ad Giveaway Sponsored By Top Tech Tidbits and Access Information News!

2023 GAAD Ad Giveaway Winners

#10 | Winner: Accessibility.com ☆
https://www.accessibility.com/

Prize: Two Sponsored Tidbits | Value: $100 USD

#9 | Winner: Hadley ☆
https://hadley.edu/

Prize: Two Sponsored Tidbits | Value: $100 USD

#8 | Winner: dSurf.net By Dan Clark ☆
https://dsurf.net/

Prize: Two Sponsored Tidbits | Value: $100 USD

#7 | Winner: Blind institute of Technology ☆
https://blindinstituteoftechnology.org/

Prize: Two Sponsored Tidbits | Value: $100 USD

#6 | Winner: Accessible Web ☆
https://accessibleweb.com/

Prize: Two Sponsored Tidbits | Value: $100 USD

#5 | Winner: Michael Babcock ☆
https://mastodon.accessinformationnews.com/@payown@iaccessibility.social

Prize: Two Sponsored Tidbits | Value: $100 USD

#4 | Winner: Paths To Literacy ☆
https://www.pathstoliteracy.org/

Prize: Two Sponsored Tidbits | Value: $100 USD

#3 | Winner: Living Blindfully by Jonathan Mosen ☆
https://www.livingblindfully.com/

Prize: One Quarterly Access Information News Sponsorship Package | Value: $300 USD

#2 | Winner: Carrie on Accessibility ☆
https://carrieonaccessibility.com/

Prize: One Quarterly Access Information News Sponsorship Package | Value: $300 USD

#1 | Winner: Hartgen Consultancy by Brian Hartgen ☆
http://www.hartgen.org/

Prize: One Quarterly Access Information News Sponsorship Package | Value: $300 USD

If you are one of the 10 winners listed above, CONGRATULATIONS!

By decree of the global access community at large you are now one of the Top 10 World Class Access Influencers of 2023!

On behalf of all of us here at Top Tech Tidbits and Access Information News we would like to extend to you our sincerest thanks and most heartfelt gratitude for everything that you do to educate the access community on an ongoing basis.

Please reach out to me at your earliest convenience to claim your prize at: publisher@toptechtidbits.com 📧️.

2023 GAAD Ad Giveaway Nominee List By Number of Nominations Received

I would like to thank everyone in the access community who took the time to nominate the following Access Influencers in this year's contest.

If you are an Access Influencer and your name is not on this list, please consider requesting nomination next year!

21 | Carrie On Accessibility
2nd Place Winner ☆
https://carrieonaccessibility.com/

6 | APH ConnectCenter
https://aphconnectcenter.org/

4 | Hartgen Consultancy
1st Place Winner ☆
http://www.hartgen.org/

4 | Living Blindfully by Jonathan Mosen
3rd Place Winner ☆
https://www.livingblindfully.com/

4 | Pneuma Solutions
https://pneumasolutions.com/

3 | 9to5Mac
https://9to5mac.com/

3 | Accessibility.com
10th Place Winner ☆
https://www.accessibility.com/

3 | Adrian Roselli
https://adrianroselli.com/

3 | Blind Android Users
https://blindandroidusers.com/

3 | Braille Works
https://brailleworks.com/

3 | Cool Blind Tech
https://coolblindtech.com/

3 | Dan Clark
8th Place Winner ☆
https://dsurf.net/

3 | David Goldfield
https://groups.io/g/tech-vi

3 | David Woodbridge
https://twitter.com/dwoodbridge

3 | Equal Entry
https://equalentry.com/

3 | Eyes on Success
https://www.eyesonsuccess.net/

3 | Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired
9th Place Winner ☆
https://hadley.edu/

3 | Kelly Ford | The Idea Place
https://theideaplace.net/

3 | Level Access
https://www.levelaccess.com/

3 | Lucy Edwards
https://www.lucyedwards.com/

3 | Michael Babcock
5th Place Winner ☆
https://iaccessibility.social/@payown

3 | Paths To Literacy
4th Place Winner ☆
https://www.pathstoliteracy.org/

3 | The Blind Life
https://www.youtube.com/c/theblindlife

3 | The Thoughts and Ramblings of Steve
https://steves.life/

3 | Veroniiica
https://veroniiiica.com/

1 | Accessible Web
6th Place Winner ☆
https://accessibleweb.com

1 | Blind institute of Technology
7th Place Winner ☆
https://blindinstituteoftechnology.org/

1 | Chela Robles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHjZZnuPNW0

1 | Donna Jodhan
https://www.donnajodhan.com/

1 | Hable
https://www.iamhable.com/

1 | Musharraf Omer
https://github.com/mush42

1 | Nagish App
https://nagish.com/

1 | Qurtaba Audio Library
https://www.qurtaba.org

1 | The World of Being Blind By Darren Dizon
https://darrendizonofficial.com/

Until next year!

Cheers,

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP

Publisher (2020-Present)
Top Tech Tidbits
The Week's News in Access Technology
https://toptechtidbits.com 🌐

Publisher (2022-Present)
Access Information News
The Week's News in Access Information
https://accessinformationnews.com 🌐

Sr. Project Management Professional (2006 - Present)
Mind Vault Solutions, Ltd.
Innovative ideas. Solutions that perform.
https://mvsltd.com 🌐

Certified:

Digital Marketing Associate
Meta Certified (2022 - Present) ✔

Social Marketing Professional
Hootsuite Certified (2020 - Present) ✔

Email Marketing Professional
Constant Contact Certified (2019 - Present) ✔

Specializing in:

Digital Strategy and Content Marketing ⚙
Social Media Advertising ⚙
Online Fundraising ⚙
ADA, WCAG and Section 508 Compliance ⚙

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