So I think this should be fun, and I'm excited to watch the awards...but I do have one big concern. Even though it's called the "Pinball Industry Awards", people who work directly in the pinball industry are actually banned from voting. Seems a little like a misnomer to call them the Industry Awards then. I think you should still be allowed to vote even if you work for a manufacturer. It's silly to assume that they couldn't be objective. Besides it's not like there's money on the line here or something, these are just for fun and to show appreciation to people who are working hard in the pinball hobby.
Think about this, the Academy Awards doesn't prohibit it's members from voting just because they worked on a film that was nominated that year. The Academy leaves it up to the individual voting members to choose which films or actors they thought were best, regardless of any actual or implicit bias.
I'm just thinking that it's a little strict to prevent people like RayDay or Ken Cromwell from voting. And if you really are gonna prevent them from voting, then you probably need to include the term "Media" somewhere in the title of the awards or something.
But hey, what do I know? Either way I'm looking forward to these awards, and I applaud the efforts behind this.