Email to WorldCOB about the Bizz Awards 2009

Hi Franck

Thanks for calling over the last couple of days to talk further about the Bizz Awards and your response to our coverage.

Unfortunately I remain unconvinced that I am wrong about the nature of the Bizz Awards.  As far as I can tell, and you haven't given me any evidence to the contrary, these "awards" are not genuine.  They are not based on any true assessment of the companies in question prior to their notification.  They appear not to be based on any objective criteria.  They genuinely seem to be nothing more than awards that companies pay to receive.

I am not the only person who feels this way and despite the attendance each year of a number of paying companies and despite the existence of the "award" scheme for a few years, I find your critics more persuasive than people self-justifying their payments for attendance at an award ceremony.

I'm also concerned at your attempt to reward me if I stopped criticising the Bizz Awards and removed my comments from the Consumer Watchdog blog.  Your offer of international flights from Botswana to Texas, accommodation and entertainment as well as attendance at the Bizz Awards 2009 ceremony in Houston, Texas in return for removing all my commentary about the awards was, I believe, an attempt to bribe me into silence.

I will, of course, NOT be accepting your offer.

Regards

Richard Harriman