Going for the Gold

But two other judges — FS Senior Editor Joe Boland and Paul Bobnak, director of the Who's Mailing What Archive — and I locked ourselves in the 12th floor conference room of FundRaising Success' Philadelphia headquarters. The view was spectacular, but once we started, we never saw it again. We spent the entire day opening envelopes, reading direct-mail copy, e-mail campaigns, telemarketing scripts. The work we saw was phenomenal. You impressed us with brilliant creative (a paper airplane, pet-personalized ornaments). You wowed us with bold risks that paid off (mailing a single sock in an acquisition package — really? Really!). You inspired us with new and innovative multichannel approaches (think "Ghostbusters" and the New York Public Library). You moved us with nothing more than a plain envelope and the simplicity of a powerful story. You made us chuckle, you made our brows furrow and you even made us cry. But it was the results — the results were what was so impressive.