Remember back in middle school or high school when being called a geek was meant as an insult? Fast forward 10 years and in my opinion, being called a geek is the ultimate compliment.
On Saturday night, I had the great privilege of attending the 2013 Philadelphia Geek Awards, presented by Geekadelphia and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.
I was lucky enough to score two tickets to one of the hottest events of the year through my amazing full-time job working in tourism; we proudly sponsored the event and I was super excited to attend.
The Philadelphia Geek Awards honor outstanding achievements in Philadelphia’s geek community, including awards in categories such as social media campaign of the year, mobile app of the year, startup of the year and of course, geek of the year.
So what is a geek, exactly?
I absolutely love Philly Chit Chat’s HughE Dillon’s definition in his blog post about the night: “I learned a geek is also someone who obsesses, I mean has a passion for a particular subject, collection or something.”
I don’t think that statement could be more true…a geek is someone who is completely head over heels in love with a certain topic enough to obsess over it and turn it into a passion to make the world a better place.
For me, that geekiness comes from blogging and writing, which is exactly what I told HughE Dillon when he asked me when I first discovered that I was a geek.
My full response appeared in his blog post for Philadelphia Magazine (#LifeMade…thanks HughE!).
You can read the entire post here and see my response below:
Jessica Lawlor says she realized she was a geek when she started her blog, JessicaLawlor.com which is about getting gutsy. Being gutsy is more about being yourself and not getting permission from another on how to act.
I could go on and on about the Awards themselves; from the incredibly appropriate venue to the fabulously geeky interpretations of “black tie” attire to the amazing networking opportunities, the night was perfect from start to finish.
But most importantly, I left the event feeling completely inspired and energized by the work being done by geeks in the Philadelphia region.
Winners included folks who created a full-length indie film about four teenagers in an inner-city community, a social media campaign focused on reporting stories on gun violence in Philadelphia to bring awareness to the issue, the story of PONG being played on one of Philadelphia’s tallest skyscrapers and a startup company that created an online learning platform for adolescents with autism to get engaged with social media.
Wow. Some amazing individuals and groups of deserving people were rightfully honored on Saturday night. A full list of winners can be found here.
Congratulations to all of the winners and the wonderful Geekadelphia team who worked tirelessly to put this event together, including my two Twitter (turned IRL) friends Eric Smith and Mikey Ilagan.
I can’t wait to continue to share and be inspired by the great work Philadelphia geeks are doing!
Are you a geek? If so, what are you completely geeky about? Don’t be shy! Share your stories in the comments below.
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