It’s that time of year and there are lots of Awards ceremonies going on to celebrate the hard work of the past year. Many of these are organised and voted for by the people that operate within whichever industry is in question and the online bingo and gaming world is no different.

The EGaming Review magazine awards took place recently and are a classic case in point. Recognising the work of gaming operators and those that publicise what they do, the panel is made up of industry hierarchy. They are highly regarded awards, but again and again it is said that the highest value awards in any industry are those voted for by the paying or playing public.

On this basis back in 2007 WhichBingo UK, an EGR Award winner itself, instigated an annual award to recognise and reward the best that the online bingo industry has to offer as judged by those that really matter – online bingo players themselves.

Voting has just opened in the fifth annual WhichBingo Site of the Year Awards and a quick look around many of the bingo sites and their Facebook pages shows very clearly how important this award is to them.

Everyone is very keen to ensure that their players go along to vote for them. Betfred and Gala Bingo are just two big names that are running big Facebook campaigns to ensure that their players make their vote count for them and over the coming weeks lots more are likely to join them.

Past winners of the award include Ladbrokes Bingo, Jackpotjoy and Sun Bingo – all of which have huge player bases and it will be interesting to see if they can pull it off again.

Also recognised by WhichBingo are the new bingo sites that launched through 2011 in the New Bingo Site of the Year category, won last year by Bingo Hollywood.

During 2011 many new sites opened on the Dragonfish network like Hippo Bingo and Pink Ribbon Bingo. Have any of them done enough to make them stand out from the crowd?

Two new categories have also been introduced this year – Best TV Advertising Campaign and Best Bingo Promotion. Lots of hard work go into these areas of a very competitive business and it is only right to have that hard work recognised.

Anyone that would like to vote for their favourites can do so at WhichBingo UK.