Escrow.com has released their latest quarterly Domain Investment Index report (PDF file) covering the 3rd quarter of 2019. The total value of domain names sales transacted through Escrow.com in 3Q-2019 rose to $69.3 million after coming in just a bit lower at $68.6 million in the previous quarter, indicating a "steady as she goes" trend in aftermarket sales.

While 2-3 character domains continue to attract the highest prices, the report shows a trend of longer domain names rising in value. It also noted that letters are more popular than numbers, regardless of length. That has always been true in Western markets but numbers are very popular in the Far East. That resulted in a surge in their value when China became a major force in the aftermarket several years ago but the China boom has since receded.

On another front, Escrow.com's exclusive auction of Fashion.com is now underway (bidders can register here and will also find full details on the auction at that link). When the auction concludes next month, Escrow.com believes Fashion.com could approach the all-time record price paid for Voice.com in June ($30 million). If that happens, the company's 4Q-2019 report will show an enormous jump in total sales volume -  a great way to close out the 2019 sales season.

While I was away on vacation last week I unfortunately missed an opportunity to attend an October 10 awards gala in Washington, D.C. where the first annual .ORG Impact Awards were handed out. However, the Public Interest Registry (the administrator of the .ORG TLD), was kind enough to provide me with some key photos and highlights from the event that I am happy to be able to share with you now that I am back.

During an intimate gathering at The Watergate Hotel, 12 individuals and organizations were named winners of the inaugural 2019 awards. The new Impact Awards program celebrates .ORG domain name users of all types and sizes for their accomplishments in community mobilization, marketing and outreach, and mission achievement. Both organizations and individuals who utilize the popular .ORG domain were honored for their work in

.ORG Impact Awards logo

connecting communities and leveraging the Internet for transformative change. Actor and philanthropist Taye Diggs was also honored as the 2019 .ORG Impact Awards Honoree, for his dedication to greater social good around the world, through both philanthropic and community involvement.

Taye Diggs, the first .ORG Impact Awards Honoree (at left) with Public Interest Registry 
CEO Jon Nevett at the October 10, 2019 Awards Gala in Washington, D.C.

The .ORG Impact Awards (OIA) where presented to winners in three different sectors: Individual Awards (honoring the contribution of an individual to their organization or the broader sector and receive a $5,000 donation to the charitable organization of the winner’s choice), Sector Awards (recognizing organizational and team accomplishments that come with a $2,000 donation to the charitable organization of the winner’s choice) and Initiative Awards (celebrating achievement in a specific online niche, accompanied by a $1,000 donation to the charitable organization of the winner’s choice).

The crystal awards that went to each OIA winner.

Here is the complete list of the inagural .ORG Impact Award Winners:

Individual Awards

• Innovator Award – Alicia Weston, founder of Bags of Taste (UK)

• Rising Star Award –  Diane Diamantis, president and co-founder of Kelsey B Diamantis TS Scholarship Family Foundation Inc. (U.S.)

• Outstanding Volunteer – Zehra Abbas, president and co-founder of Studio 89 (Canada)

Sector Awards

• .ORG Non-profit of the Year – World Refugees School (U.S.)

• .ORG Community Group of the Year – Community Focus Group (Kenya)

Initiative Awards

• Best Integrated Communications Campaign – Skateistan, “Empowering Children Through Skateboarding and Education” (U.S. / Germany)

• Best Social Media Campaign – The Mayhew, “Mayhew Website Redesign” (UK)

• Best Use of Partnerships/Celebrity Endorsements – Kiva, “The Big Impact of Small Loans” (U.S.)

• Outstanding Multimedia Content – C Three Foundation, “C Three Foundation Multimedia Approach" (U.S.) 

• Outstanding Online Fundraising Campaign – Teach For America, “Teach For America Alumni and Staff Challenge” (U.S.)

• Outstanding Website Redesign – The Mayhew, “Home Is Where Their Dog Is” (UK) Top #GivingTuesday Campaign

Congratulations to all of the winners!

A scene from the inaugural .ORG Impact Awards Dinner at 
The Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. October 10, 2019.

As domain investors and developers, most DNJournal readers are already intimately familiar with the .ORG TLD, but for those who may come to this article that are less familiar with the domain space, here is a little background provided by the Public Interest Registry (PIR):

".ORG is the original purpose-driven "generic" top-level domain (gTLD) with more than 10 million domain names registered worldwide. .ORG is open to everyone, providing a global platform for organizations, associations, clubs, businesses and individuals to bring their ideas to life. For more than 30 years, .ORG has built an enduring legacy of trust, preserving an open and secure Internet where diverse communities can establish a trusted online identity and freely share ideas. .ORG is powered by the non-profit Public Interest Registry.  PIR was founded by the Internet Society in 2002 and is based in Reston, Virginia, USA. Visit www.TheNew.org for more information."

The Internet Commerce Association (ICA) has finished processing nominations for its 4th annual Lonnie Borck Memorial Award. Submissions, that were open to all participants in the domain industry, resulted in a list of nine nominees. The next round of voting, limited to ICA members, will narrow the field to three finalists (that voting ends October 25, 2019) with the ICA Board Members then choosing the award winner that will be announced at the 2020 NamesCon conference coming in January in Austin, Texas. 

The ICA created the Lonnie Borck Memorial Award to honor the widely known and universally loved domain investor who passed four years ago this month. In its first three years, the accolade recognized outstanding work in protecting the rights of domain name registrants. The winners were David Weslow (2017), Kathy Kleiman (2018) and John Berryhill (2019). However, this year, in keeping with Lonnie’s generous spirit, The ICA decided to broaden the scope of the award to honor those whose contributions have fostered a sense of community within the domain name industry. 

Lonnie Borck

Below are the nine nominees for the 2020 Lonnie Borck Memorial Award (listed alphabetically by first name), along with a comment made by the first person to nominate that person for the award:

Andrew Allemann 
"He provides a lot of valuable information through his daily news and interviews with industry participants. Such knowledge is made freely available to enable anyone willing to learn to become a better domain investor." 

Ari Goldberger
"As one of the first domain name lawyers, has always helped those in need."

Barbara Neu
"Barbara has been a key organizer of domain conferences going back to the first TRAFFIC show in 2004. She created a sense of community, and more than that, family, at the conferences. In an industry where barely anyone knew each other, Barbara was often the first person from the industry that domain investors would meet and she made sure you felt welcomed. Barbara created a sense of community throughout 10 years of TRAFFIC shows, that were often held two or three times per year, and at The Domain Conference and Merge shows that followed. Ron Jackson published a great profile of Barbara that highlights her importance to the domain name community - http://www.dnjournal.com/cover/2016/july-august.htm"

Donna Mahony
"Donna built Domain Boardroom into a strong community of domain investors. Under Donna’s leadership and oversight, DBR has become a great venue for sharing, learning, and discussing domain names with friends and colleagues."

Elliot Silver
"His advice always valuable and he keeps abreast of the domain investing. Also he has participated in the Pan-Mass Challenge, helping to raise funds and awareness for Dana-Farber Cancer."

Marco Schmidt
"Marco Schmidt's ExpiredDomains.net domain name search tool is an invaluable resource for all domain name investors. Mr. Schmidt humbly works behind the scenes without accolades, continuously updating and improving his tool, providing the picks and axes to those investors mining for domain name gold. And, Mr. Schmidt offers his tool for free, without charge or subscription fee. He is an unsung hero of the industry!"

Michael Cyger
"Having been in the industry for 7 years, I can wholeheartedly recommend Michael for this award. With his DomainSherpa videos, he has opened up the closed and secret society of the privileged few to the entire world. In his hundreds of respectful and thorough videos, he makes everyone accessible, using his positive, caring and community-building demeanor. There is no one that has done more to bring people together and create a community in this industry."

Monte Cahn
"Monte set the bar for registrar and domain marketplace services designed for domainers. From the early days of Moniker.com to his continuing facilitation of live domain auctions, Monte has been indispensable to bringing the community together and establishing high standards of customer service and problem solving."

Ron Jackson
"Ron has been tirelessly tracking and reporting on the industry and its players for over 15 years. In addition, his tracking of publicly-listed domain sales has been essential for showcasing the value of premium domain names to the general public."

Congratulations to all of the nominees!

The Internet Commerce Association (ICA) has started accepting nominations for the 4th annual Lonnie Borck Memorial Award. The ICA created the award in honor of the widely known and universally loved domain investor who passed four years ago this month. The accolade was originally designed to recognize outstanding work in protecting the rights of domain name registrants. That criteria led to the first three awards going to David Weslow, Kathy Kleiman and John Berryhill. However, this year, in keeping with Lonnie’s generous spirit, The ICA decided to broaden the scope of the award to honor those whose contributions have fostered a sense of community within the domain name industry. 

With that in mind, the ICA is inviting everyone in the domain community to take part in the process by submitting suggestions for the nominees. You can use this short nomination form to do that and you are also welcome to share the submission link with your colleagues, on blogs or through social media. The nomination period will remain open until October 15, 2019.  Once the nomination period closes, ICA Members will select the three finalists for the award, then the ICA Board will choose the winner from the three finalists that members select.  

Lonnie Borck

As has been the case in previous years, the presentation of the award will be made in a ceremony at the annual NamesCon conference that is coming up January 29 - February 1, 2020 in Austin, Texas. NamesCon just opened registration for the show this week and reported over 1,000 sign-ups within the first 24 hours.