The e-mail came! It finally came!

And it was not the one I expected!

Dear Preserve Our Planet PSA and Film Finalists:

Thank you all so much for your enthusiasm in voting for your favorite PSAs and Films. The response was incredible. Unfortunately, a number of voting irregularities have been brought to the attention of the Film Committee. After further investigation and consultation with our legal department and the company running the online contest, it is very apparent that entries received more than one vote per day from the same computer, which is a violation of the rules. In order to maintain the integrity of the contest and our Preserve Our Planet initiative, we have decided the fairest way to handle the situation is for our unbiased panel of judges to determine the top two winners in each category. Please note all of the online entries were also finalists viewed by the judges. We will post the final results on Thursday at 12 noon, and notify the winners at that time. We thank you for your patience and understanding, and hope that you appreciate our desire to make this process fair to all the finalists.

So… the waiting begins anew. If you’re interested, here’s a list of judges:

• Dr. Brady Barr, National Geographic Channel Herpetologist
• Mark Bauman, Exec. Vice Pres. of Products & VP, Media Programs
• Juliet Blake, Senior Vice President, Production and Development — NGC U.S.
• Sylvia Earle, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, Oceanographer, Explorer,
Author, Lecturer
• Derek and Beverly Joubert, National Geographic Explorers-in-Residence, Filmmakers,
Photographers, Writers, Conservationists
• Lisa Ling, National Geographic Channel and Oprah Winfrey Correspondent
• Steve McCurry, Photographer — Steve McCurry Studios
• Gregory A. McGruder, Vice President, NG Live & Explorers Hall
• Flo Stone, EFF Founder & President, Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital
• Katie Todd, Singer, Songwriter, Conservationist
• Representatives from ecoAmerica and MonsterTRAK’s GreenCareers

Whooooo.