Temperatures hot up, as do competitions

Here in the UK we're basking in extremely warm temperatures...after a wash-out summer in 2009 (which the UK's Met Office had predicted would be a scorcher), 2010 looks set to have a hot, dry summer.

And as the temperature increases outside, it is getting warmer in the AIB office. The phones are ringing off the hook and the world's courier companies are busy delivering packages of Digibeta tapes and CDs - all entries to this year's AIBs, the international media excellence awards.

We have entries from every continent and more are on the way - and many broadcasters, production houses and tech companies have asked us for more time to get their entries to us. So, we've agreed to an extension to the closing date.

Instead of the original date of 2 July, we've extended the closing date to Friday 16 July at 1600 GMT. That's the final cut-off for entries to reach us - giving people another ten working days to get their material to us.

We're looking forward to a great competition this year, with a great panel of judges (who are looking forward to the judging process, they are telling me) and great support from the industry via sponsorship: Eurosport is the latest company to agree to sponsor the 2010 AIBs, alongside Bloomberg Television, Advanced Digital Broadcast and 1GOAL.

Make sure you get your entries in by 16 July.