History of the Shareware Industry Awards

The Shareware Industry Awards were conceived as a way to honor, and acknowledge some of the best software available that uses the shareware marketing model.

The Shareware Industry Awards were the idea of Michael E. Callahan, aka Dr. File Finder, in 1991. Michael had the awards logo created by Michael Coman, who was then the art director for Shareware Magazine. The first Shareware Industry Awards were held in 1992 during the second Summer Shareware Seminar.

At that time the awards were voted on primarily by the librarians of the big disk vendors. These people looked at lots of shareware and were quite knowledgeable. For those first awards in 1992 there were eight (8) categories and thirteen (13) voters. In the years that followed the categories were expanded as were the number of voters.

As the days of the disk vendors ended, however, the number of qualified voters began to dwindle. So, in 1999, Mr. Callahan opened up the voting to shareware authors, journalists, reviewers, and the representatives of companies that develop, package, sell, or distribute shareware products.

Since that time the Shareware Industry Awards have continued to grow and expand. Currently there are several thousand voters in 87 countries, all 50 states, and every province of Canada.

The SIAF People's Choice Awards were also created by Mr. Callahan and are coordinated by him. These awards are voted on by the general public. Voting takes place on the SIAF Web site, software author Web sites, an and is hosted by sites like Download.Com, PC World, Simtel, and Tucows.

To honor those who have made particularly significant contributions to the shareware industry, the SIAF board of directors created the "Shareware Hall Of Fame" and the Shareware Industry Award for Lifetime Achievement. All of these awards are intended to honor the people and products that are part of the shareware industry.

The Shareware Industry Awards are coordinated solely by Michael E. Callahan aka Dr. File Finder (tm), Chairman of the SIAF. If you have more questions about the SIAF, the Shareware Industry Awards, or any aspect of the SIC, please contact Michael E. Callahan, SIAF Chairman.