Former journalist, Diamond Flush, who passed away this last year, will be honored at the iGaming North America awards as the recipient of the Operator of the Year award.
I never met Diamond Flush, but you learn a lot by the way a person writes. I know I would have liked her.
Tonight is the night that I will learn if I have won the European Poker Award (EPA) for Media Person of the Year. I won’t be there in person to collect it, should I win, so I pre-prepared a statement to be read in my absence should fortune favor the lad from the valleys.
The soul of that statement was about being different. If I win that award, it’s because the poker community celebrates unbiased opinion. That’s what sets me apart from everyone else. I’m not tied to a particular company. My thoughts and feelings are not held back. I wake up and write whatever I want.
At the iGaming North America awards, 14-16 April, Diamond Flush will be posthumously awarded with the Operator of the Year award. The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement Director, David Rebuck, will present the award, and a special video will play, paying tribute to the work she did for the community she loved.
Unbiased work.
Her personal blog had a mission statement.
This was a person with heart.
“I have no financial, contractual, or any other obligation to any poker site, or their principals, that would bar me from offering a totally unbiased view of any news, good or bad, that should be reported.” She wrote.
She didn’t stop there.
She refused to have advertisements, on her site, promoting any company or individual that could be the subject of her news, and never received any monetary compensation for any interview that she carried out.
This was a woman with meaning and purpose. It wasn’t money. It was uncovering the newsworthy aspects of the poker industry and creating a platform for them to be delivered in the most clear and concise way possible.
It’s just a shame that the poker community didn’t recognize the work of the media when she was alive. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have written a pre-prepared speech for this evening.
A different name would have been etched into the glass.
Diamond Flush.
