October 30, 1998 03:13 AM

Update - 2nd March 2005 - we won a BAFTA this year!!

Sadly, we were pipped to the post in both categories - "MindGym" got Comedy, and the Interactive Treatment award was won by "StageStruck".

If it's any compensation, Riven (who were sharing a table with us) had 3 nominations, and didn't get any awards either. And neither did the cuddly Barney toy (which was publicly hissed during the nominations). And if schadenfreude doesn't cheer you up, the 24-carat chocolate Baftas that I stole might.

Emma's buddies at Real World on the table opposite us netted two awards - Moving Images (beating Riven) and Sound (also beating Riven), while Rare won the special award for contributions to the industry, meaning we actually saw the creators of "Sabre Wulf" and "Knight Lore" by flashlight if not in daylight.

Other happenings of note - NTK were singled out by host Stephen Fry in the nominations for the Bafta Interactive Entertainment Awards (News & Magazine Award), saying that it was a testament to the <hyperbole> of the web that NTK could compete with the big players like the BBC, CNN & The Telegraph.

The Beeb (who won) very wisely had a jazzy showreel for nominations video wall, while CNN and ET had embarrassingly silent someone-using-Netscape-DIY-footage.

That British bloke at CERN whose name I've forgotten who invented the web had the "The Award for Best Personal Contribution by a British Individual" named after him, so it's now officially the "Bloke At CERN Whose Name I've Forgotten Award for Best Personal Contribution by a British Individual". And Bafta have obviously forgotten too, as there's no mention on their awards page http://www.bafta.org/bafta/7_interact/7_WINNERS_view.htm.

David Puttnam re-hashed (joke for the Perl geeks) his "The British Are Coming" speech before handing out the gongs, but cringe of the evening award goes to Bafta Chairman Tim Angel who (while introducing Stephen Fry) shared his insight that the "Hotel INTER-Continental" was the perfect location for the "INTER-active Awards".

Mr. Fry duly noted that it was perhaps the first time that Dinner Jacket met Anorak, and as well as namechecking Douglas in practically his opening sentence and whinging about PC's not being able to read Mac BinHexed email, came over to our table straight after the awards to commiserate Douglas.

As the roadies mixed with waiters in the general destruction of the dining room, the more active members of the audience strutted their stuff on the dancefloor, while the less active propped up the disco's bar muttering "1500 quid a table and the disco's got a paying bar ..." until we were all chucked out in the wee small hour.

Sean, Fri 30/10/98 03:13am. Covent, Garden.