When I deliver my opening remarks for The Story Prize event, I invariably provide the usual reminder for everyone in the audience to turn off their cell phones, pagers (do people still use these?), and watch beepers (ditto). But this year, will be different because I'm going to add the following qualification:Those of you on Twitter are free to tweet about the event. In fact we encourage it, if you can do so without disturbing those around you.This will probably elicit laughs from the audience, particularly among those who won't know what I'm talking about. Those who do will understand that some in attendance will be sending out brief messages of 140 characters or less that others can read on their cell phones or computers. So if you're on Twitter and you follow @ronhogan or @readerville or @jasonboog, and others who might be in attendance, you're likely to get some real-time dispatches from The Story Prize event on Wednesday night. If you're not on Twitter, you might want to think about signing up. Trust me, once you're acclimated, you'll find it interesting and useful.
This blog and our Web site will post the winner at or around 9:45 p.m.--to be on the safe side and keep from announcing the news before the event is over--but you may be able to learn the outcome sooner if you're on Twitter. The actual announcement will probably come between 9 and 9:30. You can also follow The Story Prize @lcdark. I might have a thing or two to tweet from the event, if I have the chance.