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Paul Carter is It is with great pleasure that ABBAMAIL announces our 2003 Fan of the Year - Paul Carter from London. The decision to award Paul Fan of the Year for 2003 was unanimous at ABBAMAIL HQ. This is Paul's second time as fan of the year. He also received the award in 2002. Both times the decision has been unanimous and both times Paul has been an incredibly deserving winner. ABBAMAIL Fan of the Year is awarded to a person who has made a major and consistent contribution to ABBA fandom throughout the previous twelve months. Although there are a number of people who made strong contributions throughout 2003, Paul's absolute consistency in tracking down and forwarding ABBA and ABBA related news is unmatched in ABBA fandom. Paul's generosity towards fellow ABBA fans is truly inspiring. He embodies what we consider to be the best personal qualities in a member of this sub-culture we call "ABBA Fandom". Paul has been able to develop a vast network of ABBA fan friends in the last five years quite simply because of his genuine, honest, open and incredibly warm personality. Paul likes people and people very much like Paul. The culture of two-way ABBA fandom is something that ABBAMAIL has pushed since our beginnings in 1997. We believe good ABBA fans should give something back to the fan community rather than just continually taking. Paul is the living embodiment of the "two-way" principle. He is no "information hog" - when Paul tracks down something in the ABBA world, he immediately writes to ABBAMAIL's internet mailing list to let other fans know. From there, ABBAMAIL then uploads the information to our web site where it can be read by the thousands of ABBA fans who visit www.abbamail.com each month. The ABBF Fan Club in the Netherlands has also carried Paul's reports in their quarterly newsletter meaning that Paul's work is also reaching fans who may not have access to the internet. Paul was the first ABBAMAIL Columnist and is also well known for his annual ABBA reviews - his latest, "ABBA 2003", has recently been uploaded to ABBAMAIL's web site. Paul has also contributed shots for our Picture of the Month pages. We congratulate Paul on being named ABBAMAIL's 2003 FAN OF THE YEAR and thank him on behalf of all ABBA fans for his work.
Graeme Read, ABBAMAIL Administration |
