WMC means something special to just about everyone in the dance music community. For partiers, the Winter Music Conference is a mecca of the biggest and best dance music events in one of the few cities in the US that still knows the meaning of the word party. For gear heads it's THE conference that shows off the latest and greatest in dance music technology. For the elite class of people who make dance music what it is, WMC means IDMA. IDMA stands for the International Dance Music Awards which in 2009 celebrated their 24th year of awarding everything from needles to bands a "best of" status for their category. The organization has become the single strongest authority of what is truly hot in dance music culture.

On March 26th, in a ceremony much like the Oscars but without the red carpet, the celebrities, the fanfare or the fancy ballroom (ok, so it's nothing like the Oscars), the new kings and queens of the dance floor were crowned. Some of the winners came as no surprise like Tiesto winning Best Global DJ and best continuous mix with "In Search of Sunrise Vol. 7" or beatport.com taking the prize for best dance music retailer (duh!). Was there really any question that Abelton Live would beat out Logic Pro for best software program? Was there someone out there pulling for the Numark x2 to finally end the era of the Technic 1200?

Other winners however seemed to come out of nowhere to take home a "I am better than you" title like dancemusic.about.com taking Best Dance Music Website over veteran players like residentadvisor.net. About.com? Seriously? It seems ridiculous I know but take a look and you will see why. Someone has been hard at work over there! ID&T... Ever heard of them? Well apparently they are bigger and better than Insomniac, Godskitchen and Live Nation when it comes to being party promoters. Makes me want to go back to the Netherlands and see for myself.

Some other notable wins include Pacha New York which took home the title of best US club, Deadmau5 for best break-through DJ, Ultra Music Festival won Best Music Event, DJ Mag gets to be Best Music Publication for another year, Best Radio Mix Show went to Armin Van Buuren and San Francisco's very own Energy 92.7 brought home the crown of best Terrestrial Radio Station (FM signal for you earthlings out there).

For a full list of the winners in categories like Best Record Label, Best Record Pool, Best Cartridge and other awards, check out the IDMA Awards page. Congrats to all you winners and condolences to all you bums who lost to the winners... The bums always lose.