Gay columnist Rita Snatch accused the Juicy Awards of not understanding gay Brighton and of giving an award to a club which closed some time ago (Letters, September 27).

Rita, what can I tell you? Just like the original nominations, the awards were chosen by the people and voted for by people who cared enough to tick a box.

These people picked up any one of the 10,000 nomination forms distributed across the city, including the 65 nominated venues.

These people listened to the debates on Juice 107.2FM over the past four months in which pundits from the community discussed the merits of the nominees.

If you had checked your facts, you would have realised it was no more than a technical glitch that had our presenters referring to Decoy.

These things happen. The punters knew who they were voting for.

The point of the Juicy Awards is to provide a forum and focus to celebrate the best bars, pubs, restaurants, artists, bands, businesses, club nights, comedy acts, venues and hotels in the city and that is what everyone who gathered at The Dome last Monday did. We all had a ball, except you, it seems.

Of course, you can criticise any awards ceremony, from the Oscars to the Juicy Awards. How can you really compare different things? How can punters compare a lesbian bar such as The Candy Bar with gay discos such as Revenge or Pool? On what criteria?

But primarily the Juicy Awards are a celebration, which is why we chose to use a film of gay Brighton rather than showcase the individual nominees.

We asked Pride to provide the film and, when they agreed, credited them in the brochure and invited them to the awards - on the Friday before the awards, when we couldn't get hold of them.

We were indebted to Glam (Gay and Lesbian Media Arts) and Brighton Museum and Gallery for lending us their footage of Pride instead.

Rita suggests we should have referred to the Juicy Guide to find out about what goes on in gay Brighton and Hove and suggests we failed to mention Decoy at Arc on page 93.

Look again, Rita. If you take a little more time to check your facts before you challenge Juicy's reputation, you could spend your time and energy encouraging enterprises like ours which promote all sections of the community.

-Gilly Smith, organiser of the Juicy Awards and publisher of the Juicy Guide, Brighton