The Brownlow Medal is the most prestigious individual award in Australian rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

 and was awarded in 2010 to Chris Judd

Chris Judd

Christopher Dylan "Chris" Judd is a professional Australian rules footballer and current captain of the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League ....

 from the Carlton Football Club

Carlton Football Club

The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...

 for being voted as the fairest and best

Best and Fairest

Best and Fairest is the term commonly used in Australian sport to describe the player adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition while not receiving a suspension for misconduct or breaching the rules during that season.In the...

 during the 2010

2010 AFL season

-Premiership season:The draw for the 2010 AFL Premiership Season is not a random selection of matches, but rather is planned by the AFL. It is intended to produce a balanced draw while also providing the fans and television networks with blockbuster games. In a competition with 16 teams and 22...

 Australian Football League

Australian Football League

The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

 home and away season. The vote counting ceremony was held at the Crown Palladium in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

 on 20 September 2010. It was broadcast on Channel Ten

Network Ten

Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...

 and, for the first time, simultaneously on One HD live and nationally.

Leading votegetters

	Player	Votes
1st	Chris Judd Chris Judd Christopher Dylan "Chris" Judd is a professional Australian rules footballer and current captain of the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League ....	30
2nd	Gary Ablett Gary Ablett, Jr. Gary Ablett, Jr. is a professional Australian rules football player and current captain of the Gold Coast Football Club in the Australian Football League ....	26
3rd	Dane Swan Dane Swan Dane Swan is an Australian rules footballer for Collingwood in the Australian Football League.Since 2007 Swan has emerged as one of the AFL's elite midfielders, winner of the prestigious Brownlow Medal in 2011 with a record tally of 34 votes...	24
=4th	Scott Pendlebury Scott Pendlebury Scott Pendlebury is a professional Australian rules football player who plays for the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League .- Early life :...   Joel Selwood Joel Selwood Joel Anthony Selwood is an Australian rules footballer for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League...	21
=6th	Matthew Boyd Matthew Boyd Matthew Boyd is an Australian rules football player who has come through the Western Bulldogs' rookie list, debuting in 2003. Prior to that he had played for Dandenong Stingrays in the TAC Cup and Frankston in the VFL...   Aaron Sandilands Aaron Sandilands Aaron Sandilands is an Australian rules footballer. At 211 cm tall and weighing 122 kg , he is the heaviest and equal tallest player in the history of the game...	20
8th	Lenny Hayes Lenny Hayes Lenny Hayes is a professional Australian rules footballer playing with St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League.Hayes is a former captain of St Kilda and continues to be an onfield leader in the Saints' midfield....	19
=9th	Travis Boak Travis Boak Travis Boak is an Australian rules footballer currently contracted to the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League . He was Port Adelaide's first selection and fifth overall in the 2006 AFL Draft from the Geelong Falcons in the TAC Cup.-2007:Boak made his AFL debut in a 31...   Luke Hodge Luke Hodge Luke Hodge is a professional Australian rules footballer with the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League...   Leigh Montagna Leigh Montagna Leigh Montagna is an Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League. Montagna was recruited as the number 37 draft pick in the 2001 AFL Draft. He is a midfielder with St Kilda Football Club.-AFL career:...   Jobe Watson Jobe Watson Jobe Watson is the captain of the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League . He is the son of former Essendon player Tim Watson.-Early life:...	16

Voting Procedure

The three field umpires

Umpire (Australian rules football)

An umpire is an official in the sport of Australian rules football.-Origins:Unlike many other codes of football, where the official is called a referee, in Australian Football, the officials borrow their title from the game of cricket, which is played on the same types of fields and was an...

 (those umpires who control the flow of the game, as opposed to goal or boundary umpires) confer after each match and award 3 votes, 2 votes and 1 vote to the players they regard as the best, second best and third best in the match respectively.

Ineligible players

As the award is for the Fairest and Best player in the league, players found guilty of a suspendable offence by the AFL Tribunal

AFL Tribunal

The AFL Tribunal is the disciplinary tribunal of the Australian Football League .-Points system:Source: AFL Tribunal 2011 Guidebook...

 are ineligible to win the award.

Some Australian rules football journalists

Sports journalism

Sports journalism is a form of journalism that reports on sports topics and events.While the sports department within some newspapers has been mockingly called the toy department, because sports journalists do not concern themselves with the 'serious' topics covered by the news desk, sports...

 have argued that Judd was lucky to escape any AFL Tribunal

AFL Tribunal

The AFL Tribunal is the disciplinary tribunal of the Australian Football League .-Points system:Source: AFL Tribunal 2011 Guidebook...

 action following an incident involving Fremantle

Fremantle Football Club

The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed The Dockers, is an Australian rules football team which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in the port city of Fremantle at the mouth of the Swan River in Western Australia...

's Matthew Pavlich

Matthew Pavlich

Matthew Pavlich is a professional Australian rules footballer currently playing with the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League ....

in Round 13, where Judd elbowed Pavlich in the face. Additionally, Judd served a three-match suspension during the 2010 season, but because the incident for which he was suspended took place in 2009 finals, this did not affect his eligibility.