Blog award

A Blog award is an award for the best blog in a given category. Some blog awards are based on a public vote and others are based on a fixed set of criteria applied by a panel of judges.

Various organizations have started blog awards with varying degrees of success. Some have become defunct.

Process

Like usual film or television awarding committees, blog awards are started by a certain body, usually composed of blog enthusiasts. Since blogging is an Internet activity, most of the process are done online.

Nominees are usually accepted from anyone in the Internet given the one who nominates adhere to given policies and procedures. The nominated websites, varying from independent servers to provider hosted (such as [http://www.livejournal.com LiveJournal] , [http://www.blogspot.com Blogspot] , or [http://www.wordpress.com Wordpress] ) are scanned by a selected team of judges.

The filtered nominees are then announced online or by other means such as newspaper or radio stations. Other bloggers or Internet users are given the opportunity to vote for several categories such as Best Single Post, Best Blog Site, Best Design, and others. The winners are announced in a ceremonial night usually held in large venues and online.

There are also blog awards initiated by small groups of bloggers in certain locations. The nomination and selection process is usually the same with major awarding bodies but the awarding is usually less extravagant.

Major Blog Awards

Among the major blog awards are the Weblog Award, the Bloggies, and the BOBs (Best of Blogs). The bestower of the BOBs, the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, describes the BOBs as "the world’s largest international blog competition" [ [http://www.thebobs.com/, BOBs — Deutsche Welle International Weblog Awards] , 2008-07-28] . Awarded since 2004, the BOBs are selected by an "international jury of independent journalists, media experts and blog experts" [ [http://www.thebobs.com/index.php?l=en&s=1153214408743139AKLXMQSA-NONE, BOBs — Deutsche Welle International Weblog Awards: Jury] 2008-07-28] .

Other Blog Awards

In 2007, the Greek Blog Awards [ [http://www.blogoscars.blogspot.com/ The Greek Blog Awards 2007] ] were determined by public vote. Awards were given to 12 blogs in different categories. Indibloggies is targeted at Indian Blogs.

[http://www.philippineblogawards.com.ph The Philippine Blog Awards] is now on its second year (2008) which recognizes Filipino blogging talent around the world.

Defunct Blog Awards

The UK newspaper The Guardian ran a Best British Blog competition in 2002 [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2002/sep/26/onlinesupplement The duck of the draw] , Guardian, 2002-09-26] and another in 2003 [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20070208185322rn_1/technology.guardian.co.uk/online/weblogs/story/0,14024,1108883,00.html British blog awards 2003] , Guardian, 2003-12-18. Retrieved at the Internet Archive, 2008-01-21] , but then stopped because of limited enthusiasm from the UK blogging community and a few public boycotts [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/internetnews/story/0,,765160,00.html Weblog competition a 'bloody stupid idea'] , Guardian, 2002-07-29] .

References