Every January, intense campaigning and mudslinging rages among Web celebrities, Trekkies, and the citizens of Dallas. And they do it all forthe Bloggie™.
The Bloggies™ are publicly-chosen awards given to weblog writers and those related to weblogs. 90 awards were presented over 2001, 2002, and 2003, and 30 more will be given out this year.
I'm Nikolai Nolan, and these are the...
Hey, you. Read these. They're shorter than last year's.
In the 2004 Weblog Awards™, a "weblog" is a page with dated entries. The contest is open to any weblogs that existed for a period of time during the year 2003, so weblogs that were discontinued during 2003 are also eligible.
Only one nomination form and one finalist voting form may be submitted per person. E-mail addresses are required for this reason, and you must use your own address. If you resubmit a ballot, your old one will be erased.
For the nomination phase (not applicable now): URLs are required (where applicable). The maximum number of weblogs you may nominate for a category is three for most categories and four for Weblog of the Year. At least three different weblogs total must be nominated. You may nominate your own weblog, but the total nominations for your own weblog must be less than one third of your total (legitimate) nominations. There is no limit to the number of categories a weblog may be nominated for.
Nominees have to fit the category they are placed in. The system alerts me of suspicious ballots, and I also may exclude ballots when I suspect the voter isn't following the rules. This means no bots.
These rules may change at any time, but they probably won't.
From January 1, 2004 until 10:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (GMT-5) on Monday, January 12, voters nominated their favorite weblogs.
That Tuesday, January 13, three panels of 50 voters received an e-mail. It listed the weblogs that have receieved the most nominations in ten categories. They had until 10:00 PM EST on Saturday, January 17 to privately submit their five favorites (six for Weblog of the Year) for each category. The five (or six for Weblog of the Year) receiving the most votes became finalists. I (Nikolai Nolan) only voted in the case of a tie for fifth place. This panel was on an opt-in policy.
On Monday, January 19, the finalists were announced and voting opened again to choose the winners.
Voting closed at 10:00 PM EST on Saturday, January 31. The winners were posted on Monday, March 15.
The Weblog Awards™ ceremony was held at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival for the second time in Austin, Texas, USA on Monday, March 15, 2004 at 12:30 PM. Webloggers including previous winners and prize donators presented the certificates and prizes to those present.
I performed "Win a Bloggie," a parody of Justin Timberlake's "Rock Your Body." An MP3 of the song is now available. I also showed a weblog-themed video parody of Van Halen's "Right Now." That will go online as a future Fairvue feature.
Those who weren't attending could join the excitement on IRC, in #BlogIRC on irc.turlyming.com:6667. Winners were announced live and a play-by-play of the ceremony was given.
After the ceremony, the results were posted on this page.
Because of the large amount of categories, I won't personally give a cash award to every winner, but the Weblog of the Year owner(s) will receive 2,004 US cents (US$20.04).
Also, contributors can donate their own prizes to the category of their choice, and if the contributor has a site, it will be linked from this page. If the contributor is going to SXSW, he/she can also have the privilege of announcing/presenting the category sponsored at the ceremony.
To donate one, the contributor can bring it to SXSW, mail it to the winner, or send an online gift certificate or cash through PayPal with instructions of what it should be used for.
South by Southwest Interactive offers Bloggie finalists a special discount to attend the ceremony in March. The cost of Interactive registration for Bloggie finalists is $150.
Dmitry Chestnykh contributed the full commercial version of BlogJet for each winner.
John Allsopp of WestCiv contributed a copy of Style Master (for Mac OS X or Windows) for each winner.
Thanks also go out to Jim McCann for programming expertise and Dinah Sanders for the Bloggies.com domain name.
Most categories will remain as they've always been. But because of revision or removal, it's time to bid farewell to:
Best Merchandise of a Weblog Best Weblog Webring Best Webcam of a Weblog Site Best Reviews or Weblog About Weblogs
In exchange, these spiffy new categories took their place:
Best British or Irish Weblog Best African or Middle Eastern Weblog Best Photography of a Weblog
A replicating idea that spread about weblogs.
Prize: US$50 gift certificate to Amazon.com from Ben Werdmuller
winner Friday Five
nominees Identity Blogging BlogShares Unconscious Mutterings 100 Things About Me
Prize: US$50 gift certificate to eBay or Amazon.com from Camilo Ramirez
winner Weblogs and the Mass Amateurisation of Nearly Everything
nominees My Life as a Blog Widow A Blog Is a Blog Is a Blog Making a Good Blog for Dummies Weblogs: A History and Perspective
Prize: TBA from James Paden of Bot a Blog
winner Blogrolling.com
nominees Technorati Blogdex Blo.gs Photoblogs.org
Something that helps you publish, make comments, anything that has to do with developing a weblog.
Prize: US$20.04 from Chris MacDonald
"Blogumentary" cap from Chuck Olsen of Blogumentary
winner Movable Type
nominees Blogrolling.com TypePad Blogger Feedster
Prize: AUS$20 gift voucher to Coles Myer or Grace Bros from Ben Hosken
winner Loobylu
nominees BrainSluice PixelKitty.net Synapse ScorpioGirl
Weblogs from Asia, not including the Middle East.
Prize: US20.04 (or equivalent) from YardBoy
winner Antipixel
nominees A Sassy Lawyer in Philippine Suburbia Hunkabutta BWG Geisha Asobi Blog
Prize: TBA from Anthony
winner Where Is Raed
nominees Baghdad Burning Wind Spirit Subzero Blue An Unsealed Room
Weblogs from Europe, not including the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Prize: US20.04 (or equivalent) from SignorMori
winner Textism
nominees Ben Hammersley's Dangerous Precedent Open Brackets Giornale Nuovo Chocolate & Zucchini
Weblogs from the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Prize: £20.04 from James Mitchell
winner PlasticBag.org
nominees The Big Smoker GreenFairyDotCom A Teenager Blogs London Underground Tube Diary
Prize: US$20.04 (or equivalent) from JozJozJoz
winner Overcaffeinated
nominees Alt1040 3 Demonios Enjaulados Eejit Por um Punhado de Pixels
Prize: The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love from the Ice Queen
winner MezzoBlue
nominees Shiny Plastic Bag ChromeWaves.net Wish Jar Journal Going Canuck
Weblogs from the United States.
Prize: US$20.04 from The Blog Herald
winner Boing Boing
nominees Gothamist Kottke.org Dooce Wil Wheaton Dot Net
Prize: US$40.08 from BlogAds
winner Tenth-Muse.com: “Fabulous since 1973, blogging since 2003, drinking since noon”
nominees Mighty Girl: “Famous among dozens” The Art of Rhysisms: “Stealing traffic cones from the Information Superhighway since 2002” C:\PIRILLO.EXE: “Getting screwed while everybody else is getting laid” Sabrina Faire: “All the fun of a saucy wench, none of the overpriced beer”
Photoblogs and other weblogs that regularly feature photography.
Prize: US$10.02 from CheekySquirrel
A brand-new Holga with case and three rolls of black-and-white-film from Laura Sina
winner Shutterbug
nominees Heather Champ Ten Years of My Life Satan's Laundromat Daily Dose of Imagery
Prize: US$20.04 from David Grant
US$20.04 from Rita Beeman
winner Weblog Wannabe
nominees RatherGood.com PopJustice Gothamist GTMcKnight.com
Comments, sorting, customization, homemade stuff you like to see in a weblog.
Prize: US$20.04 from Rogers Cadenhead, author of Radio UserLand Kick Start
winner ScriptyGoddess
nominees Big Pink Cookie 1976Design.com Kottke.org The Girlie Matters: Tips and Tricks
Prize: US$50 gift certificate to the iTunes Music Store or Amazon.com from Jace Herring of BlogHosts
winner Moby
nominees 75 or Less ChaChaCha.co.uk ChromeWaves.net PopJustice
Prize: US$4 gift card to Best Buy from Anthony
US$40.08 from BlogAds
"Write Hard Die Free" pin or appropriate political pin from Patrick Race of Wm. Spear Design
"I Blog and I Vote" bumper sticker from Chuck Olsen of Blogumentary
winner InstaPundit.com
nominees WatchBlog Daily Kos Talking Points Memo This Modern World
Weblogs completely about Web design and development.
Prize: US$20.04 from Adam of HeathNet Consulting, LLC
nominees MezzoBlue The Daily Report Heal Your Church Web Site The Girlie Matters: Tips and Tricks
Weblogs about computers and/or technology, other than Web design.
Prize: US$20.04 from Christian of Coupon Craze
winner Slashdot
nominees Boing Boing Gizmodo Kottke.org OnlineBlog.com
Weblogs with a definite topic other than general/personal, music, politics, computers and technology, or weblogs.
Prize: US$40.08 from Douglas Kersten
A pin or zipper pull related to the topic area of the winning weblog from Patrick Race of Wm. Spear Design
winner BookSlut
nominees The Joy of Soup London Underground Tube Diary Belle de Jour The Agonist
Webloggers in the gay/lesbian/bisexual/ transgendered community.
Prize: One item from the winner's Amazon.com wishlist, valued up to US$20.00, from Rannie Turingan and Jay Schneider
X and Y chromosome pins from Patrick Race of Wm. Spear Design
winner Little Yellow Different
nominees SwirlSpice Just Write PlasticBag.org How to Learn Swedish in 1000 Difficult Lessons
winner Margaret Cho
nominees In Passing Davezilla.com Little Yellow Different Little Red Boat
Weblogs written by an exclusive group.
nominees Gothamist BlogCritics.org Misbehaving.net Put Down the Donut
Weblogs where everyone is invited to post.
winner MetaFilter
nominees Fark.com Kuro5hin.org Slashdot Whedonesque
winner SimpleBits
nominees Brookelyn.org SixFoot6 Kitta.net What Do I Know
The best underrepresented weblogs.
Prize: US$20.04 from John Benyamine
US$20.04 from The Blog Herald
winner Tequila Mockingbird
nominees Low Culture BrokenType LasagnaFarm.com Musings From the Undergound
Weblogs that began during the year 2003.
Prize: US$11.00 from Jonathan Holley
US$50 gift certificate to the iTunes Music Store or Amazon.com from Jace Herring of BlogHosts
winner Blog for America
nominees Tenth-Muse.com HoneyTom Cynical Rantings Where the Hell Was I
Webloggers who have been blogging at least since October 1, 2000. This award can only be won once, so Jeffrey Zeldman, Evan Williams, and Jason Kottke are not eligible.
Prize: Two registrations for the 2005 South by Southwest Interactive Festival from SXSW
winner Heather Champ
nominees Matt Haughey Rebecca Blood Tom Coates Anil Dash
This is it: the category for the best weblog overall.
Prize: US$20.04 from Nikolai Nolan
A nifty award from Jish Mukerji
Two registrations for the 2005 South by Southwest Interactive Festival from SXSW
For each of the runners-up: US$10.00 from Christian of Coupon Craze
nominees Tenth-Muse.com John Howard: Prime Minister The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century Dooce Weblog Wannabe