Weblog candidates for Best New Blog

This past November, nominations were opened for the Weblog Awards, which includes about 50 different categories. TYWKIWDBI was one of 359 blogs nominated for the Best New Blog of 2008. Those nominees were reviewed by a panel of judges, who last week released their "short lists" of finalists in each category. Surprisingly, TYWKIWDBI was chosen as one of the 14 finalists.

Listed below are the finalists, in random order. I've set this up so the names are clickable links, and have added a sentence or two re my perception of the content/style of each blog and its activity (number of posts in December). To be an informed voter, you should browse this list before voting.

Sassy Bitch Society is pretty well defined by its name. There were 3 posts in December.

Winky Dog seems to emphasize world geopolitics with a view "from the right." They provide convenient links to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. About 50 posts in December.

The Black Sphere has a self-defined mission to "pimp slap" liberals, and tries to do so in a humorous manner. About 25 posts in December, and lots of pix and cartoons that will appeal to TYWKIWDBI visitors who don't like Barack Obama.

Uppity Woman describes her worldview as that of a "moderate irreverent Democrat," and adds videos and feline humor. There were about 150 items in December, and it appears to have a large and active audience, with LOLcat postings generating 50 comments! Likely the "preseason favorite" re votegetting for this category.

Boston Soul covers "all things Boston," including especially the baseball team. Three posts in December.

TYWKIWDBI. You are here. Mixed topics with no central theme. 270 December posts.

Raisin Toast has a strong family orientation, emphasizing homemaking and parenting. Another site with an active readership commenting on the entries. 25 posts in December.

Blog Nosh identifies itself as a "magazine," republishing posts by many bloggers on many different topics - each topic overseen by one or more of 32 editors. It is an interesting business model, a bit like Regator in its aggregating format. I couldn't quite figure out how many new items in December, but lots.

~synthesis~ is the work of a Canadian blogger. There is a mixture of topics including education, politics, economics, and leadership. Interesting and unique graphics and imagery. About 20 entries in December.

Democrashield features liberal progressive politics. About 100 posts last month.

Swimming Freestyle also has a liberal and progressive tilt, but it covers a wide range of topics well beyond politics. Of the blogs on this list, this one is closest to TYWKIWDBI in style and substance. 150 items last month.

The Hook. Canadiana, especially Canadian politics. 60 entries in December.

Mossip. The name is a portmanteau term combining "music" and "gossip." And that's what it does. Lots of celebrity pictures (Britney Spears on page 2). About 60 items in December.

Grace the Spot features pop culture and lesbian lifestyle topics. December posts about 20.

Those are the candidates. Voting is done not by the judges, but by you the public, so although the Weblog Awards are sometimes called the "Academy Awards" of the internet, they are more like the "People's Choice Awards" in determining the winner.

One curious aspect of the process is that voting is open for a week (January 6-12), and people can vote every day. This arrangement was created years ago so that smaller blogs with more enthusiastic readers could compete with larger blogs. The voting software requires cookies to be enabled (to prevent people from voting multiple times) and may require Flash. The winners from last year's competition in each of the categories are listed here. It's a big competition, with over 500,000 votes cast last year.

To vote for the Best New Blog of 2008, I think I have it set up so you can click on the logo at the top of this blog entry; that should take you right to the voting page. This item will drop down in the blog column as I write more entries during the week, so I'll try to keep bumping it up to stay on the front page at least, but I've also put a link in the Weblog Awards logo at the top of the right sidebar. You should be able to click that to get to the voting page as well - and that logo will stay there all the time.

TYWKIWDBI is, and will remain, a noncommercial blog without advertising, so winning this Weblog Award has no practical significance. It has been an unexpected honor just to be a finalist. I'll be perfectly satisfied with that.