The voting for the 2009 Weblog Awards AKA the "Bloggies" (not to be confused with the awards run by weblogawards.org) has begun and Daily Kos is up for three awards. The categories are:
Best Weblog About Politics
Best Community Weblog
Lifetime Achievement
Details, including comments about Daily Kos's competitors for these categories and a listing of other progressive blogs up for awards after the jump.
First, the categories in which Daily Kos is competing.
Best Weblog About Politics
In alphabetical order, the nominees are:
Daily Kos
FiveThirtyEight
Politico
The Huffington Post
Wonkette
What august company! Not only are all five worthy competitors in this category, but none of them are openly conservative and four of them--Daily Kos, FiveThirtyEight, The Huffington Post, and Wonkette--have a progressive point of view and all of them represent the reality-based community. No matter who wins, it will score a point for reality.
Best Community Weblog
Weblogs where everyone is invited to post.
In alphabetical order, the nominees are:
BlogHer
Daily Kos
I Can Has Cheezburger?
Overheard in New York
Passive Aggressive Notes
This is award for us, the regular users. No matter who wins, it will score a point for broad-based participation online. How often can one say that about one of these awards? The only question will be whether that point is scored for women, progressive politics, funny eavesdropped conversations, sarcastic found material, or LOLCats. I don't know about you, but I have a feeling Ceiling Cat will be tough to beat.
Lifetime Achievement
Webloggers who have been blogging since at least January 1, 2004.
In alphabetical order, the nominees are:
Andrew Sullivan
Daily Kos
Fark.com
Gawker
Josh Marshall
So the cutoff is January 1, 2004? I guess that means that, on the web, five years really is a lifetime!
Seriously, this is a good field for progressives. Not only is Daily Kos in the running for an award that would put Markos and the rest of us in the esteemed company of Jeffrey Zeldman, Evan Williams, Jason Kottke, Heather Powazek Champ, Tom Coates, Boing Boing, Slashdot, and Heather B. Armstrong, but two of the other contestants, Andrew Sullivan and Josh Marshall (who may be more familiar to many of us as the person behind Talking Points Memo) are both political bloggers with a progressive point of view. True, Andrew Sullivan came late to the party, but at least he had the sense to accept the invitation in the first place.
So, who wins, the progressive political bloggers, or the hordes of techies who populate Fark and Gawker? It's up to you.
Now for those categories in which Daily Kos is not competing, but in which other progressive bloggers are.
Best Topical Weblog
Cute Overload
The Consumerist
io9
Matt, Liz and Madeline
Treehugger
What? None of these are known progressive blogs. Ah, that's the key word--known. Two of them, The Consumerist and Treehugger, are progressive sites in disguise. The Consumerist is a consumers rights blog and Treehugger is an environmental blog. Both of them are choices a progressive could be proud to vote for. Unfortunately, this progressive succumbed to the power of Ceiling Cat and voted for Cute Overload. /hangs head in shame.
Most Humorous Weblog
In alphabetical order, the nominees are:
Confessions of a Pioneer Woman
Fail Blog
I Can Has Cheezburger?
Stuff White People Like
Wonkette
Wonkette would be the proper progressive political choice, but I have to confess that I voted for I Can Has Cheezburger? I told you that Ceiling Cat would be tough to beat.
Best Writing of a Weblog
Cake Wrecks
Confessions of a Pioneer Woman
Dooce
Jezebel
The Consumerist
Since I already identified The Consumerist as a progressive blog in disguise, I included it in here. That doesn't necessarily mean it's the best written, though.
Best Microblog
Weblogs consisting entirely of succinct posts.
In alphabetical order, the nominees are:
22 Words
Dear Old Love
Eschaton
MackenzieSpeaks.com
One Sentence
I don't know about the rest of those blogs, but I do know Atrios at Eschaton is the most concise progressive blogger I've ever read. His colleagues aren't verbose troglodytes, either.
Best Group Weblog
Weblogs written by an exclusive group.
In alphabetical order, the nominees are:
8Asians
Gawker
I Heart Daily
Jezebel
Wonkette
Wonkette again is the proper progressive political choice, and I voted for her blog, but I suspect she and her buddies will face tough sledding against Gawker.
Best New Weblog
Weblogs that began during the year 2008.
In alphabetical order, the nominees are:
Blog Nosh Magazine
Cake Wrecks
FiveThirtyEight
Joy the Baker
Simple Mom
Does anyone look at that list and suspect that cooking and food blogs were the hot things to start up in 2008? If so, great, but I also hope all the foodies split up their votes so that Nate Silver AKA poblano at FiveThirtyEight can win. After all, of all of these blogs, his is the only one that is not only a progressive political blog, but is also up for Weblog of the Year. Speaking of which...
Weblog of the Year
The category for the best weblog overall.
In alphabetical order, the nominees are:
Confessions of a Pioneer Woman
Dlisted
FiveThirtyEight
PerezHilton.com
PostSecret
The Huffington Post
W00t! Two progressive political blogs! Of course, as a Kossack, I'm rooting for fellow Kossack done good Nate over Huffington Post, but I suspect many if not most of us wouldn't be too upset if Huffington Post wins. The good news is that HuffPo is also a gossip blog, and that vote will be split three ways among HuffPo, Dlisted, and PerezHilton--four if the secret confessions of PostSecret count as gossip. So, the gossip fans won't help HuffPo that much. That's the good news. The bad news is that anyone who wants a positive blog that isn't about gossip, politics, or dirty little secrets will vote for Confessions of a Pioneer Woman, which I have to admit is really beautiful. Besides, all the foodies who might get stiffed for Best New Weblog might all vote together for this one. I'm still voting for Nate, to whom I'm giving a Hat Tip for telling his readers about the 2009 Weblog Awards. I'm also giving a Hat Tip to Simple Mom for the Bloggies logo.
You've reached the end? Congratulations! Now, if you haven't clicked on the link in the Intro, click here to vote in the 2009 Weblog Awards!