Wine blogs are labors of love, and most of us don’t make retirement-funding levels of income with these things. So, every once in a while, it’s nice to get some validation that what you’re doing is valued (although you frequent commenters do a great job of that in the case of 1WineDude.com!).
Awards from your peers and the blog-reading public are one way of helping with that validation, of course, though their also easy for those awards to be (humorously!) lampooned as self-serving.
This brings us to the Wine Blog Awards, which are now under the management of the Open Wine Consortium, and are accepting nominations for the 2010 awards from now through April 7.
I can understand both the well-deserved praise and criticism that the WBA have received in the past, and I raise a glass to Tom Wark for having the courage to get the awards off the ground. I’ve been mightily impressed with the way that the WBA’s new organizers have both solicited and incorporated feedback to improve the awards, so much so that I think they’re well worth your time – and your voices.
It will be up to you who gets nominated and, when voting begins later this year, you will have a major influence on who wins the awards. So go out there and start nominating your favorites (I did) – you can simply leave a comment at any of the following links indicating your nomination(s):
- Best Overall Wine Blog
- Best New Wine Blog
- Best Writing on a Wine Blog
- Best Winery Blog
- Best Single Subject Wine Blog
- Best Wine Reviews on a Wine Blog
- Best Industry / Business Wine Blog
- Best Wine Blog Graphics, Photography, & Presentation
It should be fun to see how the list of finalists stacks up – certainly there has never been stiffer competition in the world of wine blogging.
Cheers – and happy nominating!
Comments
1WineDude
A quick addendum – for nomination you need only nominate your faves once in each category. Therefore, if you pop over to the WBA website and see (as I did) that others already nominated your faves, then you don't need to leave a nomination (or you could nominate your second faves), etc.
1WineDude
Addendum part deux: THANK YOU to all the folks who nominated me in the various categories – I'm touched and grateful. Cheers!
vinogirl
What is the criteria for 'new' wine blog?…most that I read have been around for a while.
1WineDude
There's an explanation of the min. requirements at http://wineblogawards.org/categories/ – here's the excerpt:
"Best New Wine Blog: Criteria: 1) Should have the first blog entry posted sometime during the applicable period of the current awards year. No minimum number of posts is required. 2) Should have already made or show potential to make an impact on the worlds of wine or wine blogging via its reporting, writing, number of followers, etc. 3) Should present a credible appearance as a serious new entry in the realm of wine blogging, based on graphics, title, depth of posts, etc."
Lots of subjectivity there, but I suppose that's to be expected!
Cheers!
vinogirl
So new in 2009?
1WineDude
Yes, I **believe** this would cover 2009 and the first 3 months of 2010.
Chris
"Blogs must have posted at least 52 times during the period April 1, 2009 through March 31, 2010 to be eligible. The exception is the Best New Wine Blog, which has no requirement for minimum number of postings."
I take this to mean any blog started since 4/1/09 is eligible in the "new blog" category. I don't know if they've created a "gap" for the other new blogs that may have been started prior to 4/1/09 but may not have been eligible in that category in prior years.
1WineDude
I think that's correct, Chris. One thing is for sure – that category is going to be tough with all the new blogs that have been established during that timeframe!