Ok, I cannot, as the title suggests, guarantee the receipt of good karma if you participate in the nomination process for the 2011 Wine Blog Awards.  As I understand those things, only Deepak Chopra has the power to do that.  But nominating might make you feel good, both in terms of having your voice heard and in supporting your fave on-line wine writers.

2011 marks the 5th year of the awards, and while they’ve grown-up quite a bit, the overall power-to-the-people process has remained fairly consistent: you (yes, that’s you) go to wineblogawards.org and nominate which wine blogs you’d like to see considered as finalists in each of eight categories (Best Wine Blog Graphics, Photography, & Presentation; Best Industry/Business Wine Blog; Best Wine Reviews on a Wine Blog; Best Single Subject Wine Blog; Best Winery Blog; Best Writing On a Wine Blog; Best New Wine Blog; and Best Overall Wine Blog).  Judges will vet the nominations and announce a list of finalists in each category on or about June 20, after which the public can vote to determine the winners.

I had the honor and quite humbling experience of winning the award in the Best Overall Wine Blog category last year, so I feel a sort of ambassador-like obligation to return the good karma and encourage you to nominate your fave wine blogs today (nominations close May 31, so hurry the hell up already!).  Somebody get Deepak on the phone please, I’m having a moment here, people!…

Last year, in a hastily-executed acceptance speech at the 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference, I said that I hoped I didn’t win the award again, because I wanted to see the wine blogging world do better than have 1WD as one of its figureheads – there’s just too much talent out in wine blog-o-land.  Just my poor-man’s way of “challenging” the wine blog community to keep raising its collective game, I suppose, and continue to prove its mettle against the best wine coverage in print or any other media.  I think we’ve seen the wine blog world rise admirably to that challenge so far in 2011, which makes me excited for the great content that the rest of the year will bring us.

Now… to help offset the heaviness and love-fest of the preceding paragraphs, I offer you this NSFW but light-hearted video interview I did post-awards-ceremony at the 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference in Walla Walla, WA (with special guest appearance by drinknectar.com‘s Josh Wade:

Now stop watching and go nominate some blogs, stat!

Cheers!