Okay, it’s time for the second annual Koufax awards! These are the awards for “left-wing blogs” in particular (last year, I won the award for best blog design).
My favorite thing about these awards is that – hopefully – it’s a chance for folks to highlight great posts from 2003 that we’ve all forgotten about. There’s a tendency for the blogoverse to have a very short memory….
Anyhow, head on over there to make nominations, if you want to (note that we’re not voting yet – just making nominations – but not every nomination will make it to the voting ballot, so if you like something that’s already been nominated, re-nominate it yourself). You’re allowed to nominate more than one thing per catagory, if you want to. And if you’re a blogger, you’re encouraged to nominate yourself – in particular, for the “best post,” “best series,” and “best new blog” catagories.
Here are my nominations. I really suggest following the links, if you have time – these posts are really great reads, imo.
Best Blog: Nathan Newman.
Body and Soul
Best Writing: Body and Soul.
Pedantry
Best Single Post (I’ve emphasized posts that are over a few months old here, since I think people may have forgotten about some of these)
Best Series of Posts: I’m going to do the self-promotion thing again and nominate two series of my own: Also, I’ll nominate Pedantry, “an alternative to normative liberal political theory,” in three parts: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three. And Body and Soul, “Looking for Alternatives,” Part I, Part II, and Part III. And Making Light, posts on the lootings in Iraq – start here and scroll down. And Prometheus 6, for his “Startin’ Stuff” series on reparations. And Nathan Newman, for his series of posts on the minimum wage. Best Single-Issue Blog: MsMusings Best Group Blog: Crooked Timber Most Humorous Post: D-squared digest, for the SSdB series. Best Blog Design: My vote definitely goes to Jenn Manley Lee. Best New Blog: Baghdad Burning Best Special Effects: BlarghBlog, for the Flower and Rock series. UPDATE: How on earth did I forget about Echidne of the Snakes for best new blog? May the goddess forgive me. * * * Postscript: Speaking of shameless self-promotion, Alas is – amazingly – now in second place in the (right-wing dominated) Whizbang awards, “Best Playful Primate” catagory. I’m not as interested in the Whizbang awards as I am in the Koufaxes, but I am incredibly amused by this turn of events, and I encourage you all to keep voting for Alas over at Whizbang. (Remember, every 12 hours, you’re allowed to vote again!) In contrast, I don’t encourage you to vote for Alas at the Koufax – I mean, I’m honored to be nominated, but I think people should just nominate their favorites, whatever those may be..
The Wage Gap Series
The Partial Birth Abortion Ban series
Also, Baghdad Burning
But I think Feministe deserves a nomination, as well.
I mentioned this in my comments to the Koufax post, but we gotta show the love to August Pollock for best design. Just saying.
I can’t think of anything I wrote that would qualify for an award. Maybe my Vietnam historical reference series was good, but it wasn’t best series of the year good. Oh well. Maybe next year. (should have done that Clausewitz series)
I hope this doesn’t sound all self-promoting or anything, but Fred Rogers will always be with us, and so far so is Fred Rogers.
Do you think it would be relevant to propose to add a “Best Cartoon/Comics blog” category (I can already think of around ten potential nominates, including you, Kevin Moore, M. B. Reid, Tom Tomorrow, Dirk Deppey, etc.)?
That’s not a rhetorical question; I can see reasons for both pro and contra (e. g., for the latter, that there is no other “disciplinary” category; on the other hand, cartooning/comixing in a blog undoubtedly adds another dimension to the posts. Maybe “Best Use/Mention of Cartoon/Comics in a Blog”?).
Forget it. I’ll propose a “Best Use of Unicode” category, so that I can shamelessly nominate myself (kidding, of course).
Regarding comics and blogs, there has been a rather interesting discussion about whether journal comics could be considered like blogs on the Failure Comics forum. The first post is by Andrew Stevenson, author of The Life Of Me, which he labels himself as a “comicblog”. Kean Soo, too, has more than a few things to say on that matter.
For what it’s worth.