The 2007 Blogging Awards

About this time last year I put out a little post, with links and humour and stuff, called the 2006 blogging awards. I've decided to do a follow up, again with links but I've left out the humour. You may have guessed all that from the title.

I predict that the post will be long one, I'll ramble on about nothing at times and in all likelihood, unless you're a nominee or a winner, you'll probably lose interest. So here's a link to Kottu and here's another to Achcharu where you can access lots and lots of other Sri Lankan blogs easily.

Everything will be biased, subjective and wholly based around the blogs I like and read. So there. Let's go.

Best Photo Blog

The nominations:

Alefiya Akbarally
Dominic Sansoni
Sebastian Posingis
Pradeep Jeganathan
Naren Gunasekera
Anushka Wijesinha

The winner:

Anushka Wijesinha

I don't know much about the fellow's background nor do I know him personally but I've admired his photography for a while. Whether it's London or Sri Lanka he has an incredible eye for a great picture and a knack for transforming an everyday scene into a gorgeous image. Class. Check out his stuff.

Best Newcomer

The nominations are:

Westcountry Life
Midnight Margaritas
Gallicissa

Four very contrasting blogs with different approaches. Westcountry life tells the story of Bea, her discovery of Sri Lanka and then her return to the UK and release back into society. It's always interesting to see Sri Lanka through the eyes of a Suddha.

Midnight Margaritas, by T, is an eclectric mix of bits and pieces. From music to finely written prose to thought provoking pieces on identity to girly stuff about love and boys, it's all here.

Gallicissa is a blog by a chap called Amila Salgado, a bird watching scrabble player. I use his name because he uses it, so hope he doesn't mind. It's a haven of stories and stunning pictures of Sri Lankan birds, snakes and other creepy crawly things that can be seen in any one of Colombo's 5 star hotel restaurants. I'm no bird watcher but this blog has grabbed my attention by the gonads and I read it with interest and intrigue.

The winner:

Gallicissa. Guest judge Britney Spears said:

"Along with Stephen Fry's blog this is one of the few that I check regularly. I've always been interested in scrabble and Amila's beautiful photographs have inspired several of my videos. Before I went mad and ropey I used to want to sleep with Rhythmic Diaspora"

Best Overseas Blog

Let me explain. I live in the UK but am classing overseas as anything outside Sri Lanka. It's illogical and simple, in a strangely logical way.

The nominations:

Disordered Thoughts
The Darwin Awards
Lady Luck Speaks
Life on Leave

The winner is:

Disordered Thoughts. The well deserved winner is a pot pourri of subjects and views. Not to be confused with a pot noodle, which tastes lovely but is made from rubbish.

Guest Judge Mervyn Silva said:

I lead a quiet and humble life, keeping myself to myself and focussing on acts of kindness. I pay close attention to the people of Canada and those marvellous people at Rupavahini, who I have been bonding with in recent months. Often, after a hard day of charity work I like to go home and read Disordered Thoughts to help me relax. Entrpy thoroughly deserves this award.


Funniest Blog

This award doesn't need a lot of explanation, so I won't give one. The Sri Lankan related blogs that made me laugh heartily are disappointingly low in number but still very funny.

The nominations:

Ravana
Mahinda Rajapakse

The winner is:

Mahinda Rajapakse. The only question I had in deciding this was which site to point the link to, whether it should head in the direction of the mocking comedy site that takes the piss and is so brilliantly written or whether it should have pointed in the direction of the official one that has about as the same amount of humour.

A deserved winner. Ravana came a close second but was let down by his tendency to bung in a serious and thought provoking post every so often. Mr Pres, whoever you really are, please update your blog more regularly.

Funniest Post

There's one nominee and there's one winner. The undisputed champion is this piece of brilliance by Ravana. Written in what, to most, was a clear and blatantly humourous mode, this post has caused outcry and bitch slapping among many Maldivians. Ravana has probably ruled himself out of the running for the post of Sri Lanka's next High Commissioner to the Maldives in the process. Believe me, this post was so funny that it almost made one of the immigration passport checking chaps at BIA break into a smile. Almost.


The shitload of comments whenever they post award

The nominees are:

Indi.ca
A Voice In Colombo

The winner is:

Indi. He's a sort of King of the Sri Lankan blogosphere, he's that geezer what started Kottu and when he speaks, or writes, people read and comment. Like Voice in Colombo he's a man who clearly feels passionately about the things he writes about and is never afraid to say what he thinks. Of course I wouldn't know about the things that they are too afraid to say, because they don't say them.

We're moving on rapidly now and have come to the penultimate award, which is almost the one before the final one. It's the award for the blog that the panel think is the best written blog, it's not so much about content as about flowery and poncey use of language, big words and plenty of nouns and things.

Best Written Blog

The nominations are:

Tiny Little Fascist
The Missing Sandwich
One One Things
Ravana
Poetlost
Ephemeral Ruminations

These blogs have a common thread for me; I read all of them and, at times, I marvel at the writer's use of language. They're ones that make me realise just how much I can work on writing and that going to bed and reading a dictionary isn't so sad after all.

The winner:

Ephemeral Ruminations


Java's blog, known and loved by so many, is always the epitome of good writing and, like a Barefoot sarong, comes in many styles. There are posts which are novelettes, posts which are intellectually stimulating comments on the Sri Lankan political situation and posts that talk about dogs and music. Java is one of those proper writer fellows who can pick a style and write that way. Kind of cool.

The Big One

Blog of the Year 2007

And now, the end is near as we face the final curtain. Previous winners include Darwin and Dave Grohl. To be a nominee your blog has to be well written, it has to demonstrate humour, a nice wide spectrum of content and some choice swear words. Graphics and pictures are useful, but essential is the fact that you must publish regularly. I don't have a firm definition of regularly but these chaps who chuck out a post once a blue moon just don't make the grade.

The esteemed nominees are:

The Darwin Awards
The Missing Sandwich
Indi.ca
Ravana
Ephemeral Ruminations
Cerno

Unsurprisingly all these rather spiffing Sri Lankan blogs have been up for awards already. They're an eclectic mix, from the brazenness and sheer balls of The Darwin Awards to the humour of Ravana. I reckon if I only ever looked at six blogs a week then these ones would cover me, which of course isn't surprising as this is my blog and my awards ceremony.

The winner:

After much thought and deliberation this closely run contest has been won by:

Cerno

It's a blog of infinite variety and Mr Cerno clearly puts a good healthy portion of effort and time into his online presence. There are Google Earth images of places we all know and love, there are entertaining posts with pictures galore about Sri Lankan grafitti, there are stories of Cerno turning into a transvestite. They're told with a mix of seriousness and wit and they keep coming at us, even while the newly married fellow is busy learning all about sex and things. The look of the blog is special too, I haven't seen another blog that looks similar and that's a pleasing change.

Last year's winner, Darwin, had this to say about Cerno

"Congratulations Cerno, in the struggle for the survival of the fittest you have been deemed worthy. So I hand over my darwin award to you, may it serve you well"

And she really did say that, it's not a made up quote like all my others.


That rounds up the awards for 2007. It's been another great year to read Sri Lankan blogs and I thank all those who have brightened up my working day.


Speeches are expected by all the winners of course.



RD