Update

Good afternoon!

We will probably have results in a few days. I know you are all anxious to find out who won, but the deliberations were interrupted when a small human fell out of one judge's abdomen. (And here we thought she was just letting herself go!)

Our judges are now reviewing all of the entries, and I will post the results as soon as I get them.

I hope you are all having a lovely holiday season.

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Best NWT Blogs: 2008

Welcome!

The 2008 awards are now underway, and we are taking nominations until Christmas Eve. That will give our judges time to review all of the blogs and return with winners next weekend. You can nominate anyone, even yourself.

• To be eligible, a blog must be about the NWT or written by a person in the NWT.
• Anyone can nominate a blog for the contest.
• To be eligible, individual blog entries must have been published in 2008.

Please post your entries in the comment box so we don't end up with multiple nominations for the same blog or post. You can nominate the same blog for as many categories as you want, but if you see that it's already been nominated in a category, there's no need to re-submit it. It would help if you could include links: if you don't know how to do this, you can e-mail your nominations to me (dryas at theedge dot ca) and I will post them.

The blogs you nominate can be any format: photoblogging, liveblogging, videoblogging, columns, personal stories.

To ensure fairness, I have assigned judges to categories they will not be eligible for. Best Blog and Best Post will be judged by a panel of bloggers who live outside the NWT.

Best Blog (Panel: Tina, Jen, Craig, Clare, Jackie, Kara, Kennie)
Best overall.

Best Post (Panel: Tina, Jen, Craig, Clare, Jackie, Kara, Kennie)
Best individual post of the year.

Best New Blog (Judge: Alex)
Best blog that began within the 2008 calendar year.

Best Photography (Judge: Megan)
Best original photography. It doesn't have to be a photoblog; it can be any blog with original photography.

Best Series (Judge: Laura)
Best series of posts about a specific topic. This does not have to be a formal series, but the posts should be presented as parts of a single unit on the blog.

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Final Results (a bit early)

Due to some voting irregularities, I am declaring both categories a three-way tie. Congratulations to Rob & Tina, Martin, Phil and Megan. The contest is over, so it's OK to visit them all and think they're all great. (I certainly do!)

This contest has been a lot of fun, and I'm very proud that we have so much talent here.

See you on your blog! You'll find me at Reflections in the Snow-Covered Hills and Flame of God.

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Round 2: Best Blog & Best Post

Voting in the first round is now over and, about 300 votes later, we have three finalists in both categories. They are all great. Honestly, I'm not sure that I could pick between them. I am really impressed that we have so much variety in our territory. Remember to check out each entry before you vote. I hope you'll find a new favourite blog today.

In both categories, you are voting for a winner. Voting ends Friday night at midnight.

Best Blog
Prize: "I Am An NWT Blogger" T-shirt, handmade by Jen of Nunavut.

Eclectic Blogs Martin's sometimes local, sometimes personal, sometimes political, but always interesting. As far as I know, he's the only NWT blogger with an expertise in tea. Truly an eclectic blog.

Inuvik Photos Phil sees the world through his camera lens. He's always good-humoured and has an interesting perspective on life at the top of the world.

Just Below 63 Rob & Tina always make me laugh, whether it's through their unique stories or their photography.



Best Post
Prize: Framed northern photo from Martin.

GNWT Cutting Costs But Not in the Right Places (Eclectic Blogs) Martin has obviously touched a nerve with this post about government spending. A timely topic, to be sure.

You Darn Kids! (Inuvik Photos) Phil spent an evening at the Inuvik Youth Centre, where he lent his camera to a few of the teenagers. Guess what happened next.

The Issue: Literacy Problems (Reflections in the Snow-Covered Hills) Megan's readers say she is on a journalism jihad. This post is from the day she almost beheaded someone.



Good luck to everyone. I know that all of the nominated blogs have a lot of fans, but I hope this contest has helped you to find a great new blog you didn't know about before.

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Winners!

I am pleased to announce that we have winners in three categories. Please stop voting in the five polls below. They will continue to accept your votes, but I will not. :)

Best or funniest northern story: Black Lake Or Black Magic (Just Below 63). This win is well deserved, although the others in this category were great competitors. Hilarious story, Rob. In fact, it was dinner conversation at my house a few weeks ago. Prize: NWT birch basket with quillwork or original tufting on hide in a loop from Indigo.

Best photography: Inuvik Photos. This one was a landslide. Peterson Photography and Design does amazing photography, but it's not really a photoblog in the same way Inuvik Photos is. I guess it's only appropriate that the Blog Awards would reward photoblogging over slick presentation. Prize: Set of northern cards from Rob & Tina.

Best new NWT blog: Janet's Arctic Adventure. This was close. I kept checking back throughout the day, and I wasn't sure whether Janet or Karan's Blog would come out on top. They are both great blogs in very different ways. Prize: Dinner for two at Megan's house in Yellowknife.

Congratulations to our three winners. Rob & Tina and Indigo, please get in touch with the winners.

But don't go away: Round two of Best Blog and Best Post starts now.

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So it begins

We have a lot of nominees for Best Blog and Best Post. I'm going to do those two in two rounds. You can only vote once for each question, but the top three blogs in those two categories will face off for the big prize starting on Wednesday morning. The others have fewer than five choices in each category, so we should be able to get through them in one round.

This ends on Tuesday night at midnight NWT time. If you haven't already, please click through and read the blogs in each category before you vote. Good luck to everyone! Remember, if you tell your readers to vote, you're more likely to win. :)

Which is the best blog in the NWT? The three blogs that get the most votes will "advance to the finals", as they say on Canadian Idol. The only difference is that this poll is much classier.

Prize: "I Am An NWT Blogger" T-shirt, handmade by Jen of Nunavut.

Eclectic Blogs
Flame of God
Inuvik Photos
Just Below 63
Karan's Blog
Reflections in the Snow-Covered Hills


Which is the best NWT post? Again, we'll vote later on the top three.

Prize: Framed northern photo from Martin.

The Fowlers (Peterson Photography and Design)
GNWT Cutting Costs But Not in the Right Places (Eclectic Blogs)
Reasons We Can't Let The Atheists Win (Flame of God)
You Darn Kids! (Inuvik Photos)
Why Do We Make The Schedule, Anyway? (Just Below 63)
What's Playing In My Walkman (Karan's Blog)
The Issue: Literacy Problems (Reflections in the Snow-Covered Hills)
Mother Nature Has A Great Sense Of Humour (Just Below 63)
Switched At Birth (Karan's Blog)


Which is the best or funniest northern story? You are voting for a winner -- there will be no second round for this category.

Prize: NWT birch basket with quillwork or original tufting on hide in a loop from Indigo.

Black Lake Or Black Magic (Just Below 63)
Yet More Awkward Moments (Karan's Blog)
Weird Inuvik Product (Inuvik Photos)
There's a Bear in Them Thar Woods (Way Way Up: NWT Edition)


Which NWT blog has the best photography? You are voting for a winner -- there will be no second round for this category.

Prize: Set of northern cards from Rob & Tina.

Peterson Photography and Design
Inuvik Photos


Which is the best new NWT blog? You are voting for a winner -- there will be no second round for this category.

Prize: Dinner for two at Megan's house in Yellowknife. It's your job to get yourself there. :)

Karan's Blog
Janet's Arctic Adventure

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Going...going...

Nominations close in a few hours. If your favourite blog or post isn't in the list below, submit it before midnight tonight (Saturday). Voting will begin in the morning.

We already have quite a few nominations in some categories, so I think we'll do those in two rounds to narrow the list.

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Nominations now accepted!

Good morning!

I am now taking nominations in five categories:

Best Blog
Prize: "I Am An NWT Blogger" T-shirt, handmade by Jen of Nunavut.

Best New Blog (new within the last 12 months)
Prize: Dinner for two at Megan's house in Yellowknife. It's your job to get yourself there. :)

Best Post
Prize: Framed northern photo from Martin.

Best Photography
Prize: Set of northern cards from Rob & Tina.

Best/Funniest Northern Story
Prize: NWT birch basket with quillwork or original tufting on hide in a loop from Indigo.

General Rules:
Any format will be accepted, including video blogs, podcasts and YouTube channels. Any topic will be accepted. The awards for individual posts can be from any time -- they don't have to be from the past year -- but if they're older, they have to be from a time when the blogger was living in the NWT. I will call foul on any posts about your flat in Toronto or your daily lattemochaspressachino.

You can nominate as many blogs as you want, and you can even nominate yourself. Put your nominations in the comments box. You can do it anonymously if you want to, but please provide a URL for the blog or post you're nominating.

You only have to submit a blog or post once in each category. If it has already been nominated in the category you were planning to nominate it in, there's no need to re-submit it. We'll vote later: for now, our focus is on getting the list of nominees together. The same blog can win multiple times.

Nominations close Saturday, April 27, at 11:59 pm. NWT time, of course. Voting will begin Sunday morning.

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One more day

I'm still taking suggestions for categories and prizes. If you have something in mind, please let me know right away. You can use the comments box or e-mail me: dryas (at) theedge.ca before Wednesday night at midnight. NWT time, of course.

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Categories

Which categories should be part of the contest? I suggest:

• Best Blog
• Best Post
• Best New Blog (new within the last 12 months)
• Best Photography
• UPDATED: Best Series
• UPDATED: Best/Funniest Northern Story
  

What am I missing? Suggest categories in the comments section before Thursday, April 24.

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Prizes

Who would like to donate prizes for the winners of the contest?

I will donate a dinner for two at my house in Yellowknife for one of the winners. Who else is in? E-mail me: dryas (at) theedge.ca or leave a message in the comments section.

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Welcome to Best NWT Blogs!

This is a contest. Anyone is welcome to participate, vote, suggest a category or nominate a blog. However, the blogs you nominate should be:

• written by an NWT resident OR
• about the NWT

We'll start by choosing the categories, then nominate blogs and finally vote on the winners. Good luck!

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