Well after all it is the day after the Oscars.
The Seventh Annual Weblog Award nominees were announced recently and for at least the fourth year in a row there isn’t one book blog to be found.
C. Max Magee at The Millions (A Blog About Books) had a great post this past week titled “The Assimilation of the Book Blog” were he addresses this annual snub of book bloggers.
I have noticed that at times it seems difficult for sites to find the right category for the book blog. For example: Book Patrol posts are occasionally picked up by Reuters.com. The are mostly placed in their entertainment category but if the post is about books and technology the post will go to the technology section. There is no permanent book section on the entertainment page. There are sections for Film, Theater, People, Music, Television and Industry but none for Books.
Another example of book snubbing is on Forbes.com where the collecting part of the FORBESLIFE section rarely has any book collecting information.
There are others.
To remedy this and give our community its due Book Patrol announces the First Annual Book Blog and Web Awards. Our very own Best in Show.
List of potential categories include:
Best Overall Book Blog
Best Publishing or Business of Books Blog
Best Blog about New Books
Best Non-new book blog (used rare)
Best Blog about Books and Culture
Best Blog about Books and Technology
Best Book Review Blog
Best Book Related Video
Best Library Blog
Best Blog by a Librarian
Best Bookselling Blog
Best Book Blog by a Newspaper Journalist
Best Newspaper Website for Book Blogs
Best Publisher’s Blog
Best Book Trailer
Best Podcast
Best Book Arts Blog
Best Online Exhibition
The first award winners will be announced in early 2008. In the meantime I am off to find some sponsors.
Stay tuned.
If one has any thoughts as to what this award might be called, i.e. The Guties (after Gutenberg), please do let me know.
Image by Nora Krug