2009 American Wine Blog Awards
January 19th, 2009
American Wine Blog Awards.
February 1st, the 3rd Annual American Wine Blog Awards will be accepting nominations for:
- BEST OVERALL WINE BLOG .
- BEST WRITING .
- BEST GRAPHICS .
- BEST WINE REVIEW BLOG .
- BEST BUSINESS WINE BLOG .
- BEST SINGLE SUBJECT WINE BLOG .
- BEST WINERY BLOG .
- BEST WINE VIDEO BLOG/PODCAST .
What’s different this year is that the American Wine Blog Awards have sponsors and – as previous posts by Tom have indicated - there will be prizes.
Why these awards are important
Tom is a HUGE proponent and advocate of wine blogging. These awards highlight the standout blogs as selected by a composite vote of expert judges and readers. Additionally, they drive the tone and standard of wine blogging by spotlighting the standouts. In this way, they serve to validate and give credibility to wine blogging – which seems to be behind the curve of other blogging genres. if you care about wine blogging as an alternative wine medium, you will want to pay attention to these awards.
What’s new this year
The awards have three sponsors this year. Riedel will provide an etched Austrian crystal decanter to the winner in each category. Mutineer Magazine will cover the awards on its blog and run a print issue in March with dedicated coverage of the awards, complete with profiles and interviews with nominated bloggers. Finally, OpenWine Consortium will provide coverage and support of the awards.
Why you should care
Awards and honorable mentions are often abused and exploited, regardless how they came about. Ultimately, readers will turn to the publication they like the most because people stick by the voices and philosophies which resonate with their own beliefs.
With so many print publications failing, wine blogging is truly poised to become a big player in the wine writing game. But only time will tell who are the voices and opinions worthy of our attention. The American Wine Blog Awards will be instrumental in that process. They will help define and promote wine blogging as a credible medium and they will help set standards of excellence.
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February 6th, 2009 at 5:25 am
These are cool awards for the wine bloggers! I hope to be nominated myself, but my blog is really not that great. Gary Vaynerchuk should win if his site is still considered a blog.