Sunday, January 22, 2006

The Koufax Awards Are Here

The first round of nominations for Best New Blog in the Koufax Awards was just announced and, thanks to whoever nominated me, I'm there! (I nominated firedoglake, Pensito Review and Taylor Marsh.)

Why not myself? Because the Koufax Awards are the honor coveted by all liberal bloggers and, because of that, you want to win one for all the right reasons. Now, don't get me wrong: Even being mentioned in the Koufax Awards has me more excited than Dick Cheney at a torture convention but, as Dwight, MB and the fine folks at Wampum point out, this is meant to be a community-building effort, where true quality is recognized and not some over-hyped numbers game.

While I would of course appreciate your support, I strongly urge you to read a bunch of the other nominees before casting your one vote in this category. In fact, the voting isn't even open yet – I'll let you know when it is – because the organizers want to give people the opportunity to truly consider all nominees.

It will mean even more if you still vote for my site after reading some of my amazing peers who are also nominated.

Likewise, don't just vote for firedoglake because it's arguably the most well-known of the Best New Blog candidates. Vote for it because Jane Hamsher, ReddHedd (don't know if she wants her real name out) and Loren offer some of the most timely, insightful and well-researched content on the web. Vote for their abundant quality, not just for the site's name recognition.

The same thing goes for Pensito Review. Jon Ponder does an incredible job day in and day out fighting the fights that need fighting and does so in a way that makes me proud to have my blog associated with his.

Firedoglake and Pensito Review also link generously to other sites, which is a true sign of not only their own self confidence, but also their own commitment to making our side of the web strong and cohesive.

Others worthy of mention for many of the same reasons: Booman Tribune, Democracy Cell Project and Think Progress. All quality efforts and all worthy of your consideration.

Who gets my vote for Best New Blog? Taylor Marsh. Far from being a sign of disrespect to the Koufax Awards, not voting for myself seems exactly in the spirit the organizers are trying to engender. While I will drink a major toast to my friends at firedoglake in the highly-likely event they win this award, I'm voting for Taylor because she's a "sole proprietor" like me and has worked her butt off to produce daily content that is well reasoned, erudite and, at all the right times, funny. I love how she often refers to Bush simply as "terror guy."

While voting among the nominees in this category is a bit like lining up 10 of the best beers in the world and asking me to pick a favorite, I give Taylor my vote based on the size of her effort, her tireless consistency and sheer quality of content.

Again, if you vote for my site after carefully considering the others, I'll be more excited than – here comes another one – Jack Abramoff at a Native-American casino mixer. But please look at as many other nominees as you can.

I'll let you know when voting is open.