Kevin Hayden of the American Street is hosting blog awards known as the Perranoski Prizes. Those prizes are named after Ron Perranowski, who was the best relief pitcher for the Dodgers during the Koufax era.
One purpose of the Koufax Awards is to build a sense of community among those of us on the left. Another purpose is to give all of us a chance to say a lot of nice things about a lot of people who provide us with information, insight, and entertainment all year long. Kevin's awards seem to fit perfectly with those purposes.
We limit the number of categories of Koufax Awards not from any scarcity of excellent lefty bloggers, but rather because the work involved gets to be rather daunting as the number of categories increases. As Kevin is willing to do the work, it is appropriate to have additional awards.
For those reasons, I welcome Kevin’s Perranowski Prizes and I hope you will too. As you should have gathered from the name, those prizes are complementary to the Koufax Awards. The Perranowski Prizes are in the best spirit of the Koufax Awards. Please be kind to Kevin when you visit.
Kevin has established 8 categories. None overlap with the Koufax Awards (although, it seems rather likely that some folks may win a Koufax and a Perranowski Prize). Those eight categories (and my nominations) are as follows:
Best Designed Blog
Kip of Long Story, Short Pier gets my nomination. I love the look of his blog and having a comment appear when the cursor is held over a hyperlink is just cool.
Best Art or Photoblog
I nominate Wood’s Lot. It has lots of good writing and great books (a page a day) and the pictures are just fabulous.
Best Moving Image Blog
I need to think on this one a bit.
Walt Kelly Best Toon Blog
Alas, A Blog. Barry is a great cartoonist.
Best Technical Achievement Blog
Hmm, I think I need to consult with Eric before I choose on this one.
Best Humanitarian Blog
There are a lot of great possibilities for this one. Body and Soul immediately comes to mind. For me, though, this one is no contest. She raised money during the Blogathon for Cure Autism Now. She led the fight to prevent the enactment of the Lilly Protection Act. She ran for a state legislative seat to make Maine a better place. She invited me to write at her blog. The Best Humanitarian Perranowski should go to Mary Beth Williams of Wampum.
Don Drysdale Award
My choice for the best right of center blogger is the always thoughtful Dan Drezner.
Best Investigative Research Blog
Hall of Fame Award
This award is for ex-bloggers or for those who have won at least three Koufax Awards in at least two years. Atrios, Hesiod, and Billmon are obvious choices.
Please go by and help Kevin get the Perranowski Prizes off to a good start.
Posted by Dwight Meredith at December 21, 2004 11:18 PM | TrackBack
Marty Beth? :)
Posted by: Peatey at December 22, 2004 01:12 AMThanks Peatey. I fixed it.
Posted by: Dwight Meredith at December 22, 2004 01:44 PMWow. Thanks, Dwight! I've been away a bit, for a bit too long, and seeing something like this makes me want to get past this day-job grind.
Posted by: Kip Manley at December 23, 2004 09:27 PMdwight,
as i told the amstreet bloggers in an email, the purpose of blogging is not to garner awards or nominations.
i think kevin is making a bit too much of not getting a koufax nod for amstreet. there's good work there, but there's good work all over.
and blogging is the least important place to win an award, imho.
as i told the amstreeters, the purpose of blogging is, at the least, for self-expression, and, at the most, to change the world.
awards (or lack thereof) should be water off a duck's back to a blogger.
(not to say that the koufax is a bad thing...just that the lack of nomination thereto is not a bad thing).
Posted by: skippy at December 24, 2004 02:24 PMHi skippy, good to see you.
I agree with you that folks should not take the Koufax Awards or any others too seriously. Winning an award would be a really silly reason to start or continue blogging. It is not like a Sandy comes with a large cash prize. I do disagree with you on a couple of points.
First, it seems highly likely to me that Am Street will be in contention for a Koufax in at least a couple of categories. Lots of very good stuff there.
More importantly, I think that Kevin is starting the Perranowski Prizes for exactly the right reasons, that is to help build a sense of community and to provide an opportunity to praise folks who work hard all year long to provide us with free ice cream.
If folks start taking the Koufax Awards too seriously and feelings start to get hurt over who got nominated or who won or who didn't, I will pull the plug on the whole process. That would defeat the purpose for which they are intended.
I do not have that sense yet, but it is a danger I have recognized since the beginning.
Posted by: Dwight Meredith at December 24, 2004 04:35 PMSuggestions for Koufax awards:
Best Blog
Daily Kos
WorldChanging.com
(tie)
Best Writing
Ethan Zuckerman's My heart is in Accra
Best Single Issue Blog
This category is for blogs that focus exclusively or almost exclusively on a single specific area such as politics, economics, law, etc. It has been won the last two years by the incomparable Jeralyn Merritt of Talk Left for her coverage of legal issues.
Best Group Blog
WorldChanging.com definitely!
Most Deserving of Wider Recognition
Purse Lips, Sqyare Jaws
Network Centric Advocacy
(tie)
Best Expert Blog
Thomas PM Barnett he's amazing on security
Best New Blog
Blue Oregon really really great
Best Commenter
Josh Marshall of course