Nominations are now open for the 2005 Koufax Awards. This is the fourth year of the awards, which in internet time, makes us old and venerable (or perhaps decrepit). The 2002 winners may be found here. The 2003 winners are listed here, and the 2004 winners are here.
The Koufax Awards are named for Sandy Koufax, one of the greatest left handed pitchers of all time. They are intended to honor the best blogs and bloggers of the left. At the core, the Koufax Awards are meant to be an opportunity to say nice things about your favorite bloggers and to provide a bit of recognition for the folks who provide us with daily information, insight, and entertainment. The awards are supposed to be fun for us and fun for you.
Please try not to take the idea of winning and losing too seriously. We hope to help build and promote a feeling of community among lefty bloggers. The primary rules of the contest are be nice and have fun.
For details of how the awards work, please look here. If you have any other questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to leave a comment or send us an email.
This year, a Sandy will be awarded in each of fifteen categories. Those categories, along with past winners are listed below:
Best Blog
This category seeks to recognize the best overall work across the entire year. Blogs run by professional journalists and blogs sponsored by media organizations compete in their own division. Blog communities also compete in a separate category. With that understanding, which lefty blog do you consider indispensable? Atrios won in 2002 and 2003. Kos won last year. Who was best this year?
Best Blog -- Pro Division
This category is open to bloggers who are professional journalists or blogs sponsored by larger media entities. Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo won in 2002 and 2004. The category was not included in the 2003 awards. What is your favorite professional or media sponsored blog?
Best Blog Community
This category recognizes the changes in the way blogs are run. Many blogs now have content from a large number of contributors. This category is for them. For intance, Scoop sites, with their large number of diarists, are eligible for this award. The exact line between a group blog and a community is not easily described although I think I know it when I see it. The Leftcoaster with 11 contributors looks like a group blog to me, as does Crooked Timber with 16. The Huffington Post with its multitude of posters looks like a community blog as does TPMCafe. The dividing line is really up to you. I will note that an active comment board, such as at The Political Animal does not turn a blog into a community. If anyone can write a better definition, I will be happy to publish some clarification.
Best Writing
This category seeks to recognize the best writing on a lefty blogger. The fabulous Jeanne D'arc of Body and Soul won in 2002. In 2003, the Sandy for Best Writing was won by Billmon of Whiskey Bar. In 2004, Digby carried off the prize. Who had the best writing in 2005?
Best Post
This category is intended to identify the one post of the year that stands above all others for originality, insight, and writing. In 2002, this category was won by Jim Capozzola of the Rittenhouse Review for his post entitled Al Gore and the Alpha Girls. In 2004, the best post was Billmon's What a Tangled Web We Weave, the WMD quote post. In 2005, Juan Cole of Informed Comment won for If America Were Iraq, What Would it be Like? This is one category in which it is most appropriate to nominate your own work. After all, you know your posts better than anyone else.
When making a nomination in this category, please send along a link. We have hundreds, perhaps thousands, of links to track down and it really makes our life easier if you provide one.
Best Series
This category includes both regular features (such as Liberal Oasis' Sunday Talk Show Breakdown or Holden's Obsession with the Gaggle) as well as the best coverage of a single issue (such as Firedoglake's continuing coverage of L'affaire Plame).
This is another category where we want you to send us your best stuff. Atrios won in 2002 for his coverage of the Trent Lott controversy (links here). In 2003, David Neiwert of Orcinus won for Rush, Newspeak and Facism. In 2004, the award was split between The Rise of Pseudo-Fascism by David Neiwert at Orcinus and Cheers and Jeers by Bill in Portland Maine at Daily Kos.
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, science, etc. It has been won the last three years by the incomparable Jeralyn Merritt of Talk Left for her coverage of legal issues. Last year Jeralyn split the award with another law blog, Grits for Breakfast. Jeralyn is the only person to have won a category for three consecutive years.
Best Group Blog
A group is defined as two or more regular contributors but short of whatever is needed to be a community blog. In 2003, the Daily Kos community won this category. Last year, MyDD received it. Both are Scoop sites and are more appropriately placed in the Community blog category. Which true group blog was the overall best in 2005?
Most Humorous Blog
This is a self explanatory category. In 2002, Adam Felber of Fanatical Apathy won. In 2003, Tbogg carried home the prize. Last year, The General was particularly manly in victory. Who has consistently made you laugh this year?
Most Humorous Post
In 2002, the funniest post was the parody of Peggy Noonan by Jesse Taylor, formerly of Pandagon. I am having trouble finding a link to that post. Any help would be appreciated. In 2003, it was Atrios' classic Preznit giv me turkee. Last year, the Poorman's Poker with Dick Cheney made us laugh the longest and loudest. What post made you laugh out loud this year?
If you have read or written anything particularly humorous this year, please send us a link. In fact, please provide a link with any nominations for this category.
Most Deserving of Wider Recognition
This category was added last in 2003 year at the request of the readers. It seeks to honor bloggers who are consistently good but for whatever reason do not receive the recognition they deserve. In 2003, it was won by the now departed South Knox Bubba. Last year, the MDWR Sandy was won by the wonderful Susie Madrak of Suburban Guerrilla, who, by virtue of the award, should no longer be eligible (she is eligible for Best Blog, of course). Who do you think is this year's undiscovered gem?
Best Expert Blog
This is another category added in 2003 at the request of the readers. It seeks to honor those who bring particular expertise, by way of knowledge, experience, or academic achievement, to a particular topic. It was won in 2003 and 2004 by University of Michigan history professor Juan Cole who writes about the Middle East at Informed Comment. Who is this year's best expert?
Best New Blog
This category recognizes new members of the community. In 2002, there were almost no lefty bloggers at the beginning of the year. Atrios, for instance, began in the spring of 2002. That year, to qualify as new, the blog had to have begun in September or later. In 2003, I moved the qualifying date to July 1. Now the cut off date is the beginning of the year. Any blogger whose first post was in 2005 is eligible for this category. In 2002, the award went to Roger Ailes. In 2003, the award went to DNC's blog Kicking Ass. Last year, Amanda Marcotte of Mouse Words, now of Pandagon, was the winner. Amanda made some promises to voters last year. In particular, she promised that if she won, "I will make a massive ass out myself, with drunken speechifying and boobies."
There is no rule against making such promises but there is also no statute of limitations on complying with them. Well, Amanda?
One of the real joys of hosting these awards is becoming familiar with new blogs. It is no longer possible for any one person to keep up with all of the entrants. This is a great category for self nominations. Who is the best of the new crop of lefty bloggers?
Best Coverage of State or Local Issues
This is a new category based on reader suggestions. It is intended to honor blogs with a focus on happenings in a single state or single locality. Which state or local blog provided the best coverage this year? When making nominations please include the state of locality of coverage as well as a link
Best Commenter
This category is for those who post comments on other people's blogs. In 2002, the award was won by Digby who now graces us with his prose and insight at Hullabaloo. Last year, the award was won by John Emerson, a/k/a Zizka, who now writes, all too infrequently for my taste, at Seeing The Forest. In 2004, the award was won by Meteor Blades, now of The Next Hurrah. Who was the best commenter of 2005?
Those are the fifteen categories. If you think we should add another or restore one that has been eliminated, don't be shy, just leave a comment and we will consider it.
Hosting the Koufax Awards is a lot of work. It really, really helps if you provide a link when making a nomination, particularly if you are nominating a particular post or series of posts.
Two years ago, the onslaught of traffic generated by the awards crashed Wampum. Eric has worked many hours and we have spent a considerable amount of money to make sure that does not happen again. Once we get to the voting stage of the awards, we really need Eric and his laptop to provide ballot security. His laptop recently died. If you can afford it, please hit our tip jar to keep the Koufax Awards running and running fairly.
We do all of the work of the awards by hand. That has advantages and disadvantages. One of the disadvantages is that I tend to make mistakes. When I make one this year, please let me know I will do my best to correct it.
While you are here for the Koufax Awards, please feel free to look around. You may find some non-Koufax related items of interest.
Please remember that this is an effort to build a sense of community. Let's all try to have fun. Okay, send us some nominations.
NOTE: When the comment thread gets too long, it is very hard for us to manage the nominations list. This thread is about 350 comments long so we have closed the comments here and opened a new thread here. Please use the new thread for nominations. Thank you in advance and we apologize for any inconvenience.
