2005 Knit Blog Awards

It's official. I have decided to organize the first annual Knit Blog Awards.

Knit Blog Awards Particulars
The official name of the awards is "The Knit Blog Awards", with an acronym of KBA. Unofficially, they will be know as the Knibbies. Thanks to reader, Gail, we will also have an official website soon, www.knitblogawards.com.

For the first year, the Knit Blog Awards Committee (the KBAC) will keep it somewhat simple. There will be a total of four awards for 2005:

Best New Knitting Blog
Best Technical Knitting Blog
Most Entertaining Knitting Blog
Best Overall Knitting Blog

We will accept nominations for each of the four categories for approximately 12 days. Up to ten blogs in each category will then be put up for a popular vote for the following 10 days. If more than ten blogs are nominated, only the ten most commonly nominated blogs that meet the category criteria will be listed and available for voting.

The criteria for nomination and voting should be as follows:

Best New Knitting Blog
Blog should have been started within the award year, or the prior year. The blog should be evaluated on the following criteria:

- Quality of writing
- Overall look of the blog
- How well the blog promotes knitting
- How quickly the new blog has garnered a regular readership, as evidenced by:
- Number of visitors (if publicly available)
- Number of other sites that link to the newcomer's blog
- Frequency of being mentioned on knitting list and in other blogs
- Consistency and frequency of posting
- Quality of comments (if applicable)

Best Technical Knitting Blog
Blog should be based on the following criteria

- Quality and quantity of useful knitting tips and techniques
- Blogger's demonstration of technical ability through personal knitting projects
- Overall look of the blog
- How popular the blog is with readers, as evidenced by:
- Number of visitors (if publicly available)
- Number of other sites that link to the newcomer's blog
- Frequency of being mentioned on knitting list and in other blogs
- Consistency and frequency of posting
- Quality of comments (if applicable)

Most Entertaining Knitting Blog
Blog should be based on the following criteria

- Quality and appeal of writing
- Blogger's application of writing skills relevant to knitting
- Overall look of the blog
- How popular the blog is with readers, as evidenced by:
- Number of visitors (if publicly available)
- Number of other sites that link to the newcomer's blog
- Frequency of being mentioned on knitting list and in other blogs
- Consistency and frequency of posting
- Quality of comments (if applicable)

Best Overall Knitting Blog
Blog should be based on the following criteria

- A combination of any or all of the criteria for the other categories
- Overall look of the blog
- How popular the blog is with readers, as evidenced by:
- Number of visitors (if publicly available)
- Number of other sites that link to the newcomer's blog
- Frequency of being mentioned on knitting list and in other blogs
- Consistency and frequency of posting
- Quality of comments (if applicable)

Knit Blog Awards Rules
Blogs can be nominated and win awards for multiple categories. While it will be impossible to prohibit cheating, nominators and voters are encouraged to only submit one list of nominations and to vote only once.

I think in future years, I may have to pull together a KBA committee
who will select winners based on committee-determined criteria. This year, it will be based on who can get their readers to vote more.

Knit Blog Awards Dates
Starting today, I will begin accepting nominations for each of the categories via e-mail. Again, thanks to Gail, you can e-mail your nomination(s) to:

nominations@knitblogawards.com

Please submit only one e-mail which can contain nominations for any or all of the categories listed above.

You can nominate the same blog for multiple categories.

Please limit nominations to one blog per category.

So, for instance, you can nominate "Acme Knitting Blog" for Best New Knitting Blog, and "Ace Knitting Blog" for Best Overall Knitting Blog, but not "Acme Knitting Blog" and "Ace Knitting Blog" for Best Overall Knitting Blog).

I will accept nominations until Monday, December 26th, 2005, Midnight, Eastern Standard Time.

After that time, I will set up voting for the top ten most nominated blogs in each category. Voting will continue through midnight on January 6, 2006 and winners will be announced Monday, January 9, 2006.

Knit Blog Awards Winners
Winners in each category will be sent a blog "button" that they will be able to proudly display, and listing on the page for official winners of the 2005 Knit Blog Awards. Franklin has graciously offered to design and create the winning blog button.