Weblog awards
March 15, 2010
The sixth edition of the BOBs - Deutsche Welle's international blog awards - is entering its final stages. The voting period begins on March 15, 2010. All nominated blogs are presented on the BOBs Web site (www.thebobs.com). There, you can find information about the blogs and help award the public prize by submitting your vote.
The choice is large. This year, there are 17 competition categories and 11 languages - adding up to 187 nominated blogs, podcasts and videoblogs. Voting ends on April 14, 2010.
Once again, many users from around the world have expressed their preferences, submitting nearly 8,300 suggestions for the competition. The international jury panel - which consists of prominent bloggers - nominated 11 candidates in each category.
This year there are six mixed-language categories (Best Weblog, Best Videoblog, Best Podcast, Reporters Without Borders Award, Blogwurst Award and Special Award Climate Change). The other 11 categories are connected to specific languages: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, German, English, Farsi, French, Indonesian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.
Climate change
A new element in this year's BOBs is the category Special Award Climate Change. Its goal is to recognize international blogs on the topic of climate change. According to Marc Koch, editor-in-chief of DW-RADIO and DW-WORLD.DE, "climate change is the international topic at the moment. It affects all countries; it affects all societies."
The upcoming 2010 Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum, scheduled for June, will also focus on the topic "Climate Change and the Media."
The BOBs on re:publica
A new feature this year is the cooperation between the BOBs and re:publica - Germany's largest blogger and Internet conference. The BOBs judging session will coincide with re:publica in Berlin, and this year's BOBs winners will be announced at re:publica during a public event on April 15.
As always, there will be two winners in each category - one based on the user vote and one based on the jury vote.
Aside from Reporters Without Borders, re:publica is the BOBs' premium partner. Just like in previous years, the BOBs are also supported by prominent media partners.
Editor: Kate Bowen