Everyday Literacies

And the winners are...

This year's Bloggies were announced today -- and, just like the Oscars, there were some surprise wins among the crowd this year. Here's the round-up for the winners --- go check out the runners-up as well because it was a very strong showing this year and the Bloggie categories are much more diverse and interesting than in the past.

Best Australian or New Zealand blog
Looby Loo (Not exactly my cup of tea, but a nice blog about everyday life as a mother and professional designer to be sure).

Best Asian blog
Tokyo Girl (an engaging expat blog)

Best African of Middle Eastern blog
Baghdad Burning (a well-deserved win for a grity, often raw, and and always politically savvy account of the occupation of Iraq)

Best European blog
My Boyfriend is a Twat (boy, is this chick funny! And her boyfriend clearly has the patience of a saint.... (grin)

Best British or Irish blog (I'm not quite sure why neither Britain nor Ireland is considered part of 'Europe'. Maybe the categories are currency based... Maybe the Europeans devised the categories.... who knows?)
Girl With a One Track Mind (is on my list of things to read)

Best Latin American blog
Cooking Diva (I voted for Ponchorama!! -- must go and revisit Cooking Diva)

Best Canadian blog
Photojunkie (Hooray! Although, this should've won the picture blogging category and Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century shoulda won this category)

Best American blog
PostSecret (Oh hooray! Kudos all over the place for Frank @ PostSecret; such a cool, cool forum for posting, well... secrets. Reading the secrets sometimes makes me cry, or laugh out loud. Or both at the same time)

Best Tagline
Joshua Ink: 'More love than a bus full of hippies' (No comment needed here--it's just perfect).

Best Podcast of a blog (I believe this category could also be referred to as a 'plog', but saying 'plog' simply sounds like you have a really bad sinus infection, so I'm glad they left it at the rather unwieldy but easier to pronounce without sounding infectious in a bad way, 'Best podcast of a blog')
The Movie Blog (on my list of things to do)

Best Photography of a blog (and here I thought it was pictures of blogs, not pictures in blogs...)
Flickr (deserves to win all sorts of prizes and large shiny trophies)

Best Craft blog
Make: Blog (swoon; if I believed in reincarnation, I would use my remaining years focussing on being reincarnated as a writer for Make; either for the magazine itself, or for the blog. I'm not fussy with my reincarnation particulars)

Best Cooking blog
Vegan Lunch Box (I actually remember the days when I woulda devoured this blog on a daily basis!)

Best Entertainment blog
Go Fug Yourself (Ahh--all is right with the world when one of my favourite blogs walks off with a first prize! 'And', coo U.S.-based Heather and Jessica on their blog, 'We couldn't be more excited about our wins [they also scored first in 'best writing' category] if we had walked away with Best New Zealand Blog, in what would surely have been the biggest upset win in Bloggie history.').

Best weblog about Politics
Wonkette (not nearly global enough in scope for my liking)

Best Gay/Lesbian/Bi-Sexual/Transgendered blog
Queerty (Even it's name is fab!)

Best Teen blog (The 'teen' reference still cracks me up!)
It's Raining Noodles (A bunch of really marvellous writing on this blog)

Most Humorous blog
Overheard in New York (and here I thought Fark was a shoe in for this category!)

Best Writing of a weblog
Go Fug Yourself (Yes! Heather and Jessica are indeed viciously funny to the extreme)

Best Group blog
BoingBoing (No surprise here, and still my first blog stop every morning)

Best Community blog
PostSecret (Nice--a community of deliberately anonymous participants!)

Best designed weblog
Joshua Ink ( I was so hoping he would turn out to be a tattoo artist...)

Best-Kept-Secret blog (I'm not exactly sure how one would go about nominating a blog and then voting in this category)
Need Coffee (No longer all that secret...)

Blog of the Year
PostSecret (and there's even a book out now showcasing the postcards! Must.get.it.).

There are a few sundry other prizes--BoingBoing won a richly deserved Lifetime Achievement award, Blogger won a blog-service related prize and a few others like that. Head on over to the Bloggies site itself and lose a few hours doing happy-inducing things.