First of all a big “thank you” to those of you who voted for Pepys’ Diary in the 2007 Weblog Awards for Best Literature Blog. It was a close-run thing toward the end. The day before voting closed we were 3-400 votes behind Neil Gaiman’s Journal but on the final day we’d caught up and got nearly 100 votes ahead. So thanks to all of you who made the effort, and particularly those of you who emailed many more people asking for their support (and thanks to all the friends and colleagues of mine who voted and encouraged others to take part too).
Unfortunately, a couple of hours before polling closed, Gaiman posted a reminder about the awards on his site and his many fans swiftly saw him add around 1,500 votes before it was all over.
When one is ahead in votes like these then the award seems like a perfectly judged validation of a site’s quality. But as soon as someone overtakes the whole thing seems easily dismissable as a trivial popularity contest! No matter, it was a lot of fun, and congratulations to all the other sites who were also nominated. Ultimately the award is only a reflection of how many readers a site has and how much the site owner is willing to encourage them to vote (I suspect McSweeney’s would have been first or second if they’d linked to the awards).
On the final day of polling Hans Dekker of the Wordsy weblog interviewed me about Pepys’ Diary and the awards and he’s just posted the edited half hour MP3 on his site. I hope you find it interesting listening!
5 Comments
First Reading
Frank Kavanagh • Link
You really should have won
Diana Bonebrake • Link
No matter about winning, I remember the humble beginnings of this site! And I am so glad it is still here...thank you!
Debra Matheney • Link
The interview was great. It's close to Thanksgiving this side of the pond and the website is one of the things for which I am grateful. Thanks for all of the hard work.
Todd Bernhardt • Link
The 2008 Weblog Awards are once again up and running, and once again Neil Gaiman's Journal is in the lead. Are we going to let that happen? What would Sam and Elizabeth say? And, my Lord! What would "my Lord" say?
http://2008.weblogawards.org/poll…
You can vote once a day on each computer you own or can access (it tallies by IP address, I presume) until the polls close Tuesday, January 13, 10:00 p.m. GMT / 5:00 p.m. EST / 2:00 p.m. PST. So can your friends, family, co-workers, enemies, pets, etc.
Come one, come all, my Pepys. Let's get it on. We're already 9 days behind!!
And so to vote...
Michael Robinson • Link
"The 2008 Weblog Awards are once again up and running, and once again Neil Gaiman’s Journal is in the lead. Are we going to let that happen?"
Crying over spilled milk perhaps, but for a curious repeat of our experience last year (but with a different ultimate outcome, the American Bar Association Journal editors had experience in Chicago politics) see the posts, Jan 03 & 07 2009, of 'BabyBarista' about his experience in another competition:
http://timesonline.typepad.com/ba…
So let's get going ...