A Mobbie update

Well, the results are in. I didn’t win, but I think I placed reasonably well in this popularity contest for a little ole Eastern Shore blog.

I was nominated in two categories: Best News Blog and Best Politics Blog. I wasn’t expecting a whole lot out of the Best News Blog category, so 8th of 11 isn’t too bad.

But I finished in the top 5 for Best Politics Blog behind eventual (and pretty much deserving, since Dave Wissing does a good job with it) winner Hedgehog Report, Maryland Juice, Maryland Reporter, and HoCo Rising. I’ll take it, as that’s my best finish of the three years I’ve been involved and when you consider I live well outside the Sun‘s primary circulation area fifth isn’t too bad.

Of course, there are many who pooh-pooh this whole awards thing, with the main point being that all we’re doing is helping the Baltimore Sun get more eyeballs on its website. It’s a point taken, but I look at it this way: since a large part of the Sun‘s readership is of the liberal variety, any chance I get to expose a little bit of common sense and conservative thought their way is an opportunity which should be taken advantage of. Certainly they agree more with what Maryland Juice would have to say, but perhaps some have read here and understand a little about common-sense conservatism. I’m certainly not going to complain about my readership totals in the runup to the election.

Finally, I wanted to give a shout out to my friend and fan Jackie Wellfonder, whose Raging Against the Rhetoric website scored a top 10 finish in the Best New Blog category. Certainly I wasn’t the only one voting for her!

Full results are here.

An honor to be nominated (again)

After a one-year hiatus, my favorite category of the Maryland Outstanding Blog Awards (affectionately known as the Mobbies) is back. monoblogue is one of ten nominees (so far) for Best Political Blog; I’ve also been nominated in the Best News Blog category where I join eight other hopefuls.

This isn’t a new experience for me, as I’ve been nominated twice before in the three-year history of the awards, sponsored by the Baltimore Sun. Since it’s more or less a popularity contest once voting begins and many of the contenders are more local to Baltimore, I figure making the top tier is a pretty good showing for this little ole Eastern Shore blog. (In looking the results up, I have at least finished closer to top than bottom in my previous two tries.)

But maybe I have a couple advantages this time, since my readership and social media reach have grown quite a bit in the last two years. It would be nice to win, but I’m keeping my expectations low since the competition is very good in both categories and there are several who I can say are worthy of victory.

However, I have another personal stake in this as I nominated Jackie Wellfonder’s Raging Against the Rhetoric blog as the Best New Blog. She has a tougher row to hoe because there are 20 nominees so far; obviously she works at the same disadvantages I do insofar as living in the hinterlands. But if there’s someone who can pull this off, I’m confident she can.

Nominations close tomorrow, and voting begins October 29. As I recall, a person can vote once per day.