It came as quite a surprise when AT contributor Russell Cook wrote me to inform us that American Thinker is a finalist in the 2013 Bloggies Awards, one of five sites competing for the title "Best weblog about politics."

To be honest, I had never heard of this award, but then again I tend to ignore such competitions. The Wikipedia entry on the Bloggies states,

"The Weblog Awards, nicknamed the Bloggies, are annual non-profit blog awards that have been presented since 2001. They are the longest running and one of the largest blog awards, with winners determined through internet voting by the public. The Weblog Awards are presented by Nikolai Nolan, and are covered by many major news organizations."

It does appear, however, to be a fair competition, doing its utmost to make online voting honest, and not prone to ballot box stuffing. In fact, it claims to enforce something akin to voter ID.

• Any pages with dated entries that existed at some point during the year 2012 are eligible.
• Only one nomination ballot and one finalist ballot may be submitted per person.
• E-mail addresses are required to vote. You must use your own address and confirm the verification e-mail.
• If you verify a second ballot, your first one will be replaced.
• In the nomination phase:
  • URLs are required.
  • Your ballot must contain at least three unique nominees.
  • Weblogs may be nominated for multiple categories.
  • Nominees must suit the category they are placed in.
• Weblogs may win a category over multiple years a maximum of three times.

Here is the competition we face:

Politico is the obvious giant here, while Occupy Wall Street can probably claim a legion of devoted, if deluded, young followers. James Delingpole is the other explicitly conservative site, and frankly, he is a brilliant thinker and highly accomplished writer. The Global Warming Policy Foundation appears to be open minded (which is to say skeptical) about apocalyptic predictions of war must doom. So three entries attracting conservatives, and two attracting lefties.

Voting for the final award closes March 17. Readers who are inclined to vote may do so here. Recognition is always nice, and being a finalist itself is a reward.  Thanks to those who put us in nomination. We thank anyone who is motivated to vote for us in the final competition.