Even though the BBAW shortlists are up and nominations are open, I want to remind you that the awards are only part of BBAW.  In fact, the reason the awards are separated out on this blog from the main content is because, wait for this, some people just don’t care about them!  They just want to enjoy BBAW and have fun.  That’s the same reason giveaways can be found in a separate place.

I think the awards are a great honor and a lot of fun, but they are just an attempt at recognition.  There is no way we can find every book blog, read every post, and find the best.  But it’s fun to recognize each other’s hard work in this way.  I heard BBAW panelists say over and over how many great new blogs they found in the process of judging.  And every shortlist is a combination of several people’s opinions.  I think each judge saw some surprises in the categories they judged.

BBAW was really conceived in my mind as a big love fest.  I love book bloggers, really it’s that simple.  Just the other day I was visiting the blog of a book blogger and as I read her post about some new books she bought, I felt my heart just burst with affection.  Yes, I am really that sappy. 

I like to think of BBAW as a festival…an online convention for the people who love books and write about them.  We are all very different.  We like different books.  But I hope BBAW can be a time when we come together and celebrate what each of us do.  Celebrate books.  Celebrate a community that is altruistic by nature, that learns and grows together, that values literacy and good entertainment through the written word.  The best of BBAW, I hope, is yet to come.