It has been brought to the attention of the awards committee that one of the shortlisted blogs in the Best New Blog category did not fully meet the eligibility requirements.  Since we did not stress the date requirement enough, and since this slipped past our panels, and since we are already 2 full days into voting, we are going to let the category stand as is, and take this under advisement as an area to improve in next year. 

Additionally, we have heard your concerns about the awards process!  Thank you for your passion, we can tell this really means a lot to you.  We have already been discussing ways in which we can improve and the following are actions we are committing to for next year:

1) A clear detailed explanation of the process available on the BBAW blog.
2) More transparency in the judging criteria
3) Longer notification periods so that nominees can consider whether or not they are interested in being involved with BBAW.
4) More outreach to all areas of the book community for their input and help.  (we will need your help with this!)

To show you we are serious, I am now posting more details about the scoresheet we used this year.  While the basic categories were announced in advance, I’m giving you the line items.  The scoresheets were finalized literally seconds before we started judging.  We judged blogs based on a holistic approach incorporating some of what is considered to be blogging best practices. 

Quality of Writing (30 points):
*Correct Spelling and Grammar
*Not repetitious. Succinct, concise, and to the point.
*Credits Sources (links properly)
*Writes with authority and accuracy

Category Originality and Diversity of Content(30 points)
*Original Content
*Variety of Content
*Fresh Perspective

Visual Aesthetic and Functionality (15 points)
*Blog is easy on the eyes
*Ease of Navigation
*Easy to subscribe, search, and contact blogger
*Sidebars are neat and not cluttered

Audience Engagement (15 points)
*Posts invite audience participation through comments
*Through humorous and engaging posts
*Through use of pictures, podcasts, vlogs, etc.

Some categories had different criteria, but this is what we used for all the review categories.  The number one criteria was really that the submitted posts fit the category description.

Additionally, if anyone did not respond to our letter, we did not disqualify them.  The committee went around and collected their 5 most recent posts.  The panelists judged the blogs, submitted their scores to the chairperson who averaged them together and took the top 5 scores.  In this way, the shortlists do not reflect any one person’s opinion.

Now you know everything and since you do, I hope we can move on.  There is still much work to be done on BBAW and we want to focus on that and celebrating each other.  It is our sincere hope that the book blogging community can truly celebrate each other next week!  I hope that we can show everyone they should be proud to be part of this community!

(one last note…a lot of information about BBAW can be found on the BBAW blog itself.  Please consider subscribing to the feed so you don’t miss out!)