Irish Blog Awards Follow Up.
Now everybody in Ireland has known this for two days, and indeed those of you who read far and wide, so this is for the rest of you who were wondering how the Irish Blog Awards went at the weekend.
I won’t list the winners, as they’re listed elsewhere including by Maman Poulet who I followed as she blogged the event live from Dublin’s Alexander Hotel. Great job. Thanks for that.
Similarly thanks to all the attending Twitterers, and to EirePreneur for the Twitter Grazr mash-up, Twazr. It all added to great excitement.
The big winners - well they each won two awards - were Beaut.ie, IrishElection.com, Ice Cream Ireland, Bernie Goldbach, and Twenty, who again won Best Blogger.
No great shocks among the winners (those links are their reactions), but a few people were surprised with Blogorrah coming away with nothing from its several nominations, and more so a lot of people, including myself, were disappointed that the Swearing Lady didn’t bag something.
I guess there can only be so many winners. Congratulations to all of those, and kudos again to Damien - who’s strangely very tired.
See Also:
• My Votes for the Irish Blog Awards
• Irish Blog Awards Shortlist - A commentary
• Irish KC receives four nominations (longlist) for IBAs
Eolaí gan Fhéile:
I was hugely disappointed that the Swearing Lady didn’t win anything but I think we can all tack on “this time” because I think it is only a matter of time before she gets the wider recognition that she definitely deserves. Bloggorah was a strange one and they really divided the judges with some awarding them top marks and others giving them close to nothing. They are either loved or hated and I think this was reflected in the judging. Had it been a public vote they would have won a few but it wasn’t just about popularity.
Glad you enjoyed the twazr!
Glad I wasn’t the only one sitting Twittering Eolaí - I felt like a bit of a tool sitting at home while everyone else was out enjoying themselves. Agreed on Sweary, but as Damien said, it’s likely she’ll do very well next year.
Cheers James.
Damien, I’m glad it’s not simply a popularity contest - or the Wolfe Tones would probably have won in Best Music Blogger category. Popularity is too open to gaming and just plain abuse. Culling unannounced the sites with just single nominations was genious, even if not intentional. Some headaches there for the committee next year I think.
And I’m glad that the judging wasn’t sentimental which might have happened had there been one set of judges for all the categories and they tempted to spread the love a little. Instead the judges for each category clearly judged that category without the knowledge of how the judging in the other categories was going. Fair enough.
That said I suspect Primal Sneeze is probably right when he states that familiarty with Sweary, or lack of in some quarters, probably was a major factor. And as you say, it surely is only a matter of time.
Blogorrah aren’t really my cup of tea, yet I voted for them as I believe they do have qualities and brought something new to the Irish blogosphere this last year.
And don’t forget one other thing, Eolai. It was a great booze-up. Always a consideration among Irish bloggers. Well, among Irish anything, actually.