The SA Blog Awards

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As you probably know by now, last week the annual South African Blog Award winners were announced. You can check out the full list of winners and nominees here.


You may think it's sour grapes on my part saying this but consider me marginally peeved that "company" blogs seemed to dominate the main categories. For me blogging is about personal expression on a topic outside of the traditional channels of debate. Why should we be celebrating the hijacking of that same expressive space by corporates? Do blogs deserve awards when they blatantly stem from a brand building proposal by a media company or advertising agency?

When it comes to award time, how is one solo blogger supposed to compete for the public vote when a few simple words from a DJ can rally a radio station's entire listenership to vote. I just don't think it's fair. I really think personal blogs and organisational blogs should be kept separate - think of it as being like weight divisions in boxing.

Speaking of weight divisions and combat-type stuff, I'm a Blue Belt now. I made a lot of mistakes during the test - as did others - but given that we accomplished so much in a single week of learning and practicing the syllabus, and given that we were so nervous during the test, the Brazilian instructors are giving us our belts as encouragement to train even harder. We have 2 months before the instructors are back in South Africa and in that time we have to perfect the techniques so that we can show definite improvement when they return.

Comments

AQUILOGY said…
I also agree with it's not fair to "ordinary" blogger that these corporate blogs are stealing the show.
9:52 AM
Stacey said…
Congrats on your blue belt!
12:02 PM
Anonymous said…
It infuriates me too, I mean, our blogs are really great compared to a lot of these corporate blogs, I just don't get where the minds of most SA bloggers are; it is a damn shame un entertainment bloggers don't get more of the limelight.
11:57 AM
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