New categories for SA Weblog Awards

Blogs can compete for the top honours in the following categories:

• South African weblog of the year - the best of the best from SA
  
• Best SA entertainment blog - weblogs about movies, television, celebrities, theater and topical issues with entertainment value.
  
• Most humourous South African blog - witty, comical and written to induce uncontrollable laughter.
  
• Best post on a South African blog - the one post which stood out in 2006.
  
• Best overseas South African blog - best blog written by a South African in any foreign country
  
• Best writing on a South African blog - composition, attention to detail, advanced levels of subject investigation.
  
• Best SA blog about politics - the best SA blog featuring mainly a political theme.
  
• Best SA photographic blog - the best SA blog featuring original photographic content.
  
• Best new blog - bBest blog which was started during the year of 2006
  
• Best SA blog about food - the best blog written primarily about food or drink
  
• Best SA blog about tech/computers/web development - best South African technology focused weblog
  
• Best SA Music blog - best weblog about news of a musical nature.
  
• Best GLBT blog - best SA gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered blog.
  
• Best designed SA blog - best overall design and layout of a weblog page.
  
• Best SA podcast - the best independently produced video or audio podcast in SA.
  
• Best SA business blog - the best blog covering topics relating the the world of entrepreneurship, small business marketing, advertising, Web 2.0 trends and other remarkable news.

There have also been changes to how the awards work in order to ensure that the results are as accurate and as fair as a possible.

The final voting this year will be done by three different groups:

1. The general blog reading public
   
2. A small panel of 'celebrity' judges.
   
3. A larger panel of South African bloggers selected by no other criteria than their passion for blogging.
   

Each category will be judged by two panel bloggers (whose votes have a 10% weighting each), an assigned 'celebrity' judge (30% weighting) and the public vote (counting for 50% of the weighted average).

The weighted scores from each will be totaled together to determine the final winners.

Criteria

• A "weblog" is defined as a page with dated entries.
  
• The contest is open to any weblogs that existed for a period of time during the year 2006, so weblogs that were discontinued during 2006 are also eligible.
  
• Only one nomination form and one finalist voting form may be submitted per person.
  
• Email addresses are required to vote. If you attempt to submit a second ballot, your first one will be replaced.
  
• In the nomination phase:

  • URLs are required.
    
  • The maximum number of weblogs you may nominate for a category is two (2) for most categories and three (3) for Weblog of the Year.
    
  • At least three (3) different weblogs total must be nominated.
    
  • There is no limit to the number of categories a weblog may be nominated for.

  • Nominees have to fit the category they are placed in.

Nominations

Nominations from the general public will be open from 12 February to 26 February 2007. Thereafter, the blogger panel will review the nominated blogs (taking into account relevance and quality) in each category and submit for their individual top 10 in each. The votes will be tallied and the top blogs resulting from this will go through to the finals.

Final voting will be open to the public from Monday, 5 March 2007, till midnight Friday, 16 March 2007. The awards ceremony will take place in Johannesburg on Friday 30 March 2007.

For more information, go to http://2007.sablogawards.com.