Aaron Hawkins Award

This category is for bloggers that have been blogging continuously since January 1, 2004. This award can only be won once, and is appointed by the judging panel of the Black Weblog Awards.

Best Blog Design

This category is for blogs that incorporate a unique and eye-catching visual web design. Blog designs must NOT be standard available web/blog templates, but fully custom-coded/designed sites.

Best Blog Post Series

This category is for a series of posts in a blog about a particular topic. Posts can be fiction or non-fiction, but post series must be linked by a common and identifiable theme with the ability to skip forward or backwards through the series for judging purposes.

Note: Please submit a separate nomination with JUST the URL of your blog post series and JUST this category selected for consideration.

Best Business Blog

This category is for blogs that talk about the modern business world (advertising, marketing, finance, business trends, etc.).

Best Culture Blog

This category is for blogs which talk about Black culture and/or the African diaspora in a multifaceted and dynamic way.

Best Faith-Based Blog

This category is for blogs which feature unique religious and spiritual content from any religion or faith.

Best Food Blog

This category is for blogs which focus on food and/or recipes. Blogs may also include restaurant and product reviews.

Best Gossip Blog

This category is for blogs that focus on the reporting, satire, and lampooning of pop culture and celebrities.

Best Group Blog

This category is for a single blog which is updated by a group of people (two or more people). This blog can be about any topic. Posts must indicate who the author is for each one; it cannot be one person masquerading as different people for judging purposes.

Best Health and Wellness Blog

This category is for blogs that focus on health, fitness, and overall physical wellness.

Best Hip-Hop Blog

This category is for blogs that focus primarily on hip-hop culture, including fashion, business or current events.

Best Humor Blog

This category is for humor blogs or blogs which feature humorous content.

Best International Blog

This category is for blogs of any topic that are based in countries other than the United States. The country of origin for the blog must be clearly identified for judging purposes.

Best LGBT Blog

This category is for blogs that relate to or are about the LGBT community. No pornography, please.

Best Microblog

This category is for those who have Twitter profiles; people can submit their Twitter profile for nomination for this award. For judging purposes, microblogs must be available for public view (no private profiles).

Best Music Blog

This category is for blogs that focus on music; blogs can provide downloadable mp3s, and may cover more than one genre of music. The majority of the blog should be about music, not celebrity entertainment news.

Best New Blog

This category is for blogs of any topic which have been started on or after September 1, 2008.

Best Parenting and Family Blog

This category is for blogs which center around the topics of family, raising children, families, etc.

Best Personal Blog

This category is for blogs which feature the day-to-day happenings and opinions of the author. Blogs do not have to adhere to a specific theme.

Best Photo Blog

This category is for blogs which present and feature photographs taken by the blog author.

Best Podcast

This category highlights podcasts—serialized audio files available to download—on any topic. Podcasts must be available for download (mp3 format); no strict Flash audio sites unless there’s an option for downloading the shows.

Best Political/News Blog

This category is for blogs which are about politics or current newsworthy topics.

Best Sex and Relationships Blog

This category is for blogs which discuss romantic or interpersonal relationship topics, sexual health, and/or other sexual topics.

Best Science/Technology Blog

This category is for blogs which feature content about biology, chemistry, physics, technology, the Internet, and the various realms of science.

Best Sports/Recreation Blog

This category is for blogs which primarily discuss sports and/or sports players.

Best Style and Fashion Blog

This category is for blogs which cover the topics of beauty, style and fashion for either men or women.

Best Teen Blog

This category is for blogs of any topic where the author is anywhere from 13-19 years old. The age of the author must be easily identifiable for judging purposes.

Best Video Blog

This category highlights blogs which feature original video content by the blog’s author on any topic. Blog content must be primarily video content. We are not looking for blogs with YouTube clips of music videos — this must all be original content by the author.

Best Writing in a Blog

This category is for blogs which have exceptional writing. This category is judged not on a single post basis, but on the overall posts of the blog.

Blog of the Year

This category is pretty self-explanatory; the blog of the year has it all: great writing, frequent posts, active comments, and a strong reader base.

Blog to Watch

This category highlights the best “undiscovered” blog in the blogosphere; keep your eye on this one! This is for that great blog that not everyone knows about…but should! You could say it’s a “best kept secret”.