BWA Staff: How did you first learn about the Black Weblog Awards?

HoodHype: I think we found you guys through another nominee and clicked the link.

BWA Staff: In 2007, you won Best Podcast for HoodHype. How far have you gone with your podcast since then?

HoodHype: We’ve focused on the show a great deal and have had a lot of success with advertisers, featuring artist interviews, and our syndication has expanded to AOL radio. Our audience base has doubled since 2006.

BWA Staff: How did the Black Weblog Awards help you in gaining exposure?

HoodHype: I can say it may have helped us get exposure to BWAs audience. But we never saw metrics of any sort regarding the BWAs, so to be honest its tough to answer that question.

BWA Staff: What do you see in the future for the awards?

HoodHype: I see HoodHype being selected as another nominee.

BWA Staff: What is your ultimate goal with HoodHype?

HoodHype: Our ultimate goal is to be the best there is out there. We want to be THE place for independent hip-hop artists to come to so they can get their music exposure. We pride ourselves on being the most well produced, most entertaining, most popular hip-hop podcast out there. It’s a fact: we’re the highest ranked in iTunes, Microsoft Zune Marketplace and we spin the best underground hip-hop out there, and we have quite possibly the most entertaining hip-hop show doing a podcast. We would just like to grow our audience and get even more participation. We want to be doing this 5 days a week for the rest of our lives. That’s the ultimate goal.

Attention Black Weblog Award winners! Contact us at staff@blackweblogawards.com if you would like to be interviewed for the site.

And for the first time ever, we had a tie for one of our finalists! Now we have two blogs sharing one category win for the popular vote. Wow!

Here’s the moment of truth. We present to you the winners of the 2010 Black Weblog Awards.

Best Blog Design

Popular Vote: The Young, Black, and Fabulous
Judges’ Vote: Mostbeautifullest

Best Blog Network

Popular Vote: Global Grind Network
Judges’ Vote: theFreshXpress Blog Network

Best Blog Post Series

Popular Vote: “I Love Black Men” on Black ‘n Bougie
Judges’ Vote: “Michael Jackson and the Five Stages of Grief” on What Would Thembi Do?

Best Business Blog

Popular Vote: Young, Fabulous & Self-Employed
Judges’ Vote: kiss my black ads

Best Cooking or Food Blog

Popular Vote: Yes, Divas Can Cook
Judges’ Vote: My Life Runs on Food

Best Culture Blog

Popular Vote: Black Girl with Long Hair
Judges’ Vote: Socialtik Mag

Best Faith-Based Blog

Popular Vote: The Old Black Church!
Judges’ Vote: The Secular Parent

Best Fashion or Beauty Blog

Popular Vote: Afrobella
Judges’ Vote: Afrobella

Best Film Blog

Popular Vote: Black Box Office
Judges’ Vote: Shadow and Act

Best Gaming or Comics Blog

Popular Vote: Black Nerd Comedy
Judges’ Vote: Black Comix

Best Gossip Blog

Popular Vote: The Young, Black, and Fabulous
Judges’ Vote: Necole Bitchie

Best Group Blog

Popular Vote: Very Smart Brothas
Judges’ Vote: Very Smart Brothas

Best Health or Wellness Blog

Popular Vote: A Black Girl’s Guide to Weight Loss
Judges’ Vote: A Black Girl’s Guide to Weight Loss

Best Hip-Hop Blog

Popular Vote: AllHipHop
Judges’ Vote: Hip Hop Blog

Best Humor Blog

Popular Vote: O Hell Nawl
Judges’ Vote: Very Smart Brothas

Best International Blog

Popular Vote: Catch a Vibe
Judges’ Vote: Catch a Vibe

Best LGBT Blog

Popular Vote: The Skorpion Show
Judges’ Vote: TransGriot

Best Microblog

Popular Vote: Sister Toldja
Judges’ Vote: The Smithian

Best Music Blog

Popular Vote: SoulBounce
Judges’ Vote: SoulBounce

Best New Blog

Popular Vote: The Dithering of a District Diva
Judges’ Vote: The Dithering of a District Diva

Best Parenting or Family Blog

Popular Vote: Black and Married with Kids
Judges’ Vote: African American Dad

Best Personal Blog

Popular Vote: A Belle in Brooklyn and Until I Get Married
Judges’ Vote: Sassy Wife Chronicles

Best Photography Blog

Popular Vote: My Damn Blog
Judges’ Vote: Chookooloonks

Best Podcast Series

Popular Vote: HBCU Digest Radio
Judges’ Vote: Friday Favecast

Best Political or News Blog

Popular Vote: The Urban Politico
Judges’ Vote: Black Snob

Best Science or Technology Blog

Popular Vote: Black Web 2.0
Judges’ Vote: Black Web 2.0

Best Sex or Relationships Blog

Popular Vote: Until I Get Married
Judges’ Vote: The Relationship Playbook

Best Sports Blog

Popular Vote: Hardwood Diva
Judges’ Vote: Black Sports Online

Best Teen Blog

Popular Vote: Teen Savvy
Judges’ Vote: DamierDesigns MMX

Best Travel Blog

Popular Vote: Black in Cairo
Judges’ Vote: Jay Travels

Best Video Blog Series

Popular Vote: The Skorpion Show
Judges’ Vote: Ill Doctrine

Best Writing in a Blog

Popular Vote: Until I Get Married
Judges’ Vote: Uptown Notes

Blog of the Year

Popular Vote: Miss Jia
Judges’ Vote: O Hell Nawl

Blog to Watch

Popular Vote: Angry Black Lady Chronicles
Judges’ Vote: The Gentlemen’s Standard

And the winner of the Aaron Hawkins Award is…

Earl Dunovant!

Earl Dunovant is a web developer and political activist who has blogged at Prometheus 6 since January 2004. Dunovant is also a member of the Media Bloggers Association, has attended presidential debates as a credentialed blogger, and has been featured on NPR as part of News and Notes‘ Bloggers Roundtable.

Winners, contact us at staff@blackweblogawards.com to receive your winners’ graphic!

Our Kickstarter campaign is still chugging along, and we need your support. We have less than 24 hours left, and you can pledge as little as $1 or as much as you like. Those pledging at the $100 level or higher will receive a free invite to our ceremony once our fundraising goal is met! If you haven’t pledged yet, please do so today. If you have already pledged, thank you for your support, and we hope you will pledge again!

Make sure you’ve signed up for our email newsletter to receive the latest information about the Black Weblog Awards!

Next up: our 2010 BWA postmortem. Stay tuned!

Blogging for me started as a research project in 2008, while pursuing my Masters in Marketing. I knew I wanted to have a site for the fashion forward plus-size woman that spoke to my fashion aspirations. Through research, I realized that there were mounds of resources; they just were scattered all over the place. So, with small fears and a whole lot of gusto, I launched my blog. Fast forward to Friday the 13th of March 2009. I lost my job for a major high-end department store, and with this I threw myself into developing my blog. What a ride it has been!

In creating my site, I was influenced by the mainstream fashion blogs – the Fashionista, The Coveted, Susie Bubble – and I wanted to bring fashion from a plus perspective to this level. Motivated by the pioneers of plus-size fashion like Gwen DeVoe, Catherine Schuller, Maddy Jones, Anna Scholz, Fatshionista, Emme, and so many more, I embarked upon this adventure with fire, gusto, and humility, knowing I wasn’t the first, but aspiring to be a respected and educated resource both within and outside the plus-size community.

This journey has brought about a sense of purpose and motivation to break down stereotypes and misconceptions of plus size women from the idea of a project to a purposeful mission. The Curvy Fashionista has transformed me to be an advocate, educator, and resource for the fashion starved woman, thus my blog’s tagline Curvy. Confident. Chic.

The winners will be announced at noon on September 1.

I just launched my blog in March so I’m still a newbie! I had been thinking about writing my own personal finance blog for a while, and a lot of my friends told me I needed to just DO IT – so I finally DID! I think my quarter-life crisis was a good catalyst too (I just turned 25 in January). Now I’m in the process of getting my name out there and building up traffic to the site because I know I have a lot of good content and a fresh perspective I want to share with the world!

My story is one that my community can learn from: learning financial literacy the HARD way! Back in college, I got through everyday expenses with a credit card and NO budget. BIG MISTAKE! When my new real world salary wasn’t as much as I thought it would be to miraculously pay off all my debt, I needed to change my lifestyle by:

1) Spending LESS than I made

2) Paying down the credit card debt ASAP

3) Building up an emergency fund and other assets so I actually had something to show for working my new “9 to 5″

That’s really how the Dollar Thug mentality came to be! It’s really not rocket science, but I’ve been doing my best to improve my finances every month since that revelation. I still have a long way to go (the credit card debt is long gone though!). But it’s really empowering to see yourself making progress – much more powerful than spending all your money on items that you’ll be bored with in 3 months!

Blogging has been a therapeutic outlet for me. I love to write when I have something to say, and when it comes to personal finance, I have a LOT to say. Blogging has been my way of broadcasting my message: I want people (especially Black people) to embrace the fact that if one can just block OUT the consumer propaganda to spend, spend, spend, one can actually achieve some serious financial goals! I hope to develop the site to the point where it becomes an online resource for people to have access to information surrounding financial literacy and the skills one needs to build sustainable wealth (not fleeting riches). Our community NEEDS it!

My name is Aimee Brittain I am known as The Coupon Diva. I began blogging when it was suggested by a friend because there wasnt a African-American presence in the coupon/money-saving blogging industry. I decided to give it a try and 2 years later I was voted as The Atlanta Journal- Constitution’s #3 pick for Favorite Local Blogger. I have began to get corporate sponsors and have met some other great African-American bloggers in my area and even met a great mentor.

I am inspired because after being laid off in January, I have begun to turn this into a full-time job. It’s still in the process, but I could not be happier. I love helping people save money and stopping me in the store when they see my big pink binder full of savings. I love it when people email deals they have seen so I can post them and when companies want me to review items for them.

C’mon and join the Soul Train line. Sponsor the Black Weblog Awards.

Many years ago, my two best friends and I spent our summers planning to open a summer camp in our own neighborhood. Now, really, we were only about 8 or 9 years old ourselves! The summer camp never opened (what parent would drop off their 5 year old to us when we weren’t much older!), but not for lack of trying. Our parents never doubted us and even supported our ventures. They took us to the library and we checked out books on summer camp, and they even bought us clipboards! Now, having a clipboard makes you official, right? Well, that’s what we thought too! Aside from the summer camp, we had many other plans in our younger years. We planned plays, musicals, and dance schools over the next few years. Our childhood set us in motion to become the women that we are today. All three of us are directly impacting the lives of children and their families.

In addition to my professional career as a supervisor for an early childhood program, I was attending graduate school, and blogging at the same time. Impressed? Don’t be! I had only been “blogging” in my head – I cannot tell you how many times I had “written” a story, post, or comment in my head. Usually something in the world inspired me and I’d think of an entire blog to write. The problem is, none of those thoughts actually transferred from my head to the computer!

When I finished school, graduating with a 4.0 GPA, I filled the void by finally creating the blog I had been writing in my head for the past two years. I’ve been blogging for about one year now but I’ve been in the field of early childhood for more than 20 years. The goal of my blog is to spread the word to teachers and parents the importance of literacy and quality early childhood experiences.

I began blogging, anonymously, in 2004.  I had some thoughts about jazz and faith that I wanted to work out without the pressure of people knowing me, at the same time, I desired to have people thoughtfully interact with and challenge my ideas.  Eventually, I went “public” at jazztheologian.com and what a ride it has been!  The basic concepts of my blog turned in to a two book deal with a major publisher: Finding the Groove: Composing a Jazz-Shaped Faith (Zondervan) and Strange Fruit: Responding to the Blue Note of the Cross (due out Spring 2011).

In 2009 my blog was judges’ choice for the Black Weblog awards (Yeah!). Within, six months my blog was picked up by Beliefnet.com (the world’s largest religious website). Now I’m a professional blogger (part time, of course), as I’m one of the featured bloggers at Beliefnet.com. The Black Weblog Awards have played a huge part…thanks for all that you do!

How did you begin blogging? Who (or what) influenced or inspired you? What has blogging brought to your life? We want to know! Send your post to staff@blackweblogawards.com in text (500 words or less), audio, or video, and we’ll post them on the Black Weblog Awards blog! Visit our Blogging Story post for more information.

I’ve always been a fan of music, any friends can attest to that. I didn’t know anyone else who hauled 700+ jewel cases off to college with me in 2000 and protected them with my life! I’ve also been very good at expressing my thoughts through my writing – hence the birth of Sound-Savvy. I started Sound-Savvy in 2008 as a way for me to keep my friends up-to-date on my opinions in music. In college and amongst friend groups, I was always the go-to guy for recommendations on new music. Every Tuesday I’d get texts, calls, instant messages, and e-mails for suggestions on the newest music to purchase. I needed a way to keep everyone up-to-date in one central location so a blog was perfect! I never imagined it would catch on in such a way and now there are thousands of readers that rely monthly on our music reviews.

Because of its readership, Sound-Savvy has been featured on some of the biggest music networks/sites including VIBE, Global Grind, MOG, and other major blog sites around the net. We’ve been afforded major opportunities to cover global music events including the Soul Train Awards, The BET Hip Hop Awards, and the Essence Music Festival to name a few. Sound-Savvy also had the privilege of conducting interviews with national and international recording artists (Ludacris, B.o.B., Estelle, Shontelle Layne, Melanie Fiona and more!).

The reviews section of VIBE Magazine was one of my biggest inspirations. I had a subscription with VIBE since 2001 and with each new issue, I’d flip to the review section first to see what their writers thought of the latest music for the month. I took joy in seeing how my opinions aligned with theirs or differed and I wanted to create an environment where others would feel that same feeling. When I started Sound-Savvy, I didn’t have a huge team of writers like VIBE (and still don’t) so it was even more important for me and any affiliated writers to be as objective as possible with every review. Music fans around the world have come to expect that objectivity and Sound-Savvy is happy to provide that. For me, it’s not about promoting any one artist, genre, team or label; it’s about providing the rest of the music fans around the world a place to hear the latest and connect with someone who shares their opinions or provides a newer, possibly unexplored perspective. Music is the motivator, Sound-Savvy is the medium…