Final wrap up

Posted on | July 21, 2010 | Good Naija Girl | 8 Comments

While the awards received praise, we also receive some…well, let’s just say it wouldn’t fall under the category of praise. And that’s no problem: while we all like to hear good things about ourselves, it’s not realistic to expect that every step you make will be met with applause. And sometimes, it’s the critiques that really help us grow.

However, constructive criticism that points out where improvements could be made, and/or includes solutions or suggestions to make these improvements, will move things further along than calling the the awards, including the work of all the people who gave up sleep and time to organize it, “staged”, “a sad joke” and other things.

A large number of the criticism the awards received came from people who felt the awards were somehow “rigged” or skewed to favour a certain group of bloggers, because several bloggers were nominated for multiple awards in both Group A and Group B categories and won in their categories. Others were baffled that certain blogs (or their own blog) wasn’t nominated. As was stated many times, the way these awards and the previous one were set up, if you want to be nominated or want to receive votes, you have to ask for them from your readers, family members, friends, colleagues, whoever you know. The awards were not rigged and it should not surprise anyone that the bloggers who were doing some serious campaigning on their blogs or on twitter received the most nominations or votes. As one blogger commented, there are some bloggers who have been blogging for a long time and who have made a name for themselves that will not have to do any campaigning: they are well known enough that they will get nominated by fans whenever the opportunity arises.

Unfortunately, the majority of the criticism came from people who do not appear to have read the entry on how the awards were organized. This led to issues being brought up that were moot points as the rules were set out at the beginning. If you only visited the blog to read the list of nominees or winners and made a sweeping judgement, assumption or generalization about the awards, then you may understand why your comments did not receive much attention.

We did receive some constructive criticism that will certainly be taken into account as we plan for the 2011 awards:

  1. We will do a lot more publicity before the awards begin, so that all who want to take part have an opportunity to do so. If you follow us on twitter or check the blog regularly, you will not miss out. If you don’t want to do either, but do want to be aware of the awards, you can submit your email address so that we can let you know when the awards begin in 2011 (please leave your email address in the comments).

  2. There may be a better way to organize the Group A awards. More research needs to be done and the final results will be shared before the current process is changed.

  3. The challenge of how to allow all who want to vote the ability to do so, without also allowing people to stuff the ballot, is a serious one that must be addressed. The focus this year was preventing ballot stuffing, even at the expense of preventing some from voting, but hopefully a better solution can be found.

  4. The challenge of preventing people from nominating their blog or a blog they like in all the categories will continue to be addressed. It will be even less tolerated moving forward, and may be grounds for disqualification.

  5. We received a comment that perhaps someone who had been blogging for over two years didn’t qualify to be called a Grandma/Grandpa blogger. We will consider changing the number of years that a person has to have been blogging to be called a veteran blogger.

Finally, I had several people who kept telling me that you can’t please everyone, and that is very true. For every change that we make to improve the awards, I know there will be people who either liked it better the old way or are still dissatisfied with the new change. As long as we think with a “community view” and not the view of what is best for us individually, I think we’ll be ok.

Once again, thank you for your support of the awards, and we hope you visit us every now and again.

Category: Details

Vote of thanks

Posted on | July 19, 2010 | Good Naija Girl | 2 Comments

Whenever the local Yoruba association hosts an event such as an end of the year or Christmas party, the program for the party always includes the title of this post: vote of thanks. I’ve always wondered why it’s called a vote of thanks (if you know, leave it in the comments). But here are the wonderful people that deserve thank yous.

tinuo
Long before the awards had a website, tinuo (blog, twitter) created a promotional video for the awards. The video was hilarious but due to technical difficulties, you never got to see it. That was when I was first introduced to her gift for standup comedy!

I begged her to write a blog entry showcasing that fun-loving side of her and she delivered! If you didn’t catch her entry about how the nominees in the group A categories aren’t doing enough to win our hearts and our votes, you have to go and read it now.

Aside from preparing the entry, tinuo also helped behind the scenes, doing the boring things that no one really notices but that make the awards run smoothly. For your contributions and help, I am truly grateful, tinuo.

Sting
You got to know her better through this interview so I won’t say much about who she is but what I really appreciated was her willingness to share what she had learned from running the 2009 awards in order to make these awards the best they could be. She was regularly encouraging, and helped enormously with the publicity aspect of awards through her personal blog and through Blog(s)ville Gist. I really appreciated all her tips and help.

If there were ideas that she didn’t implemented last year, she didn’t hesitate to share them with me. And of course she was the one who kicked my butt into gear with regard to launching the awards!

Personal encouragers
I wish I could name you all by name but I’d likely forget one or two and then I’d feel bad. To those who took the time to send me a personal message of appreciation, thank you. To those who left kind words in the comments, I appreciate them. Honestly, you guys were too generous with your compliments…but I appreciate them.

You (yes you!)
If you’re reading this, chances are you were one of the people who acted on the tweets we sent and came here to nominate your favourite blog or vote for worthy blogs. Thank you. We really could not have had an awards without the participation of bloggers and their friends. To the bloggers, nominated or not, thank you for blogging, for bringing fantastic content to the world day after day and making your readers fall in love with you. For the blog readers, thank you too. If you’re running a public blog it’s hard to deny the importance of having readers so as a blogger I truly thank all the readers. In many instances the readers were the ones who were more up to date with the awards, and they were the ones nominating their favourite bloggers and informing the bloggers that their blog had made the cut.

THANK YOU ALL!

Category: Details

Coming this week (week ending July 24)

Posted on | July 18, 2010 | Good Naija Girl | No Comments

Now that the awards are over for another year, this site won’t be lying dormant. Stay tuned for the following:

  • Monday: Thank yous

  • Wednesday: Final wrap up

  • Friday: What the website will be used for before the 2011 awards begin

We’ll also try to put up a new poll each week.

Thanks for reading!

Category: Details

The winners (Group B)

Posted on | July 12, 2010 | Good Naija Girl | 14 Comments

We’re very excited to present the winners in each of the 30 categories of Group B. Remember: Group B awards were more about the blogger than their blog, focusing on aspects of the blogger’s personality you’ve discovered from their blog, twitter or elsewhere.

This was quite an exciting round as we had two ties and therefore two winners in the categories of Best Moniker and Favourite Non-Nigerian Member of Blogsville!

The winners are:

  1. BEST BLOG JUGGLER


  2. BEST MONIKER (A tie!)


  3. BIGGEST GOSSIP


  4. BIGGEST IMPACT


  5. BLOGGER WITH A CAUSE


  6. CELEBRITY BLOGGER


  7. DRAMA QUEEN/KING


  8. FASTEST COMMENTER


  9. FAVOURITE NEW BLOGGER


  10. FAVOURITE NON-NIGERIAN MEMBER OF BLOG(S)VILLE (A tie!)


  11. FRIENDLIEST BLOGGER


  12. FUNNIEST BLOGGER


  13. GEEKY BLOGGER


  14. GRANDMA/GRANDPA BLOGGER


  15. HOTTEST/SEXIEST BLOGGER


  16. HOUDINI BLOGGER


  17. LONG-WINDED BLOGGER


  18. MEME BLOGGER


  19. MOST ANONYMOUS BLOGGER


  20. MOST MYSTERIOUS BLOGGER


  21. MOST PATRIOTIC BLOGGER


  22. MOST POPULAR BLOGGER


  23. MOST POSITIVE BLOGGER


  24. MOST RANDOM/CONFUSING BLOGGER


  25. MOST SCANDALOUS/CONTROVERSIAL BLOGGER


  26. ONLINE TO OFFLINE BLOGGER


  27. PAPARAZZI BLOGGER


  28. REALITY BLOGGER


  29. THE NEXT BIG THING


  30. TMI BLOGGER


Congratulations to all the winners! If you won in your category, please email nigerianblogawards@gmail.com for the winner’s badge. If it is not apparent from your email address which blogger you are, please include your blog name.

This concludes the 2010 Nigerian Blog Awards! To those who have been leaving comments over the past two months, we will be discussing a number of topics that were raised throughout these awards in the coming weeks. I hope you’ll come by and participate in the dialogue. The best thing that came out of these awards is the huge numbers of Nigerian bloggers, old and new, that were discovered and we would like to thank all of you for submitting your blog names and the names of blogs you read so that we can begin to really build a strong community between all of us bloggers. So check back often, read a new blog, and get connected with your fellow Nigerian bloggers!

Category: Group B

To honour happyBBB

Posted on | July 9, 2010 | Good Naija Girl | 7 Comments

I can’t wait to write the series of entries following up on these awards. The whole process of organizing the awards helped me fully recognize what Sting went through last year, and I can see why she didn’t have time to do it this year! I know that a lot of you have feedback, some that you have shared freely in the comments and some that have been communicated to me by email. I hope to spend a lot of time discussing all the changes that are being considered for next year. There are also plans to keep this site running year-round, but more on that later.

But what I really wanted to do today was take the time to thank one of the ladies who has been working behind the scenes to make the 2010 Nigerian Blog Awards happen. That lady is happyBBB (blog, twitter)!

I don’t even know where to start when talking about what her help has meant to me. When I originally asked for helpers via twitter, she was the last person to express interest but from day 1 she has been there to do whatever I asked. Not only did she do it, she did it efficiently, she did it quickly (practically before I finished asking her) and she never complained. She also took initiative and went that extra step, something not everyone is comfortable doing (I know, I sound like I’m writing a reference letter!). Although I often didn’t give her much notice, she never brushed me off or made me feel like I was bothering her (though I was, who am I kidding?). If you missed her post on giving blogville’s anonymous residents a face, check it out!

happyBBB, I just wanted to let you know that I can honestly say that I couldn’t have done this without you. Thank you for all your help and I hope you’ll consider helping out next year!

Category: featured

Voting is now open – Group B

Posted on | July 5, 2010 | Good Naija Girl | 17 Comments

Voting is now open! Please note the following as you vote for your favourite bloggers in each category:

  1. You do not have to vote in each category listed.
  2. You must click Vote after each group of nominees before that vote is registered.
  3. Votes are tracked so multiple entries are not counted.
  4. If any of the nominees’ names look strange, you can get a link to their blog here.

You can begin voting below. Thank you for your participation in the 2010 Nigerian Blog Awards.

Voting is open for a week, until 11:59pm EST on July 11, 2010. Winners will be announced as soon as possible on July 12, 2010.






























Don’t forget that links to the blogs of the nominees can be found here!

Thank you for participating in the final element of the 2010 Nigerian Blog Awards!

Category: Group B

Presenting the Group B category nominees

Posted on | June 28, 2010 | Good Naija Girl | 39 Comments

We’re happy to present the nominees for the 30 categories of Group B. Please note that the nominated blogs are listed in alphabetical order.

According to the schedule, voting begins on July 5, so if you are nominated, you have a week to charm and bribe your friends into voting for you. If you aren’t nominated, you can think of ways to sell your vote to the highest bidder!

The nominees:

  1. BEST BLOG JUGGLER


  2. BEST MONIKER


  3. BIGGEST GOSSIP


  4. BIGGEST IMPACT


  5. BLOGGER WITH A CAUSE


  6. CELEBRITY BLOGGER


  7. DRAMA QUEEN/KING


  8. FASTEST COMMENTER


  9. FAVOURITE NEW BLOGGER


  10. FAVOURITE NON-NIGERIAN MEMBER OF BLOG(S)VILLE


  11. FRIENDLIEST BLOGGER


  12. FUNNIEST BLOGGER


  13. GEEKY BLOGGER


  14. GRANDMA/GRANDPA BLOGGER


  15. HOTTEST/SEXIEST BLOGGER


  16. HOUDINI BLOGGER


  17. LONG-WINDED BLOGGER


  18. MEME BLOGGER (only 4 qualifying nominees)


  19. MOST ANONYMOUS BLOGGER


  20. MOST MYSTERIOUS BLOGGER


  21. MOST PATRIOTIC BLOGGER


  22. MOST POPULAR BLOGGER


  23. MOST POSITIVE BLOGGER


  24. MOST RANDOM/CONFUSING BLOGGER


  25. MOST SCANDALOUS/CONTROVERSIAL BLOGGER


  26. ONLINE TO OFFLINE BLOGGER


  27. PAPARAZZI BLOGGER


  28. REALITY BLOGGER


  29. THE NEXT BIG THING


  30. TMI BLOGGER


Congratulations to all the nominees. If you were nominated, please grab a Nominee Banner over on the right hand side of the screen.

Don’t forget: you can start voting for your favourite blog in each category on July 5! Follow us on twitter so you know when voting opens!

Please note that we are in the process of linking to all the nominated blogs and would appreciate your patience with the process.

Category: Group B

Interview with Blog(s)ville’s Sting

Posted on | June 25, 2010 | Good Naija Girl | 3 Comments

As promised, we have the interview with Sting below. Not to be confused with the English musician, Sting is a Nigerian female and is the blogger who successfully managed the 2009 Naija Bloggers’ Awards. She also runs Blog(s)ville Gist, a site that has become a first stop for new Nigerian bloggers. It’s fair to say that Sting can be credited with helping many new bloggers find their way around and meet other Nigerian bloggers. And most recently, she won for Best Personal Blog in the 2010 Nigerian Blog Awards.

Because of her contributions to building the blogging community, and the numerous ways in which she has shown her support for the 2010 Nigerian Blog Awards, it was easy to decide to grant Sting the first interview on this site.

THE BLOGGER

Tell us a bit about yourself, in particular one or two things that we may not know about you from reading your blog.

I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this on my blog, but I actually have 8 sisters and 1 brother. I come from a family of beautiful women as my father likes to say. I’m actually very quiet when you meet me in person and I tend to be very goofy and talk a lot of smack when I’m happy.

You’re in medical school, and you’ve spoken quite frankly about the challenges of your journey. Do you want to comment on that?

Maybe it’s just me trying to rationalize and come to terms with the way this journey is unfolding, but I feel that I’m meant to be an inspiration to others. By the time I’m done, I would have a story to tell. I’m hoping it’s a story that inspires others to believe in themselves and never give up on their dreams. I’ve always wanted to be a doctor and the day that I got accepted into medical school remains the happiest day of my life. As tough as it has been, I don’t see myself doing anything else with my life.

You’ve mentioned on your blog that you believe you’re meant to be a mentor or a motivational speaker in the future. How have you been working on these goals of yours?

I am currently in the process of becoming a video mentor for an orphan child in South Africa. I procrastinated a little bit on that one, that’s why I haven’t actually started but it’s something that I’m really looking forward to doing. I have other projects that I know I will be a part of as time goes on and I’ll be sure to share them on my blog.

ON BLOGGING

How long have you been blogging?

I started blogging January 23rd 2007 and I remember so clearly because I had just been unceremoniously dumped by this Jamaican dude I was dating (As you can see my relationship woes was the catalyst for my foray into blogging). I needed an outlet and found blogging to be very therapeutic. I’ve always kept journals before I started blogging, so for me blogging had the same effect as writing in a journal only that I had a mostly supportive audience.

Your blog covers a range of topics, but relationships is arguably the most discussed topic. How does one girl have so many man woes/relationship gist?

Please, help me ask the brothers o! I don’t know how I meet these guys. For someone who is pretty much a homebody, I tend to have more than my fair share of relationship gist. I think the main reason I have a lot of guys “around” is that I’m easy to talk to. A lot of them say they like the fact that I’m down to earth and I’m usually not what they would expect from looking at me. They expect me to be stuck up or whatever and I’m not and they get sucked in. That’s where the relationship drama starts. As for the woes part of the equation, you can blame that solely on my love for fine boys. It clouds my judgment, but I’m learning sha!

Do you feel your blog paints an accurate picture of who you are?

I’m not exactly sure of the impression people get of me after reading my blog. I know that I tend to blog more when I’m sad or depressed as opposed to when I’m happy. I don’t know if people get a complete picture of how I am from my blog because I can be very goofy and mouthy and I don’t think you get see that on my blog. However, I have been told by a fellow blogger that I talk the way I write. So accurate, yes. Complete, no.

ON BLOG(S)VILLE

What does Blog(s)ville mean to you?

Blogsville is a sanctuary. For the most part we tend to be supportive of each other. Thank God the outbreak of the vicious “anonymous” we had a couple of years ago did not last long. I absolutely love how we Nigerians tend to find each other anywhere. I mean, there are thousands of blogs out there and I’m amazed that we’ve been able to come together and form this online community. I love that.

You have taken the lead on several Blog(s)ville community-building initiatives (the weightloss blog, Blog(s)ville Gist and last year’s Naija Bloggers’ Awards). Where do your ideas come from?

For the most part, the ideas come from the frontal cortex of my brain. LOL. Seriously though, I’m just interested in ways that can bring us closer as a community and make people feel like they are a part of something. I’m always interested in meeting new bloggers and discovering new blogs and that’s where the idea for Blog(s)Ville Gist came from. I realize that at times for a newbie blogger, things might seem a little cliquey and I figured if we had a way to introduce them, that might help break the ice a little bit. I’m all for anything that came brings us closer together and help us discover each other.

Have you met any bloggers in person? Would you? Why or why not?

I haven’t met any blogger in person. I don’t even know how you guys manage to achieve that. What’s the secret? Is it twitter? I’ve only made one friend from blogsville so far, Simeon. We haven’t met but we talk on skype and I think he’s a really cool dude. I definitely wouldn’t mind meeting more bloggers. I have spied a couple on facebook, but I haven’t extended myself. I am definitely open to meeting bloggers, for sure.

Who would you want to meet and why?

There have been a lot of bloggers who have been very supportive at times when I was going through difficult times, those are the bloggers I would like to meet. Anyone who has ever left a comment or taken time to send me an email, I just want to use this medium to let you know how much I appreciate that and I think you guys are awesome.

Would you or have you ever entered into a relationship with someone on Blog(s)ville or twitter? What are your thoughts on this?

I have never entered a relationship with anyone on blogsville or twitter. I don’t even like twitter so I’m hardly ever on there. It really doesn’t matter to me where I meet someone. Blogger, twitter, facebook, on the street, in the store, school, whatever. It makes no difference to me.

What are your thoughts on anonymity in Blog(s)ville (or in online communities in general)?

The blog I have right now is my 4th blog. The main reason I deleted my previous 3 blogs is because I was trying to preserve my anonymity. Back then, I needed a sanctuary where I felt comfortable enough to pour out my deepest thoughts and I wanted to be free to do that. I think that’s why a lot of us Nigerian bloggers are anonymous. We want to be free to write whatever we want however we want it without fear of being judged. You how Nigerians can be very judgmental and we too like to spread gist. However, I no longer crave the anonymity like I once did because that time has passed and I’m no longer in that place. I am partial to Nigerian bloggers who are not anonymous. I have flirted with the idea of “unmasking” myself but I haven’t decided what to do yet. I think it would be really cool if more of us were not anonymous. Let’s consider that for 2011 :) Yes, we can!!!!

Name some of your favourite blogs on Blog(s)ville, and your non-Blog(s)ville favourites.

Just like in real life, I like people who makes me laugh, so also in blogsville I like bloggers who make me laugh, for example Nice Anon, Verastic, SugarKing and there’s this new blogger I just discovered Sisi Yemmie. Pretty much if you write a funny post, you are my favorite for the day. I don’t discriminate. Besides the funny bloggers, I like Ms. Nitty Gritty (I think she’s very interesting and she keeps it real), FFF (I like her pidgin english speaking ways) and Africana Wardrode Diary (I love her sense of style). My all time favorite non-blogsville blogger is Don’t eat my Buchela(s). Absolutely gorgeous kids.

We appreciate Sting taking the time to answer our questions and letting us get to know her better. If you have any other questions for sting or want to learn more about her, please leave a comment or visit her blog.

Category: featured

Coming this week

Posted on | June 22, 2010 | Good Naija Girl | 2 Comments

It’s been a little quiet around here, but hopefully you’ve had a chance to nominate your favourite blogs for some of the Group B categories. If not, you have only a few more days to get your act together: remember, you can submit nominations until 11:59pm on Sunday June 27.

As the awards wind down, things will be busier on this blog. Check back this week for the following:

Do you have a suggestion of a category that should be included in the 2011 awards for either Group A or Group B categories? Let us know in the comments!

If you’ve seen any creative ways in which bloggers have solicited nominations, share those too!

Category: Group B, featured

GO!! Nominations for Group B categories now open!

Posted on | June 14, 2010 | Good Naija Girl | 25 Comments

We’re happy to announce that nominations for Group B categories are now open. Remember: Group B is more about the individual (blogger, commenter); their personality and how they come across to you based on what you’ve read on their blog or seen from other interactions (twitter, through comments left on your blog or on the blogs of others). Please think carefully as you make your nominations since you are only allowed to complete the form once.

What categories can you nominate your favourite bloggers in? Here they are:

  1. BEST BLOG JUGGLER
    blogger who owns or writes for a large number of blogs (2 or more blogs, and the majority of the blogs have to be updated regularly)


  2. BEST MONIKER
    blogger with the most creative blog name or nickname


  3. BIGGEST GOSSIP
    blogger who gossips a lot or whose blog focuses on gossip


  4. BIGGEST IMPACT
    blogger that has had the greatest impact on you or the blogging community in general


  5. BLOGGER WITH A CAUSE
    blogger who champions (a) cause(s) and works to raise awareness of it/them


  6. CELEBRITY BLOGGER
    blogger who has become a celebrity from their blog or who is most likely to become a celebrity from blogging


  7. DRAMA QUEEN/KING
    blogger whose blog, personality or life makes you think drama follows their every step


  8. FASTEST COMMENTER
    person who consistently leaves the first comment on a large number of blogs


  9. FAVOURITE NEW BLOGGER
    nominated blogger must have been blogging for less than one year


  10. FAVOURITE NON-NIGERIAN MEMBER OF BLOG(S)VILLE
    non-Nigerian blogger or commenter who is an honorary member of Blog(s)ville


  11. FRIENDLIEST BLOGGER
    blogger who is or has been helpful or kind, or who projects such qualities through their blog


  12. FUNNIEST BLOGGER
    blogger who cracks you up, on or off their blog


  13. GEEKY BLOGGER
    blogger you think is a geek based on their blog or the way they communicate


  14. GRANDMA/GRANDPA BLOGGER
    blogger must update their blog regularly and must have been writing on the same blog for longer than two years


  15. HOTTEST/SEXIEST BLOGGER
    blogger that you think is hot and/or sexy based on their blog or on what you know of them


  16. HOUDINI BLOGGER
    blogger that disappears for long periods of time but always comes back


  17. LONG-WINDED BLOGGER
    blogger who consistently writes very long entries


  18. MEME BLOGGER
    blogger whose blog entries are mainly quizzes, email forwards and similar content


  19. MOST ANONYMOUS BLOGGER
    blogger who does the best job of keeping their identity hidden


  20. MOST MYSTERIOUS BLOGGER
    blogger who leaves you with more questions than answers, or blogger you want to know more about


  21. MOST PATRIOTIC BLOGGER
    blogger who consistently demonstrates Nigerian pride


  22. MOST POPULAR BLOGGER
    blogger that everyone has heard of or knows of


  23. MOST POSITIVE BLOGGER
    blogger who leaves you feeling good after reading their blog entry, or after reading a comment they leave on another blog. Could also be a blogger that comes across as a positive person


  24. MOST RANDOM/CONFUSING BLOGGER
    blogger that posts random or confusing entries, or speaks in a similar way


  25. MOST SCANDALOUS/CONTROVERSIAL BLOGGER
    blogger who leaves you shocked or surprised after reading their blog or communicating with them


  26. ONLINE TO OFFLINE BLOGGER
    blogger you would most like to meet based on their blog content


  27. PAPARAZZI BLOGGER
    blogger that keeps you stalking their blog and coming back for more


  28. REALITY BLOGGER
    blogger who provides frequent updates of everything going on in their life


  29. THE NEXT BIG THING
    blogger most likely to take over the world or have a far-reaching influence


  30. TMI BLOGGER
    blogger who shares too much information about their personal life on their blog


Once you’re ready to start nominating, visit the nominations page for Group B categories to start selecting blogs for each category.

Once you have completed the nominations, you should see a message thanking you for participating in the 2010 Nigerian Blog Awards.

If you encounter any problems, please leave them in the comments below. Happy nominating!

Nominations are open until June 27, 2010 at 11:59pm EST.

Category: Group B
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