Thank you for the BBAW Love! And a little love of my Own

Everyone else is writing about their nominations so I feel I should. I really struggle with this part of BBAW because I do so much of the organization. On the other hand, most people who would think to nominate me know this and I want to respect the appreciation of my readers.

So...I want to say thank you for all the nominations I received. I withdrew from a few categories and didn't come anywhere close to shortlisting in others, and I was really surprised to shortlist in categories determined by panel. (the others were determined by popular nomination--which have nothing to do with how good a blog this actually is)

But also I want to say that I've seen people upset about the shortlists. I was surprised with each and every shortlist. And you know what? I think that's good! I think it shows we did have diverse panels who weren't influenced by the bloggers in my favorites folder. (and let me tell you. They really weren't influenced by the blogs in my favorites folder. A whole huge stinking heap of my favorite blogs didn't shortlist) I think if you looked at the list and thought. Yes that's exactly right, then something would be wrong because this here book blogosphere? It's bigger than any one person has time to keep up with. That's not to say I think we had a flawless system and yes of course there will be changes, but I think every blogger who made a shortlist should feel proud of their accomplishments. :) I have a few more thoughts about awards, but I think I'll save them for a time long after this BBAW has closed.

Anyway, here's where I was nominated:

Best Spiritual/Inspirational or Religious Book Review Blog
Thank you so much! I feel there are much better reviewers out there so this one really really touched me. To be honest I have always felt like I don't quite fit in with the Christian reviewers and because I review a lot of Christian books I don't quite fit in with the general book blogs. So it means a lot to me. The others nominated are absolutely fabulous blogs I already read! 2 Kids and Tired Book Reviews, Callapidder Days, Semicolon, and A Novel Menagerie.

And for your consideration (this is like those clips they show at the Oscars...and actually the way actors submit one episode for Emmy consideration is how I got this idea) the posts I submitted to the panel:

Reviews: The Passion of Mary Margaret by Lisa Samson, Tender Grace by Jackina Stark, Breaking Up is Hard to Do by Anne Dayon and May Vanderbilt
Faith 'n' Fiction Saturday: The Pastor Character
Reflections: What Christmas Means to Me

Most Eclectic Taste
I do have eclectic taste!
Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr
Short Girls by Bich Minh Nguyen
Christmas Wedding by Tracy Wolff
Passion of Mary Margaret by Lisa Samson (again)
The Ruins by Scott Smith
And as luck would have it, I'm nominated alongside some other fabulous people: Books on the Nightstand, Ms. Bookish, Pop Culture Junkie, and Presenting Lenore.

I was also nominated for most prolific blogger, most altruistic blogger, Best Community Builder, and Best Blog Post.

If you think I fit any of the categories above, I sincerely appreciate your support. But I want you to vote for the blogs you love, and the ones you are think are deserving.

Now, I want to take a minute to give a very big thank you to the awards committee. I have been really torn about this due to some of the accusations that have gone around. I know some committee members feel their integrity has been called into question and there are just absolutely no words for how sad that makes me. But I think they deserve recognition for all the work they did. Here's what they did: Starting in January we developed a process for the awards to try to make them more fair than last year and hammered out the awards categories. Then I hit a big snafu with developing the blog and that delayed everything. So we are definitely aware of he time crunch we were working on. The committee tracked nominations, sent letters to the nominees, answered their questions, collected their urls, put them into a spreadsheet, went around and collected the 5 most recent posts of blogs that didn't respond, put together the scorebooks for their panels, sent them off, scored blogs themselves, collected their panelists scores, determined the shortlist and sent it to me, not to mention dealt with hundreds of e-mails flying around between us. They took time off work, worked through family emergencies, ended their vacations early, and sacrificed more than just their free time to do this. We are talking MANY MANY HOURS. There is simply, absolutely, no way any of them would have done this for a little badge they can put on their blog. And especially not if somehow threw the results to get it. They did it because they love YOU. And that's a love you can choose to accept or reject. So ladies and gentlemen, here are the people I would go to bat for any day of the week on issues of integrity and work ethic, who have humbled me with their commitment, and who are top notch in every way. I hope you love them as much as I do.

Elizabeth of As Usual, I Need More Bookshelves
Julie of Booking Mama
Rebecca of The Book Lady's Blog
Swapna of S.Krishna's Books
Ann of Books on the Nightstand
Florinda of the 3 R's Blog
Sheri of A Novel Menagerie
Lu of Regular Rumination
Trish of Hey Lady! Whatcha' Readin'?
Dar of Peeking Between the Pages
Lenore of Presenting Lenore
Deborah of Books, Movies, Chinese Food
Michelle of Galleysmith

Many, many thanks ladies. We owe you a huge debt of gratitude.