JIB Awards – Revised Categories

There seems to be a consensus that the Israel-Diaspora distinction is unhelpful. After further thought, I tend to agree. While the idea behind it was to facilitate the inclusion of as many blogs as possible in the voting, I have found another way to achieve this end, without needing this distinction.

 

Here is my new proposed list of categories. I invite further comments. Just keep in mind that a balance needs to be kept between simplicity and inclusiveness.

 

Best English Language Blog

Best Non-English Language Blog 
Best New Blog 2004

Best Group Blog
Best Humor Blog

Best Life in Israel Blog

Best Israel Advocacy Blog

Best Politics and Current Affairs Blog

Best Personal Blog
Best Religion Blog

Best Jewish Culture Blog

Best Post by a Jewish Blogger

Best “Series” by a Jewish Blogger

Best Designed Blog
 

When commenting, please note the following:

 

1. If you do not comment on this site, I may not see the comment. Don’t assume that I read all Jewish blogs, because I don’t.

 

2. To those who think that registering for an account on here is a pain – it is only a one-time occurrence. If you do not log out, every time you enter this site, your details will be remembered, and there will no need to fill in details each time you post a comment (like is needed on most other blogs). So it is actually easier to post comments on Israellycool.

 

3. Keep the comments constructive. Comments like this one are utterly unhelpful.  

 

And always remember: the idea behind these awards is to focus attention on Jewish, Israeli, and pro-Israeli blogs, while having fun. Let’s ensure that it stays fun.


Note: This post will remain at the top of the page until the next JIB Awards Update.

 

Since posting the suggested categories yesterday, I have received some very interesting and constructive comments.

25 thoughts on “JIB Awards – Revised Categories”

  1. This is much better! Kudos! Looks great to me. Rock on.

    (BTW, you may run into problems with the “Best non-English Language Blog.” Once one popular Israeli blogger posts about this, you might get flooded with hundreds of nominations for Hebrew blogs. Last I spoke with Israblog, there were over 30,000 of them, though no one knows how many are active.)

    Good luck with this project.

  2. I think ‘best anonymous blog’ is an important category. It seems to me the chasidic anonoblog is having a telling impact on the community and it is important to acknowledge it.

    It is also worth noting how pro-israeli (and left leaning) all the chasidic anono-blogs are even though they mostly seem to come out from Satmar whose establishment is not known for it.

  3. Tools,

    I think this kind of category complicates things. I want to keep things relatively simple, and not create categories just because some blogs may fall within it. Otherwise, people will request more and more categories, until the Awards are unworkable.

    In any event, this kind of blog could already fall under the Best Religion Blog category.

  4. Best “Jewish culture” blog, or Best “culture blog” run by an identified Jew/ess? I think there’s a difference.

    I suppose “best blog by a single thirtysomething Jewess living in NYC and blogging about everything under the sun” is too long and specific a category to hope for…

    Looking forward to seeing the finalized list, and to your revelation of the rules for this cool contest…

  5. Good changes.

    I’m a little leery of “Best * by a Jewish blogger.” Not to be cute, but who is a Jew? It’s also vaguely discriminatory. I would suggest that it be “Best * on a Jewish subject” instead.

    I agree with earlier posters about English/non-English. They’re not the greatest categories, and best English blog basically will be read as “Best Blog,” since the vast majority of Jewish & other blogs is in fact written in English. Is that your intention?

    Maybe I’m treading on sensitive ground here, but why Israel Advocacy? Who defines “advocacy”? Left-wingers & right-wingers maintain that they are advocates, while their opposites are traitors. So why not just Israel? Or “Best Israel Blog by a Non-Israeli” (regardless of language)?

    By “Religion Blog” do you mean “Religious Blog”? (If so, it could take in the Anonochasids.)

    For simplicity’s sake, why not incorporate Academic Blogs into the Politics & Current Affairs category? (Still not sure where to fit Paleojudaica, AJHistory, etc., though.)

    And finally, I would definitely add a “Just Bloggish” (best jblog that defies categorization) for all those people who feel like they don’t fit in.

  6. Shawn,

    Thanks for your comments.

    Well done on being the first person to mention that these awards are discriminatory. You are right. Next question is so what? These are Jewish and Israeli blog awards (although non-Jews can be nominated for the Israel advocacy category). I am proud of the objectives of these awards. If you find it offensive, then don’t take part. Or perhaps start your own awards. But I am not going to start changing things because you don’t think they are PC.

    I already responded to Chayyei Sarah that I agree that the non-English category will have to go. I just haven’t gotten around to removing it from the list.

    With regards to Israel Advocacy, an aim of the awards is to point people to pro-Israel sources of information. Politics does not come into this. For instance, you can support diengagement or oppose it, and still be considered pro-Israel. However, as I stated in my first JIB post, Noam Chomsky would be ineligible. You can’t be anti-Israel. If your blog is neither pro nor anti, but is a “Jewish” blog, then you may still be nominated for one of the other categories, but not the Israel Advocacy one.

    ‘Religion” blog means a blog dealing with Jewish religious issues. This can mean different things, but I purposely do not want to narrow down the interpretation too much. I say let people nominate when the time comes, and then I’ll decide whether a nominated blog really fits into the category. (As I mentioned in a previous reply, the anon Chasids could fall into this category).

    No need for an Academic blog category. They would indeed fall under the politics and current affairs. But perhaps I will change the wording to “Politics, Academia, and Current Affairs.”

    As for your final point, I would rather wait on this. I will see what happens after the nominations. If any of the nominated blogs do not belong in a category, then I may create a ‘best of the Rest” category.

  7. If you eliminate the non-English category, why not eliminate the English category? How about a Best Diaspora Blog instead?

    As to the rest, all read and understood. My intent was not to be PC, though, but to change the focus from the identity of the blogger to the content of the blogpost or series. This would be consistent with your comments on the Israel Advocacy category. Also, it would render blogs like HeadHeeb, TheRevealer, Ami Eden, Rushkoff, and my own eligible for consideration in the post/series categories, as none of these blogs explicitly self-identifies as “Jewish” per se, even though individual posts do identify as such.

    (If you want to keep the “Jewish blogger” idea, I would make clear that the only definition of “Jewish” is that the blogger self-identify as such within the given post or series being nominated. On the off chance that a Messianic self-nominates, I think the voting process will sort things out.)

  8. I nominate this thread as the best Jewish anglo thread in a pro-Jewish blog written by a non-Israeli and commented upon by the Jewiest Jews in all of Jewsville category.

  9. If you click on the permalink, you will see the full post. At the bottom, there is a title “trackbacks” with the trackback URL underneath.

  10. Shawn,

    The blogs you have mentioned seem eligible for a number of categories.

    With regards to what is a Jewish blog, of course I am not going to interrogate everyone as to whether they are “halachically” Jewish. We are avoiding all politics and contentious issues. Self-identity is the defining factor here, and is in the spirit of inclusiveness and unity that I am trying to encourage with these awards.

    However, Messianic blogs WILL NOT be included. Period. Notice I said Messianic BLOG. If the blogger is privately a messianic Jew, but his/her blog deals solely with Jewish or pro-Israel issues, then that blog is eligible.

  11. David, Thanks for the clarification – I hope you’ll use some of what you’ve just written in the description of the awards themselves. I think you’re basically right about excluding blogs that go beyond the pale of mainstream (or even fringe) Jewishness without, as you say, interrogating individual bloggers.

    {tongue planted firmly in cheek}However, Professor David Berger presumably would encourage you to exclude Lubavitch blogs unless they affirm their non-messianist bona fides.{/tongue removed from cheek}

  12. I see the anonymous blog (chassidic or otherwise) as a seperate genre not a sub-category.

    I believe one of the things making the blogging medium unique is the very fact of its potential anonymity. By working as a pressure vent within groups or communities where freedom of speech is limited for whatever reason, the blog has created some counter-culture spaces that could have potentially far-reaching consequences. I still feel any Blog Awards should celebrate that.

  13. *early bickering warning system activated*

    I most certainly do, and I appreciate your comments. But you have made this comment a few times already, and I have explained why there is no such category. So for me, there is no point in discussing it further.

    Encouraging discussion and necessarily agreeing with your suggestion are two separate things.

  14. Tools,

    Your last comment about Anon blogs (which prompted my reply)was the second one on this thread. That makes two.

    After your first comment, I considered what you had to say, and gave you my reasons why I do not want to get into such categories. Your subsequent reply did not address my concerns, but merely reiterated your earlier points.

    Rest assured that I value your feedback and welcome any further suggestions. I just feel like you were belaboring the same point.

    I have to ensure that these awards are not only true to their aim, but also workable. And I have a huge high stakes presentation to give tomorrow at work. So I am really unable to get into detailed discussions about issues I feel have already been resolved.

    Having said that, accept my apology if you were offended by my response. It was not my intention.

    Now let’s all have some fun with this. I insist 🙂

  15. How do you normally make a trackback? All you do is insert this trackback URL into the same place you normally insert it (I assume blogger has a field for this when you create a post). I don’t understand why you think this is more complicated.

  16. Sorry Yehudit. No such category, but I am sure Kesher Talk qualifies for some other ones.

    Note: Please wait until the nominations open in order to nominate your own, or another blog. Otherwise, this will be unmanageable.

    It may be an opportune time to point out that when the time does come to nominate, you should not just give your URl, but also ensure that it is hyperlinked.

  17. I just discovered this competition through an e mail msg. from the author of Jewschool. Unfortunately, I never heard about it till this moment. And I guess whoever conducts the nominations never heard of my blog. But if you conduct the awards again next yr., perhaps you might consider my blog, Tikun Olam, which contains the following categories related to Judaism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Mideast peace and Jews & Judaism.

    I blog about Jewish culture, Jewish music, Jewish literature (Hebrew & Yiddish) & Jewish politics.

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