Israellycool » JIB Awards 2005

The bloggers of the top three-placed blogs in each category are invited to email the Jerusalem Post at doreen@jpost.com to apply for a custom-made awards badge. If your site took place in the Finals voting but did not end up in the top three places, you may download a JIB 2005 Finalist Badge from this page.

I would like to thank all of you who participated in this year’s awards, especially those of you who did so in the right spirit. I hope you all had fun, benefited with increased traffic, and plan to provide your increased readership with interesting, thought-provoking content. I would also like to thank the Jerusalem Post for helping to run the awards this year. I think you did a fabulous job.

Until next year.

JIB Awards 2005: Next Steps

Aussie Dave — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 19:28:32 +0000

Voting for the JIB awards closed last night, Israel time.

Provisional results are now being displayed for each category.* Please note that results are subject to change as the Jerusalem Post validates the votes, and makes adjustments in cases of ballot stuffing.

Winners will be announced on February 9th.

* I am aware of the fact that the results for the Best Series category are not currently being displayed. The problem will be resolved soon.

JIB Awards 2005: Hear Me Roar Well

Aussie Dave — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 16:43:27 +0000

For the second year in a row, I find myself having to write a JIB-related post that I wish was not necessary.

You see, it seems that there are plenty of people out there who take the competition aspect too far. There are blog readers who leave snarky comments at blogs who have been requesting votes in the JIBs (and even those not really requesting votes). And there are bloggers who have seen it necessary to either disparage other competing blogs, or send their readers to skew the results by voting for selected blogs that conform to their ideology.

Of course, there have also been those who have tried to taint the entire awards with their baseless accusation and petty jealousies, but I have already ~~devoted~~ wasted enough time on them.

Well I’ll be damned if these ninkenpoops are going to spoil the months of hard work the Jerusalem Post and I have invested in this endeavour.

The JIB awards were conceived as a fun way to bring attention to the plethora of Jewish, Israeli, and pro-Israel blogs out there, which I consider absolutely necessary in light of the mainstream media bias against Israel (and, to some extent, Jews). The voting aspect is a means to an end, the end being to attract readers to the web pages listing the participating blogs, clicking on the links, and visiting them. This is why the voting is left to the readers, and not a panel of judges as some people (who have entirely missed the point) have suggested.

Now pay attention to what I am saying. The results themselves are irrelevant. They may not necessarily be indicative of the quality or worth of the blog. They may very well only be indicative of the blogger’s readership, or their ability to garner support.

I have been asked for my opinion on the tactics of some bloggers who have been very competitive. As far as I am concerned, it is not against the spirit of the awards to ask for votes, even when it involves emailing your family, friends, and acquaintances. What I ask though, is that you encourage them to not just visit the site and vote for you, but to visit the site, look at the wide range of blogs in all categories, visit the ones that seem appealing – and then vote for you. This is a great way to bring more readership to the blogs. Think about it. If most of the participant blogs sent such an email to only 10 of their friends, then this could result in thousands more visitors to the site, and potentially increase the traffic of many participating blogs.

This is also the reason why many of you need to be rejoicing at the inclusion of certain “big name” blogs, rather than lamenting this fact. When they promote the JIBs on their sites, they are sending thousands of readers to the voting pages. I won’t pretend that in many – if not most – cases, their readers are merely voting for them and leaving immediately, but I am sure, in some cases, there are readers taking the time to check out the other participating blogs.

Some of you have to think outside the box and see that you can all be winners in this competition. And that has absolutely nothing to do with receiving one of the logos for top three placegetter.

You can quote me on that.

JIB Awards 2005: Best Post Category – Votes Reset

Aussie Dave — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 22:51:54 +0000

Due to a set up error, the poll for this category was reset to zero at 1.15 pm Israel time. Those who voted beforehand are invited to revote.

JIB Awards 2005: Final Voting Round Now Open

Aussie Dave — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 23:21:36 +0000

The final round of voting for the 2005 JIB Awards is now open on the Jerusalem Post site.

The top six* vote-getters from the preliminary round have advanced to this final round of voting, joined by all nominees from the other categories that did not necessitate a preliminary round of voting.

The final awards go to the top three placers in each of the 17 categories. Voting closes February 2nd.

The final award winners will be announced on February 7th on both sites, and will be honored with fame and glory as well as JIB award banners (designed by Zahava Bogner, Ventures Consulting Group, Inc.) to post on their blogsites.

You can view all the nominees and relevant voting groups by clicking here.

You may vote once every three days in any single poll, and we suggest you read the competition rules before voting.

Ballot Stuffing: The Judges shall be regularly checking poll records and IP addresses, and in cases of multiple voting suspicious votes will be deleted. Results are provisional until formally declared. In the final round of voting we shall be blocking certain IP addresses which we have identified as engaging in irregular voting.

Please support the awards by voting in all categories and spread the word to your friends and family.

* Due to exact numerical ties, 7 nominees advanced to Round 2 from Best Series A, Best Post A and Best Personal B.

JIB Awards 2005: Last Day of Preliminary Voting Round

Aussie Dave — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 19:08:00 +0000

Today is the last day to vote for your favorite blogs in the preliminary voting round. Voting closes midnight EST, after which time the results will be validated. The final voting round, including all categories, will commence Tuesday January 24th.

JIB Awards 2005: Miscellaneous Thoughts

Aussie Dave — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 22:57:00 +0000

A number of somewhat disconnected points relating to the awards.

1. Emailing me expressing how dumb the awards are, or how I should disqualify those who are canvassing for votes, or how I should have excluded various blogs on the basis of their readership, is a waste of time. And since it is my time being wasted reading such emails, I would rather you didn’t bother.

2. Emailing the Jerusalem Post expressing your disappointment that they have shared the responsibility of hosting the awards with a right-wing blog like Israellycool, is an even bigger waste of time, considering the fact that I started them. I am part of the package. Deal with it.

3. Using your blog to rubbish the inclusion of various blogs is poor form. It is even poorer form to bring up the bloggers’ religions, which are irrelevant, considering that giving exposure to Israel advocacy blogs is an aim of the awards, and you needn’t be Jewish to have such a blog.

For the record, I have always been very fair in defining Israel advocacy. Left-wing and right-wing blogs alike have been included in this category.

4. LGF is definitely an Israel advocacy blog. So quit the whining and bad sportsmanship, which is undermining the spirit in which these awards are intended. The JPost and I have worked very hard on the awards, and the last thing I want is nastiness entering the equation.

5. Enjoy yourselves! I don’t mean it is as a cliche when I say “it doesn’t matter whether you win or lose.” That’s the truth..it really doesn’t matter. The whole idea is to bring attention to the nominated blogs. In this sense, they hopefully all win.

I apologize if this post seems harsh, and I seem frazzled, but I think I have been fairly patient up until now. I guess even a laidback Aussie has his limits.

JIB Awards 2005: Ballot Stuffing

Aussie Dave — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 01:18:38 +0000

It has come to our attention that some overzealous voters have been voting multiple times.

While there is clearly a loophole in the voting software, this is forbidden by the rules. Therefore, we shall be regularly checking poll records and IP addresses, and in cases of multiple voting suspicious votes will be deleted.

We have unfortunately had to delete votes already, so please ensure that you vote only once every three days, as allowed by the rules.

JIB Awards 2005: First Round Voting Now Open

Aussie Dave — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 19:47:00 +0000

The first round of voting for the 2005 JIB Awards is now open on the Jerusalem Post site.

The voting is now taking place in two stages. The preliminary round of voting continues until midnight January 19th EST in 12 categories. The top six vote-getters will advance to the final round of voting which is set to start on January 24th, with the final awards going to the top three placers in each of the 17 categories. The final award winners will be announced on both sites, and will be honored with fame and glory as well as JIB award banners (designed by Zahava Bogner, Ventures Consulting Group, Inc.) to post on their blogsites.

You can view all the nominees and relevant voting groups by clicking here.

You may vote once every three days in any single poll, and we suggest you read the competition rules before voting.

Please support the awards by voting in all categories and spread the word to your friends and family.

Thank you for supporting the 2005 JIB Awards on The Jerusalem Post and Israellycool.com. Best of luck to all bloggers.

JIB Awards 2005: Special Chance for Excluded Blogs

Aussie Dave — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 03:19:44 +0000

I am pleased to anounce that the Jerusalem Post and I have decided to offer Jewish, Israel, and Israel advocacy blogs which are not already in the list of nominees for any category to participate in this year’s awards.

From now until tomorrow 9:00pm Israel time, I will be accepting nominations for such blogs. I will select 12 of these to go through to the final voting round, in a new Best of the Rest category. My decision will be based on which I feel are the best of those nominated.

The nominations must be submitted in the comments to this post, and in the correct format. See this post for instructions on nominating in the correct format.