The BoBs

Friends, visitors from around the world are dropping in on our humble abode.

Why? We seem to have won an award. A "BoB." Unbeknownst to me until very recently, we were nominated for "Best English Blog" in an international blogging competition sponsored by German news agency Deutsche Welle. Winners were determined by a jury of international bloggers, journalists, and media experts.

I am honored that this humble place was apparently viewed as significant and noteworthy by the jury. The email I received included the following from a representative of Deustche Welle:

I am thrilled to tell you that your blog has won this year's Best Weblog - English at the 2007 Deutsche Welle International Weblog Awards.

The international jury of bloggers and media experts selected your blog for your inovative use of the platform to raise money and awareness for your project. [formatting added]

To say I am surprised would be an understatement. I had no idea we were being innovative when we created this place. We simply saw it as a solution to our need for a flexible Internet presence for Valour-IT that would help us interact better with the bloggers who form the core of our support.

I started blogging at my own place just days before the idea for Valour-IT was conceived, and I soon found that Valour-IT was taking over my personal blog. So, we created this. It's is a place to post the latest news, coordinate the yearly online fundraisers, and distribute stories of laptop recipients. It was just a "working blog," a behind-the-scenes analog to our public face at the official website. And now we've won an international award...

Two and a half years ago as Valour-IT started to take off, I felt like I was riding a tiger. I still do.

My humble thanks to the person who nominated us and the members of the jury who decided we were worth a look. "Innovative," huh? Wow.

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Other winners who caught my eye (as described by the BoB site):

Best Blog - Foto-mania -: A self-ironic account of a talented woman from Belarus who publishes this excellent blog with photos and text.

Best Video Blog - Alive in Baghdad: a weekly videoblog produced by a team of American and Iraqi correspondents on the ground in Iraq.

Reporters Without Borders Award - Jotman:
A proficient blogger who made a name for himself covering the 2006 Coup in Thailand and more recently the protests against the military junta in Burma.

Best Weblog (Persian) - 35 Grad: takes its name from the 35th parallel on which the city of Tehran stands. Some of the topics that the author confronts are the many taboos present in Iranian society including HIV/AIDS, homosexuality and sex education.

Best Weblog (Russian) - /dev/karlson/mind.log: published by a Russian who lives in Japan. Here you can find a lot of interesting information, exciting observations and original comparisons between the two cultures.

Best Weblog (German) Behindertenparkplatz: A journalist in a wheelchair reports about international travel, her work and the difficulties she faces on a daily basis. The blog also documents her attempts to expose and combat the stereotypes and descrimination faced by people in wheelchairs.

Best Weblog (Spanish) - A mis 95: With the help of her grandson, this 95-year-old grandmother writes about her long life and tries to break communication barriers that exists between generations.