The SA Blog Awards was started back in 2005 to showcase the greatest blogs in South Africa as voted for by the public. Over the years more than 6000 blogs have been nominated and more than a hundred thousand individual votes have been cast.

 

According to JP Naude, CEO of the SA Blog Awards, the event and run up to the awards ceremony was very successful. “This year we saw a record number of public votes entered, in fact an increase of more than 300%, which is partly due to the fact that we allowed more votes. This system allowed for he recognition of dedicated bloggers who blog more frequently. In addition the new system has raised the level of awareness for blogging substantially.”

 

He did say that there were some initial challenges encountered in the judging phase, but that they're confident that the best blogs were recognised. More than 60 judges were present this year, overseeing the process from various perspectives.

 

Science and technology judge, Robin Olivier, said that he is proud that South Africans can hold their own in the blogosphere. “The inter-web has given us an age of communication we have never experienced before. I truly enjoyed the process of studying the finalists in depth and I am impressed that our SA bloggers are on par with the rest of the world.”

 

The notoriously strict executive judge of the SA Blog Awards, Richard Mullholand, considered criteria such as consistency, creativity and overall personal enjoyment when reviewing the entries.

 

We already know that watkykjy took the overall prize, but it also took home the prize for the best indigenous language blog. Some of the other winners include memeburn, which won the best business blog, getaway, which won the travel blog prize and shesthegeek, which won the prize for best technology blog.