Free Expression blog contest from RSF
Deutsche Welle, Germany’s international broadcaster, and Reporters Without Borders kicked off its sixth annual international Best of the Blogs award, The BOBs. Nominations are accepted until February 14. Internet users can nominate outstanding blogs in 11 different languages and 17 categories by going to the Best of the Blogs website.
What are The BOBs?
The BOBs – Best Of The Blogs – is an international competition for journalism-style blogs. Including such categories as “Best blog,” “Best videoblog” and “Best podcast,” as well as the “Best freedom of expression blog,” it awards prizes in each of the competition’s 11 languages. This year there is a special prize for blogs and podcasts about climate change and, for the time, a prize in the “Best blog in Bengali” language category.
The jury
The international jury of journalists, blog specialists and a Reporters Without Borders representative is joined this year by Chinese artist and blogger Ai Weiwei. “Blogs have been the most efficient tool for the democratic movement in China,” Ai Weiwei said, adding that they offer a “kind of virtual democracy” for countries where freedom of expression is restricted. Claire Ulrich, a journalist, blogger and editor of the Global Voices website in French, replaces Gilles Klein as jury member for French.
Special Reporters Without Borders prize
The prize is awarded for blogs that defend freedom of expression. Last year’s winners in this category were:
- the blog of Zeng Jinyan, the wife of Chinese human rights activist Hu Jia, who has been jailed in Beijing for nearly two years (http://zengjinyan.spaces.live.com/)
- Change For Equality, the website of the campaign to collect 1 million signatures for the repeal of laws that discriminate against women in Iran (http://www.sign4change.info/)Nominate a blog : http://www.thebobs.com
