Anchoress head swells…bigger than her hips!

Well, I have to say, this is a very neat thing, indeed. I come home from the long weekend away, to return to two splendid and surprising pieces of news, that The Anchoress was tied for 11th place in John Hawkin’s 4th Annual War-Blogger Awards, in the category of Best Overall Blog. Not only am I in great company, (Hugh Hewitt, Red State and Tim Blair, fer goodness sake!) but I happily escaped being voted into the “Most Annoying” category…although there is always next year! Meanwhile check out John’s list – you’ll find some new blogs to explore!

Hawkins’ awards were nominated by other bloggers, which makes me very grateful, and feeling kinda humbled, too. Most of the bloggers who participated are folks of whom I think very highly, and so it means a lot. Apparently the voting when on during my downtime; I’m sorry I didn’t get to participate and vote some love back atchall!

The second surprise was to see The Anchoress as a finalist for the Kevin’s 2005 Weblog Awards in the category of Best Conservative Blog – utterly unexpected. Again, I’m in great company – other nominees include such heavy hitters as Right Wing News, Polipundit, ABP, Belgravia Dispatch, Ace of Spades (whose obscene and twisted and sick and morally reprehensible and wickedly funny Golden Cheney Awards are discussed here) The Jawa Report, Just One Minute, La Shawn Barber (who says she is considering becoming a group blog!). As she also has a new Christian Fiction blog up (and it looks great) I’d call her one of the busiest women in blogdom..

That’s heavy-duty competition, and I have no expectations of winning anything – this is one of those times when it really is “enough just to be a finalist.”

But…since you CAN vote every 24hours…I hope some of you will take the time to head over there and vote for your Anchoress…while I don’t hope to win, I’d rather not be utterly humiliated, too! :-)

While you’re there, don’t forget to vote in all of the categories. Michelle Malkin and Ed Morrissey are both nominated for Best Blog – an impossible choice – I will have to split my vote between them every other day!

The Best New Blog category is also a very hot one, and I find that like Tom Maguire, several favorites in the running although I think no one will be surprised to see me plugging away on behalf of All Things Beautiful which is simply a fascinating and unique blog that demonstrates the creative boundaries which blogs can explore. In a category thick with excellence, (Rising Sun, Decision ’08, Basil’s Blog, Merri Musings, and Wuzzadem) Alexandra still manages to stand out.

Speaking of standouts, Common Sense Runs Wild (also a new blog nominee) and My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy (a nominee herself – along with Baldilocks) – in the Top 250 category both mention the number of nominated bloggers who are also members of The Cotillion which is happily a finalist for Best Group Blog. So much for that old “Where are the women bloggers?” question! And check out Beth’s BAD Blog Awards!

TWO of those women bloggers who are also nominated but might be a little hard to find are The Wide Awake Cafe in the Top 2501-3500 category and Sensible Mom for Best of the Rest. Both excellent blogs run by really smart ladies – I hope you’ll spare them a vote! Like Sensible Mom, I’m rooting for both Betsy and Confederate Yankee, in Best of the 251-500 and for both Charmaine and Jason in the Top 501-1000 (and am I the only one suprised that all of these blogs are not ranked higher?)

There used to be an old Vaugh Meador joke, “Vote for the Kennedy of your choice, but vote!” I say vote for the blog of your choice…everyday! And then don’t forget to check out the latest on Aaron’s blogger deck of cards!.

UPDATE: Special thanks you’s to Lisa (A common sense liberal nominated here), Alexandra, LaShawn, Basil, and Alex (nominated here) for helping me to put the Weblog Awards link-n-logo into my sidebar. Yes…it did take FIVE PEOPLE to help me. Yes, I AM that pathetic! Lisa, Basil and Alex each wrote me independently – and very kindly – to help me figure that out, because they clearly understood that I am no one to speak code to blithely! Thanks all!