It’s that time of year again!

Dear Fellow Catholic:

I’m pleased to announce the 2013 Readers’ Choice Awards on About.com. The Readers’ Choice Awards showcase the best products, people, organizations, and services in hundreds of categories across all of About.com.

This is the third year that the About.com Catholicism GuideSite will be participating in the Readers’ Choice Awards. Last year, the About Catholicism Readers’ Choice Awards received thousands of nominations across ten categories and tens of thousands of votes.

Starting at 12:00 A.M. EST on January 14, I will be accepting nominations in the following categories:

• Best Catholic Book of 2012
• Best Catholic Blog
• Best Catholic Website
• Best Catholic Podcast
• Best Catholic Radio Show
• Best Catholic Magazine
• Best Catholic Newspaper
• Best Catholic iOS App
• Best Catholic to Follow on Twitter
• Best Catholic Facebook Page

Nominations will be accepted from 12:00 A.M. EST on January 14, 2013, until 12:00 A.M. EST on February 11, 2013. You are free to nominate your own product or site, as well as to promote the Readers’ Choice Awards to your community. (Sign up for the About.com Catholicism Newsletter to be notified automatically when nominations open.)  Please note that offering any kind of reward in exchange for nominations or votes is strictly forbidden; violators will be disqualified without warning.

Finalists will be announced on February 19, and voting will run from February 19 through March 19. The winners will be announced on March 27. There’s no prize—just the bragging rights that come with getting recognized by the 69 million monthly unique visitors who find About.com their most trusted source on the Internet—though finalists and winners will receive a badge that they can place on their website and use in other promotional material.

To learn more about the awards program on the About.com Catholicism GuideSite, visit the About Catholicism Readers’ Choice Awards page. To learn more about the Readers’ Choice Awards in general, visit awards.about.com.

Please let me know if you have any questions, and have a great day!

Sincerely,

Scott P. Richert
Guide to Catholicism
catholicism.about.com
About.com | Do More.

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Last year, due to a combination of damnable disloyalty, powerful shadowy forces of conspiratorial evil in league against me, and a failure of people to appreciate the power of bribery, threats, and tears, I lost out on this all-important contest despite my extremely high self-esteem and conviction that the Universe owed this to me.  I am not bitter or obsessed with this fact, but after a year of ruminating day and night on what is wrong with all of you for letting me down so badly, it finally occurred to me: perhaps my readers needs some sort of stupid gesture of “sincerity”. After all, if you can fake that, you’ve got it made.

Therefore, in an effort to persuade you people in the Pits of Despair that I Care, I have decided to say that it doesn’t matter to me whether I get your vote or not and to instead put my shoulder into making sure that Not a Goblin, But a Troll instead gets the nod.  I will also do various other Socially Aware  Things so that you will know I am a Morally Serious Person and feel intimidated into supporting me out of shame.  At present, my research indicates people are rocking against yeast, as well as concerned about lesbian oppression of transsexuals at sex parties, so put me down as Concerned about these things.  Also, abortion and liturgy still seem to be issues, so I am severely whatever you need me to be about those things as well.  The point is, I want you to think about voting for Troll, but be so moved by my nobility that you do the right thing and vote for me.  If you don’t, then it will be your fault when a far worse person wins who doesn’t even pretend to support Troll.  I hope you can live with yourself when that happens, you heartless creeps.