Black Weblog Awards


The Black Weblog Awards is an online awards event which recognizes bloggers of African-American descent for their contributions in blogging, video blogging, and podcasting. The Black Weblog Awards started in 2005 with 11 categories, and has now grown to include 36 categories. Former Black Weblog Award winners include blogger and radio host B. Scott, comedian and YouTube personality Elon James White, comedian, television host, and New York Times best-selling author Baratunde Thurston, LGBT activist and media personality Keith Boykin, hip-hop artists D-Nice and Kanye West, musician and DJ Questlove, and model/media personality Tyra Banks. Other Black Weblog Award winners have also appeared in traditional media outlets, such as The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and NPR.

Nominations and Voting

Currently, the Black Weblog Awards has a seven-week nomination period for blogs; users submit their blog for consideration through the Black Weblog Awards website via their online nomination form. After the nomination period has ended, there is a vote audit, and the top three to five nominated blogs in each category become the finalists for their respective categories. The public has a month to vote for the finalists, and the winners are announced the first week of September before Labor Day.

Judges

In 2007, judges were introduced to the Black Weblog Awards. In addition to the regular voting process from the public, a panel of judges with extensive knowledge about blogs and bloggers of color were chosen to select winners in each of the award categories. Each category has two winners—one winner is chosen by the public, and one winner is chosen by the judges. These winners are announced the first week of September before Labor Day.

Award Categories

Award categories for the Black Weblog Awards change annually. Some categories are renamed, while others split to become separate categories.

Current Awards

On July 18, 2010, the Black Weblog Awards announced a Kickstarter fund-raising campaign for financial support in establishing a live awards ceremony for their 2011 awards installment. The campaign was not successful, and ended on September 1, 2010 reaching only 6% of their goal.

New Ownership

In 2011, Black Web 2.0 reported that the Black Weblog Awards was acquired from Atlanta-based media company 3eighteen media by GEMPIRE Interactive headquartered in Austin, TX.