Web Wonders

There8217;s a Rockin8217; Girl Blogger and there8217;s a Thoughtful Blogger. You might be tempted to think that 8216;rockin8217; girls8217; are essentially not thoughtful and be damned to misogyny, but Ushati Das could probably help.

Blog 8216;awards8217; are the new virtual tickets to fun, bonding and recognition

There8217;s a Rockin8217; Girl Blogger and there8217;s a Thoughtful Blogger. You might be tempted to think that 8216;rockin8217; girls8217; are essentially not thoughtful and be damned to misogyny, but Ushati Das could probably help. The web world and its stereotypes are a little more adventurous than the uncles-next-door, so it acknowledges Das both as a rocking girl and a thoughtful one at that. Welcome to the world of blog awards. 8220;You8217;ve not found the next Kiran Desai here. I know at least ten who have the same awards,8221; laughs Das, a postgraduate student at IISC, Bangalore. Web awards for the blog addicts of this generation is a way to travel beyond the drab comments page and express their admiration with help from some cool logos and some cooler nomenclature. Sample this: the Yummy Blog Award, the Blogging Community Involvement Award, the Yum Yum award or the Blogging With A Purpose Award.

Who commissioned the awards, very few know, but bloggers are hardly bothered. For them it8217;s an out-of-the-box way to acknowledge fellow bloggers, who over time turn into virtual friends. 8220;I don8217;t blog to connect, but at times while reading a blog you feel like somebody has been reading your mind,8221; says Ishani Dasgupta, an avid blogger working with a publication house. Bonding follows, and here8217;s when these 8216;awards8217; come handy which can be passed on.

It8217;s not always that a particular award comes as a stamp of quality, but it does ensure your blog a couple of more readers than usual. 8220;If I bump into a blog with an award logo, I would want to go through it at least once,8221; says Arunlekha Sengupta, an employee of Google, Hyderabad. Bloggers like Sengupta agree that most blogs with award logos are worth a read, and therefore, the latter helps you find interesting new blogs. 8220;If not for anything else, the awards liven up your template,8221; laughs Das.

However, the same doesn8217;t follow for awards like Indibloggies. When Pune-based software professional Debashish Chakraborty started the web event in 2003, quality bloggers didn8217;t come by hundreds. 8220;The concept of blogging was still catching on when I started Indibloggies Awards. Then, an acknowledgement like this encouraged more people in India to start blogging,8221; says Chakarborty. Over time the number of bloggers swelled and the award turned into a sophisticated acknowledgement for writers. 8220;I set up a jury of recognized bloggers through virtual networking who screened the entries. It was a completely community driven project,8221; says Chakraborty. And Indibloggies can be credited with nominating some fine writers in its awards-roll.

8220;The nomination list of awards like these boast of some really good writers we wouldn8217;t know of otherwise,8221; says Ankur Sharma, founder of Culturazzi.org. While one of the Indibloggies winner went on to bag the Young Journalist8217;s award given away by a TV channel, a jury member gave up a plush job to turn into a professional blogger. 8220;Getting nominated in a award list like this ensures that your blog is read by writers of some quality,8221; adds Sharma.

Indibloggies, which could not be organized this year till now due to time constraints faced by Chakraborty, plans to go the whole hog with sponsors and advertisements soon. 8220;It8217;s a web even all right, but needs a lot of involvement. My fingers are crossed,8221; says Chakraborty. So are ours.