The Oscars don’t happen till April. The Emmys aren’t handed out till September. The Junos … are they even a thing anymore? And we all that know that this year’s People magazine Sexiest Man Alive will be, once again, Wallace Shawn. Where’s the competition? Where’s the suspense?
Face it: December is all about buying gifts for loved ones, gathering together with family, observing joyous religious occasions, and other pointless trivia — all distracting us from what we really want to do: vote on awards! But at this time of year, the only coveted prizes you’ll be able to help determine are Best Cat GIF, Best Dog GIF, and Best Cat Slapping A Dog While Riding A Roomba GIF. It’s a vast awards wasteland out there, folks. That’s why you’ll be as happy as a cat on a Roomba when you hear this news: It’s Clawbies season again!
As we say every December 1st: “We’re thrilled to announce the official opening of the 8th annual Canadian Law Blog Awards.” It’s our celebration of excellence in law-related blogging in Canada (and beyond), and we need you to make it all happen. We want to honour the very best of the Canadian legal blogosphere: the most interesting, timely and helpful law or legal-industry-related blogs on the Interweb.
Here’s where we get serious: the rules!
This is a crowdsourced effort that relies on the enthusiastic participation and support of Canada’s legal social media and blogging community. Here’s what you need to do:
1. Do not nominate your own blog for a Clawbie. Seriously. That’s the kind of lame self-promotion we expect from Wallace Shawn.
2. Nominating a blog must happen in one of three ways (“a” or “b” are obviously preferred):
(a) Write a blog post on your own blog, nominating up to three other Canadian law blogs you currently read, with a brief explanation of why you think those blogs were award-worthy in 2013.
(b) Tweet your nomination on Twitter using the hashtag #clawbies2013
(c) Email your favourite blog, including some sample posts and any anything else we should know about it, to Steve Matthews at steve@stemlegal.com.
3. The categories are the same as last year, so don’t worry about suggesting new ones. (We’re looking at you, person who suggested “Best Blog Providing Legal Analyses Of Episodes From Season Two Of Ugly Betty.”)
4. Think globally, nominate locally! We always hand out Clawbies to a US-based and European blog, so let us know about the best blogs outside the Frozen Confines.
Not sure where to start? We mock you without mercy. And then we suggest you head to Lawblogs.ca, the utterly comprehensive and handsomely designed directory of Canadian law blogs. Choose your favourite categories and start reviewing what’s out there.
Who are your judges? Once again, I’ll be calling on my friends and colleagues Jordan Furlong and Simon Fodden to help determine the winners. Simon already has a Clawbie named after him, the “Fodden Award for Best Canadian Law Blog”. We’re thinking of adding the Jordan Furlong Award for Best Legal Futurist Guru Blog (and then giving it to Richard Susskind every year). Stay tuned for 2014!
In all seriousness … the Clawbies allow us to celebrate the very best of the Canadian legal blogosphere, which just continues to get bigger and better every year. Help us find and recognize those blogs. The deadline for nominations is Friday, December 27, and we’ll announce the winners of the 2013 Clawbies on New Year’s Eve. Get busy nominating!
Now, where’s that Roomba…..
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