Hey, you! You’re listening to Frozen Ghost right now, aren’t you?
Don’t lie to us. We’re like CSIS. We know exactly what you’re up to, what’s playing on your iTunes at the precise moment you read this post. Long ago we figured out that the Canadian legal blogging community was also intensely devoted to Canadian pop music and the CanCon regulations that ensured we all grew up listening to Sunglasses At Night whether we wanted to or not.
That’s why we’ve integrated CanCon music throughout this message, to make sure nobody out there misses this (given the situation) critical message:
We’re thrilled to announce the official opening of the 9th annual Canadian Law Blog Awards!
Yes, it’s no ordinary day here. For the ninth consecutive year (or, to put in terms more familiar to you, since Crabbuckit was named Single Of The Year), we’re celebrating excellence in law-related blogging throughout Canada (and beyond). We’re going to honour (CanCon spelling, too!) the very best of the Canadian legal blogosphere: the most interesting, timely, and helpful law or legal-industry-related blogs on the internet.
Why are we doing this? (No one ever asked us to, ironically.) Because when we stand together and rise up cross-Canada, we can promote and praise our own work, making an already fine state of affairs in the Canadian blawgosphere even better and bringing us all closer together in the process.
There are no cash prizes for winning a Clawbie — if we had a million dollars, things might be different — but we do provide the winners and runners-up with a handsome stamp for their website. We can’t stop this thing we started nine years ago, so we need your help with doing it right.
The Nominating Process
Don’t worry, it’s not complicated. It’s actually simple, as easy as 1-2-3(-4).
We rely on the enthusiastic participation of Canada’s legal blog and social media community to support the Clawbies. There are only 2 rules for nominating. So listen up!
Rule #1: Nominate one or more blogs in either of the following two ways:
(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 2014.
(b) Tweet your nominations on Twitter, using the hashtag #clawbies2014.
Remember that we also award Clawbies to an America-based blog and a Europe-based blog, so don’t forget to nominate blogs from those jurisdictions. (We’ll even consider suggestions from Africa, Asia, and Down Under.)
This year, we’d especially like your help identifying new Canadian law blogs we haven’t recognized before. Somewhere out there is a dark horse worth taking chances on.
Rule 2: Do not nominate your own blog for a Clawbie. We automatically discount the chances of any blog suggested by its own author; and are likely to sink you faster than the Edmund Fitzgerald. So it’s dangerous, which is something you oughta know by now.
Not ready to go nominate a blog? For a refresher on Canadian law blogs, consult the authoritative directory of Canada’s blawgosphere, Lawblogs.ca. Choose your favourite categories and start reviewing what’s out there.
The Clawbies’ three judges are, once again, yours truly, Jordan Furlong, and Simon Fodden. We collectively promise to bring an honest (not a criminal) mind to our consideration of all nominations.
So listen: this is your chance to put a deserving Canadian blog in the limelight, send it to the big leagues and help it set the world on fire. We could all use a little good news — now’s your chance to help deliver it. All you have to do is try.
The deadline for nominations is Tuesday, December 23, and we’ll announce the winners of the 2014 Clawbies on New Year’s Eve. So get busy! Before this opportunity is gone, gone, gone….
** Special thanks goes out to Jordan Furlong for his freakish knowledge of (questionable) quality Canadian music and his snarky editorial penmanship.
I am disappointed I was not able to recognize each of those references. I need to work on my knowledge of ’80s bad pop. And of course write my Clawbies nomination before the deadline for a change.