The first round of voting in the JIBs will come to an end on May 6th. Tikun Olam is nominated in the best left wing post category for The Golem and the IDF and best Jewish Music category for Israeli and Lebanese Music of Peace. I hope you’ll consider voting for these posts and any other you find worthwhile.
A note on the progress of the competition so far. I’ve voiced concerns here that the former ideological imbalance of the JIBs under Aussie Dave’s direction might come to the fore again this year. It hasn’t quite happened–yet. There are progressive blogs who have won in the first round (though they have not yet won awards this being the first round). In fact, Jewschool, JSpot and Muzzlewatch have won in multiple categories. This is great and shows the competition is better organized and more open than in the past. But I still fear the final results will show a right-wing tendency. Just look at some of the right-wing blogs who have won their categories so far. Keep in mind that several of them have won in multiple categories so the right-wing impact could be even more pronounced by multiple wins:
Kumah
Fundamentally Freund
Treppenwitz
Mere Rhetoric
In the Land of Milk and Honey
Yid With Lid
The Muqata
Something and Half of Something
My Right Word
Another issue I have with this year’s JIBs is that blogs can win in multiple categories. Right now, Dry Bones has won in first-round voting in FIVE (count ’em) categories. That doesn’t mean Dry Bones will win awards in all five. But I don’t think the JIBs should be like the Academy Awards in which films can bring home clutches of awards. A blog should be able to win only a single award. Otherwise, a few blogs could dominate the competition based on the size of the readership and how many of them will come and vote for them. I’d like to see the awards spread out over a large cross-section of the Jewish blogosphere.
