20SB BS
Monday, January 11th, 2010I was going to take the easy way out, send an anonymous entry into The Secret Project, but that would be the cowardly thing to do about something I feel oddly strong about. I stand by what I’m about to write, even though I already know how it’s going to come off and am certain it isn’t going to win me any friends, let alone readers.
I think the 20SB Bootleg Awards are bull shit. There, I said it.
In full disclosure, I will own up to being a member of the 20 Something Bloggers community (although I’m turning 30 this June, I’m sure this post will be grounds to summarily “boot” me out early). And if you’re at all familiar with 20SB and their awards, then you will see that I’m also not nominated and have never been nominated for any of their awards- *shocking,* I know. So call it or me what you will- “sour grapes,” “jealous,” “bitter,” “unfriendly,” “a stupid meany jerkface”- I’ll take it.
I should add, however, that there is a part of me that feels guilty too for my opinion. I regularly read some of the nominated blogs, comment on them occasionally, even know some of the bloggers in real life or over email. And I like them. I like these writers and value what they provide not only to me as a reader but also to our blogging community as a whole. They are each winners in their own right- their readership and content is proof enough of that. So why do I have this bizarre urge to say anything against awards that celebrate them?
Quite simply, the sheer lack of diversity across the “Bootleg” Awards categories has me feeling a bit disappointed. There are so many blogs out there that aren’t recognized and those bloggers’ voices matter too. Less well-known, they are also funny and creative, heartbreaking and endearing, honest and clever. So why not them? Why is it ostensibly always the same handful of blogs that garner all the attention whether it’s from comments or awards like these?
The whole thing rings juvenile to me and reminds me of high school popularity contests when at the end of the school year you’d vote for your class’ “Best ___” and “Most Likely To.” Best Hair. Best Couple. Best Athlete. Most Likely to Succeed. Most Popular. Funniest. Prettiest. Skinniest. Hottest. The list goes on and on. And the results, well, we all know that those too were unsurprising. We also know that silly contests like that, in the grand scheme of things, matter little. So is it worth getting worked up about a little badge for a blogger’s sidebar now?
Ultimately, something as seemingly irrelevant and worthless as an awards badge is the kind of reward in which only a blogger would understand the value of and take pride in. To a blogger, an award or nomination from a group like 20SB can bring added exposure and with it a larger readership and greater opportunity for interaction. It may be the very thing that an “indie blog” needs to thrive. In the end, I wish more of those sorts of blogs were able to be nominated and appreciated as well.
I couldn’t agree more with you. Even though I’ve been nominated (and I would be lying if I said didn’t want to win) I also think that there really is no room for less popular blogs to be given the recognition that they deserve. I remember in the first year of 20SB they had categories for best small blog and best medium sized blog (I don’t know how they measured that) but at least it was there.
Also, it does get a bit boring when one blogger is nominated in like six categories. I don’t think you’re bitter at all. I think you raise a very valid point.
I’m totally with you on that. Although, I do think there are rare occasions in life (and on the web) where the underdog does get recognition. It’s happened twice for me… I was nominated last year (even though I knew I wouldn’t win, it was nice being nominated), and although I was far from popular in high school, I was voted “Most Creative” by my peers. It happens for us little people sometimes!
But yeah. It does seem to lose some merit when you have people nominated for 5 or 6 different categories. There’s nothing wrong with being liked… I read and like most of the people who were nominated! It’s the system, is all (OMG I’M SO PUNK ROCK), and there’s not much we can do to change it, unfortunately.
I’ve been thinking about this for awhile. The thing that gets me is- that out of 10,000 members- only 150 submitted nominations. I look at the list of people who are nominated more than once (and yes, now it’s time to admit that I’m on that list) and those are the people who I see most active in the 20sb community (well, not me- but my brain has been a little full), who comment often (again, not me- full brain)- who are constantly working to get their blog out there. Which leads to more people knowing them and their writing, which leads to them being a blog that pops into someones head when they nominate.
Do I think that every nominee deserves to be where they are? Yes. Do I think that there are a ridiculous amount of people who are just as talented and heartbreakingly awesome who didn’t get nominated? Absolutely. But until people decide that they want to put in the tremendous amount of work to get their blog established (as the nominees have) and known, I just feel, we can’t fault the system or those who have been recognized.
With all of that said- I think there’s always room to grow, always room for this to improve. I think any time that it’s a ‘voting process’,- especially on something as subjective as writing, there’s going to be people who are not pleased. I think the key is to keep talking about what we can do to make next year better, how can we get more people involved, how can we get more blogs noticed and more awesome bloggers found.
I know this was probably a hard post to write- feelings on either side of this topic have been hurt- or at least bothered by this whole process. I think as long as we keep thinking of how we can make it better, that things will get better. That’s just me working on being positive though- I’m trying to apply it to all areas of my life lately. Lord knows I need it!
Whew! Thank you for understanding where I’m coming from! More than anything I tried to really articulate what bothers me about this (LRC- yes, The System!) and do so without offending.
Hope, thank you for noting how the awards used to be organized. I wasn’t aware of and wonder too how they were able to pick “best small” and “best medium sized” blogs before? I agree with you that it’s nice that those categories were at least there as an option. The more I think about this, it kind of has me wishing there was some sort of “Indie Blog Awards.” Hmmmm…
And Brandy- thank you for taking the time to comment in light of everything. I think you’ve touched on something that I had neglected to consider and I appreciate you pointing it out. With any kind of relationship in life, you’re going to get more when you give more. Giving to a blogging communicty IS a lot of work and time and effort, especially to the degree that many of the nominated bloggers actively participate.
Who knows….maybe the Bootleg Awards will be a little different – a little better?- next year. As the 20sb community continues to grow, it would certainly be sad to see the voice of the individual get lost in the shuffle.
So, I think it’s serendipity that I found your blog today. Well, I can’t say that I actually found it, as the lovely lady behind Skrinkering Hearts showed me the way.
But, I chose today to read your blog. And it’s hilarious, because I just blogged about the more generic awards just last week. I wasn’t even aware of the 20SB awards, but a lot of comments made me realize my timing and point of view had great overlap with those awards.
Long story short, I couldn’t agree with you more. I just consider myself lucky that I’m well into my 30s and not a part of that group, so I have no need to care one way or another.
Nilsa- Just checked out your post (and your blog itself actually) and am wondering why we’re not already friends.
There were so, so many comments on twitter from people who ‘wanted to vote but didn’t want to nominate’ and I think that shows. And at the same time, I just really don’t think that this stuff matters.
Is that bad to say?
Let me clarify: I don’t think that the awards are bullshit, they’re just little jpegs, but I don’t think they’re relevant. But that’s not because of the people who were nominated, that’s because community members aren’t playing their role, so the awards aren’t what they could be. To answer your question about why the small blogs aren’t being heard? The why not them question? It’s not because of the people who were nominated, it’s because of the people who didn’t nominate anyone.
My real feeling is that all the blogs in 20SB are small blogs. Almost none of us are getting significant traffic that puts us on par with other “medium” blogs, but we’re a sweet little group and a great jumping off point. I just think that it’s lame that people have fixated on what could be a positive thing, and painted all of the nominees with the same brush, especially when looking through that list I see very few similarities between the blogs in terms of content, tone, life story, or community outreach, no matter what the category.
I don’t think the awards are meaningful, but I think that characterization (which, again, I’ve seen a bunch of places) is just not accurate.
Thoughtful post, sorry for being downbeat, this stuff has just started to make me feel tired & sad lol
Kyla Roma- “It’s not because of the people who were nominated, it’s because of the people who didn’t nominate anyone.”
Yes. And honestly, I am one of them. I didn’t nominate anyone. Why? Is it shitty to say I didn’t even know it was happening? I am SUCH a bad participant in the community upon which I am writing that until the awards voting was being discussed on the blogs that I DO read regularly, I had no idea they were even happening. No one to blame there except me. Because of how I ended up feeling about this whole thing, I sincerely wish I’d been a more active participant so that I wouldn’t have missed out on the opportunity to nominate some of the blogs I didn’t see listed.
Thank you for your comment tonight and for your related post. I just ran across it today as I’m adding people to twitter and really liked the advice you gave to other bloggers.
Update: The 20SB Bootleg Award winners are being announced throughout today.
http://tumblr.20sb.net
After a quick perusal of the results, I’ll simply say I rest my case. Better luck next year, kids.