June 19, 2001

11:49 AM

After small web sites didn't receive a single nomination in last year's Online Journalism Awards, Robin Miller of Slashdot is offering to pay the $100 entry fee for five of the best examples of small-site journalism published since July 2000. Who deserves the money?
posted by rcade (8 comments total)

It's hard to find worthy stories that aren't from publications that should have enough money to enter.

However, here's a few good examples of online journalism from the rest of the Web:

• Commentary: Phil Agre's Election 2000 wrapup, which was sent Dec. 23, 2000, to subscribers to his Red Rock Eater Digest mailing list. No one tears into political jargon and other dissembling rhetoric the way Agre does, and this post-election contribution was widely forwarded around the Net after its publication.


• Feature Journalism: The Bleat by James Lileks, a daily column that's among the best feature writing in any medium, which is more impressive because his subject matter is nothing -- more specifically, the minutiae of his daily life, like movies, moving and odd yearbook discoveries.


• Commentary: Deb Weiss. Though her columns are hosted by the Drudge Report, Weiss is an amateur commentator who graduated from writing letters to the editor, not a professional. Though I disagree with her on every single political issue that matters, I have to admit that in columns like this Oct. 19, 2000, recap of the first Gore-Bush debate, Weiss rips into everyone to the left of Pat Buchanan with style, intelligence and savage wit.

posted by rcade at 11:51 AM on June 19, 2001

People are probably sick of hearing me cheerlead for him, but Glenn MacDonald's The War Against Silence still remains some of the finest music writing--hell, any writing--found on the web. And he just does it because he likes to. "Online Commentary," I guess, would be the aptest category.
posted by Skot at 12:56 PM on June 19, 2001

I know this is heretical, but I almost never read Slashdot, so I never have cause to link to it, except now: Every blogger with time on his or her hands in August should sign up to be a screener. According to the rules, one sends a snatchmail to [e-mail] “detailing your experience, your affiliation, etc.” (Evidently screeners are themselves screened.)

I don't know if I want to screen or enter.
posted by joeclark at 1:47 PM on June 19, 2001

Could MeFi win the journo award in the "Breaking News" category for it's coverage of the seattle earthquake?
posted by Neale at 3:34 PM on June 19, 2001

And the incessant rumor mongering that turns out to be true?
posted by capt.crackpipe at 3:46 PM on June 19, 2001

You know there's an argument to be made for that...

Perhaps this would be buoyed by Megnut's upcoming lecture about "Weblogs as Peer-to-Peer Journalism"?
posted by josholalia at 3:48 PM on June 19, 2001

What's snatchmail?
posted by rodii at 5:06 PM on June 19, 2001