Deutsche Welle Searches for Best Blogs in 11 Languages

August 31 is not only International BlogDay, it also marks the start of the fifth annual Deutsche Welle International Weblog Awards, known as “the BOBs.”

Over the next four weeks, Internet users can nominate exceptional Weblogs at www.thebobs.com. Deutsche Welle is also proud to announce that the Indonesian language has been added to the BOBs, bringing the total number of languages to 11 and the total categories to 16 (Arabic, Chinese, German, English, Farsi, French, Indonesian, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish).

The BOBs are the largest international Weblog awards and offer a thorough overview of the rapidly growing online scene of Weblogs, videoblogs and podcasts. Last year alone, 7,000 blogs, podcast and videoblogs were nominated and over 100,000 people voted for their favorites online. Awards are decided both by an international jury of media experts and bloggers and through online voting.

Our goals

“Our goal is to present a wide spectrum of the blogsphere and to encourage a language-crossing dialogue through this new form of media”, explains Uta Thofern, editor-in-chief of DW-WORLD.DE.

Through the BOBs, Deutsche Welle also aims to support bloggers in countries where freedom of speech and press are limited. “In many parts of the world, Weblogs are one of the few possibilities for free expression,” said Thofern.

Deutsche Welle, along with Reporters Without Borders, will once again work together this year to award the “Reporters Without Borders” Award to a blogger who takes a strong stance on freedom of expression online.

What’s new?

2008 is a big year for the BOBs. First we are proud to unveil a totally redesigned Website that is easier to navigate and lighter on the eyes. Plus if you want to get a sense of the international nature of this competition, check out our new Blogmap – one of the many new features at thebobs.com. On our Blogmap, you can navigate through more than 4,500 blogs spread throughout the world.

The BOBs timeline

The nomination period for the BOBs will last until September 30, 2008. Up until that date, users can submit their favorite blogs, videoblogs and podcasts for consideration. From these proposals, our international jury of journalists, media experts and bloggers will narrow the field to a short list of worthy candidates.

From October 27 to November 27 users will then be encouraged to vote online for their favorites and our jury will convene in Berlin on November 26 to discuss who will take home the top awards.

The winners will be announced by our international jury at a public event at the Museum for Communication on November 27 in Berlin.

Our media partners

Our Premium-Partners include Reporters Without Borders und Radio Netherlands.

Our international line-up of Media Partners include:

Global Voices and Technorati (USA)

Handelsblatt.com and Zeit.de (Germany)

arte, LeMonde.fr and TV5 (France)

Category.net (France)

Clarin.com (Argentina)

ElTiempo.com (Columbia)

Folha Online and UOL (Brasil)

Lenta.ru (Russia)

Iran-Emrooz.net, Gooya and Radio Zamaneh (Iran)

Sina (China)

alarabiya.net (UAE)

The BOBs 2008 is thankful for the generous support this year by HTC, Freecom, O'Reilly and Sevenload.