Update #1 on the BlogAwards

And so the Pakistan Blog Awards are still getting some great entries and experiencing some fiercely passionate bloggers promoting not only their own blogs, but letting their audiences know who their favorites are. From the time since the awards were formally opened for submissions until today, there have been about 165 entries from bloggers who live as close to us as Karachi and as far away as Chicago, USA! Proud to be Pakistani bloggers based in Germany, London, Fujairah and other geographically removed locations are also making their way into the running.

So here’s what’s happening. We’ve got about 4,100 unique votes across all the categories and are still open for new entries and nominations. But REALLY has to happen is this: we need more people to vote. Spread the word out amongst your communities and audiences to come and vote for your FAVORITE blogs and bloggers. Since the page reloads everytime you visit, you will find a new set of featured blogs and bloggers on the front page each time, so if you KNOW what you are voting for, that will make your life a little easier.

We’re easing into our next phase where we’ve identified a few judges (and we’re obviously not telling who they are!!) and they will soon start looking at each of the entries. Once again, the judges decision is 50% of whether an entry wins or not. So what makes up the 100% of the decision? Here’s what we’re all focusing on for each entry:

• # of views
• # of comments
• Quality of comments and interaction
• Judges commentary on aesthetics, content, frequency of update, quality of interaction on the actual blog, etc…

Remember – these are blogs are not websites, so interaction and knowing your audience well enough to get them to leave something more meaningful than a simple “Hello, this is so great!” comment.

The results will be announced in a full day ceremony in late March 2010 and voting and publicizing is open until that takes place.

Stay tuned for more updates!