2005 Catholic Blog Awards

Nominations have ended and voting has officially begun for the 2005 Catholic Blog Awards sponsored by CyberCatholics.com. I'd like to take a moment to thank I. Shawn McElhinney of Rerum Novarum for nominating Catholics in the Public Square to the category of "Best Group Blog." Although Shawn does not believe his blog "specialized enough to be viable in very many categories," he was nevertheless nominated for "Best Social Commentary," -- a title which any reader of Rerum Novarum will agree is most definitely suitable.

I'm pleased to also note that my esteemed colleagues at CPS Oswald Sobrino and Earl E. Appleby are contenders for "Best Political Blog." (I'm disappointed to see that David Schrader of Catholics for Bush didn't merit the nomination as well -- he was a fine ally of CatholicKerryWatch during the presidential election and I'm honored to work with him as a co-editor at Catholics in the Public Square).

As one might expect, Jeff Miller aka. The Curt Jester has swept nominations for "Most Humorous," "Most Bizarre" AND "Most Creative," and passes along the following request to his readers:

Please vote your conscience and make sure your conscience is correctly formed as to what constitutes humor and creativity. If you live in Washington State vote for me as many times as you vote for your own candidates there. Since I believe in the resurrection of the dead and the Communion of Saints I also have no problems with dead people voting.

So, congratulations all around to all the blogs who were nominated -- and to our readers: if you appreciated the work my colleagues have done both on Catholics in the Public Square (and our previous incarnation during the 2004 presidential election as Catholic Kerry Watch), we certainly appreciate your support.

P.S.: Nathan reminds me that this blog has also had the honor of being nominated in the category "Best Presentation," and Dr. Philip Blosser's The Pertinacious Papist" is a contender for "Most Intellectual." Wonnderful news!

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Last but certainly not least, do remember that -- as thrilling (or disappointing) as these nominations are -- one shouldn't take them as necessarily representative of the "best and brightest" of St. Blog's parish -- as Jeff says, "Five nominations per category doesn't really cover the depth of St. Blogs." Those wishing to gain a true appreciation of what Catholic bloggers have to offer are invited to explore my blogroll. =)