An idea I’ve been thinking about for LessOnline this year, is a blogging awards ceremony. The idea being that there’s a voting procedure on the blogposts of the year, in a bunch of different categories, a shortlist is made and winners are awarded a prize.
I like opportunities for celebrating things in the online, written, truth-seeking ecosystem. I’m interested in reacts on whether people would be pro something like this happening, and comments on suggestions for how to do it well. (Epistemic status: tentatively excited about this idea.)
Here’s my first idea for what the categories would be this year.
Blog of the year
Best original contribution (e.g. novel discovery, did some science, etc)
Best explanation of a complex idea
Biggest mistake admitted (H/T @ymekshout for suggesting this one)
Best fiction
Best counter-argument
Best prediction
Most productive dialogue
Most beautiful non-fiction
Best new blog
As for structure, I’m not really sure. Here’s my first idea.
How to nominate? Anyone can nominate a blogpost for $10. Anyone with a LessOnline ticket gets a free nomination. Anything published in 2024 is eligible.
How is it judged? For the first year I’d probably keep it small and simple, perhaps hand-selected ~10 judges and pay them a little to each read 5 nominations in 4 different categories and vote on those.
I’ve also not got a name in mind yet. It’s not a generic “Blogging Awards”, tons of blogposts would not naturally be included (e.g. food blogs, fashion blogs, travel blogs, etc). I think “Blogging-With-High-Epistemic-Aspirations Awards” is too long. “Rationalist Blogging Awards” is a reasonably narrow pointer but I don’t want to risk intertwining too much with a narrow social group’s identity when there’s probably a good alternative name that also points toward the substance.
An idea I’ve been thinking about for LessOnline this year, is a blogging awards ceremony. The idea being that there’s a voting procedure on the blogposts of the year, in a bunch of different categories, a shortlist is made and winners are awarded a prize.
I like opportunities for celebrating things in the online, written, truth-seeking ecosystem. I’m interested in reacts on whether people would be pro something like this happening, and comments on suggestions for how to do it well. (Epistemic status: tentatively excited about this idea.)
Here’s my first idea for what the categories would be this year.
Blog of the year
Best original contribution (e.g. novel discovery, did some science, etc)
Best explanation of a complex idea
Biggest mistake admitted (H/T @ymekshout for suggesting this one)
Best fiction
Best counter-argument
Best prediction
Most productive dialogue
Most beautiful non-fiction
Best new blog
As for structure, I’m not really sure. Here’s my first idea.
How to nominate? Anyone can nominate a blogpost for $10. Anyone with a LessOnline ticket gets a free nomination. Anything published in 2024 is eligible.
How is it judged? For the first year I’d probably keep it small and simple, perhaps hand-selected ~10 judges and pay them a little to each read 5 nominations in 4 different categories and vote on those.
I’ve also not got a name in mind yet. It’s not a generic “Blogging Awards”, tons of blogposts would not naturally be included (e.g. food blogs, fashion blogs, travel blogs, etc). I think “Blogging-With-High-Epistemic-Aspirations Awards” is too long. “Rationalist Blogging Awards” is a reasonably narrow pointer but I don’t want to risk intertwining too much with a narrow social group’s identity when there’s probably a good alternative name that also points toward the substance.
Suggestions and feedback appreciated!