Okie Funk Wins Best Political Blog

Thanks to Mike Hermes for organizing this year’s first annual Okie Bloggers Roundup. The one-day event in Oklahoma City was simply bloggerific as bloggers throughout the state gathered Saturday to talk shop, share ideas and have some fun.

Hermes publishes the popular Okiedoke blog. He also operated the second annual Okie Blog Awards contest. The best overall blog went to dustbury, which is written by Charles G. Hill. Hill, a longtime Oklahoma blogger, received a well-deserved standing ovation during the awards ceremony. My blog, Okie Funk, won the best political blog award this year.

Here is a complete list of the winners:

Best Overall Blog: dustbury
Best Political Blog: Okie Funk
Best Family Blog: Rocks in my Dryer
Best Humor Blog: Redneck Diva
Best Audio Blog: The Daily Bitch
Best Blog Layout: Taste the World
Best Unusual Blog: 3:40 a.m.
Best Writing Blog: Audience of One
Best Culture Blog: Blog Oklahoma.us
Best Commentary: Two-Headed Blog
Best Inspirational Blog: Counseling Notes
Best Commercial Blog: Oklahoma Wine News

(I encourage you to spend some time going through all the links to the winners and any other blog I link to on this post. I know it’s a lot of sites, but Oklahoma has a rich and growing tapestry of blogs and sites.)

Sean Gleeson, who publishes the Gleeson Blogomerate, and Dan Lovejoy, who publishes Dan & Angi, did a great job offering two educational sessions, Beginning Blogging and Advanced Blogging. I was a panelist in the Advanced Blogging session and added what I could to an extended discussion about the latest developments in blog mechanics. We talked about issues ranging from live audio streams to building audiences to layout and design.

Kevin Latham, who publishes the Blog Oklahoma site, was also a panelist in the Advanced Blogging session. Michael Bates, the publisher of the popular political blog BatesLine also attended the event. Bates won best political blog in last year’s contest. Don Danz of Danzfamily.com has a great post about the event.

Here is a wonderful blog, Incurable Insomaniac, published by Steph Waller, and here is another great blog published by Lynette Erwin. This artistic, avant-garde couple attended Saturday's event. They brought their documentary film Mozartballs to the conference. The film showing was the day's final event.

The bloggers at Saturday’s event share the common vision of using new technologies to communicate with audiences. These are cutting-edge people who are advancing technological knowledge in the state. All of those who attended Saturday’s event should be commended for their work and ideas. They make Oklahoma a better, richer place because of their contributions.