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The BOBs -- The Best of the Blogs -- is run in three phases.
Between Aug. 31 and Sept. 30 you can submit your favorite Weblogs from around the world. That's phase one.
Then our international jury of bloggers, journalists and media experts will have to parse the suggestions down to a set of nominees for each of the categories. So they are able to look at each of the entries, we're giving them from Oct. 1 to Oct. 22 (phase two) to get the 10 best submissions per category.
You're back on duty starting on Oct. 23 for the third and final phase. That's when the three-week voting for the User Prize will begin. While you're casting ballots for your favorites, the jury will be giving the blogs, podcasts and videocasts a critical eye before getting together in Berlin to determine the winners on Nov. 10.
On Nov. 11, this year's BOBs will be come to an end with a finale winner presentation in the German capital. Hope to see you there.
That's the contest in a nutshell, here are the particulars:
SUGGESTION AND NOMINATION PHASES
Aug. 31, 2006 - Oct. 22, 2006
Entry submission
Aug. 31 - Sept. 30, 2006
The BOBs - Best Of The Blogs - competition will begin on Aug. 31, 2006. After the floodgates have been opened, entries in all 15 categories can be submitted using our submission form. Sites can be submitted up to Sept. 30, 2006.
Anyone can participate
Essentially anyone who can type is permitted to submit as many Weblogs as they would like for consideration in the competition. The only exceptions are Weblogs, podcasts and videocasts from employees of Deutsche Welle and members of the jury.
Multiple entries are okay
Don't worry if somebody was faster at submitting the blog you love. Multiple entries of the same Weblog are possible. Everyone will be able to see how many times a site has been submitted, and this can serve as part of the what jury members take into consideration when they select nominees (though it would probably only play a minor role).
The ten competition languages and 15 categories
The official competition languages are Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Persian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.
Submissions in any one of or any combination of contest languages are valid in the categories "Best Weblog," "Best Corporate Blog," "Best Podcast," the "Reporters Without Borders Award" and the "Blogwurst Award."
But we're splitting it up in the "Best Weblog/(Insert Language Here)," categories. These are only open to submissions in the given language.
Getting suggestions approved
Before they are posted, your BOBs editors are required to make sure none of the suggested blogs contain material deemed illegal under German law. We'll also be checking to make sure they meet the contest's fine print. While we reserve the right not to publish suggestions or remove them after they've been listed, we probably won't unless they contain xenophobic, racist, sexist, discriminatory or obscene material. That also goes for Web sites that post or link to such material after they have been suggested or nominated in the BOBs.
Editorial rights
The jury and organizers reserve the right to make editorial changes to the texts submitted with site suggestions (the site description, for example) and to change the category for which a suggestion is listed. Once sites have been cleared and posted online, they can be sorted and viewed by category.
How to retract a suggestion
If you run a blog that has been suggested to the BOBs, you can have your site removed by using our contact form.
However, if the person who runs a Weblog that has been suggested for the BOBs has not requested it to be removed by the end of the suggestion phase, we can retain the right to document the blog, to archive the entry and to present it to an interested public.
Deciding on the Nominees
Oct. 1 - Oct. 22, 2006
Between Oct. 1 and Oct. 22, 2006, our jury of bloggers, journalists and media experts will nominate the 10 best submissions in each category.
DECISION PHASE
Oct. 23 - Nov. 11, 2006
When all the nominees have been determined, aspiring award winners will be sorted by category and presented on the BOBs Web site with screenshots, links and short descriptions for your surfing enjoyment.
While the jury is poring over them looking for its Jury Award winners, you'll be able to decide in a democratic fashion which nominees get the international bragging rights that come with the User Prize.
User Prizes and Voting
Anyone and everyone has from Oct. 23 to Nov. 11, 2006 to look over the nominees and vote for their favorites. While there's no way to eliminate fraud from Internet voting, we're trying to avoid it by making voters -- the real human ones -- enter text from a randomly generated image to confirm their votes.
Vote and Win!
Participation in the user voting gives you the chance to register for the Voter Lottery and the prize waiting for its winner. Deutsche Welle employees and the contest's jury members may not participate in the Voter Lottery. Your vote will be counted even if you decide not to register for the Voter Lottery.
The Jury Award
After recovering from a bout of jet-lag, the jury members will get together in a Berlin conference room on Nov. 10 to decide on the Jury Award winners in all 15 categories.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE WINNERS
Nov. 11, 2006
The winners of the "The BOBs - Best Of The Blogs Awards" Jury Awards and User Prizes will be announced on Nov. 11, 2006.
Two winners in every category
The 15 Jury Award winners and the lucky Voter Lottery winner (chosen from everyone who chooses to register for the drawing) will receive attractive prizes. User Prize winners with the most votes at the end of the contest receive virtual accolades and international bragging rights -- until next year, that is.
Winners will be notified
The BOBs will contact the award winners via e-mail to get their shipping addresses. Worried about your privacy? Don't be. After we know your prize has arrived, we'll burn our copy of your address in the BOBs bonfire.
Competition documentation
The voting results as well as the features regarding the nominees will be documented and will remain available online in connection with the competition, very possibly for all eternity.
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