Coming soon to a blog near you!
So who won? Read on …
Most insightful local blog: Hub City Historian
Brad Steinecke’s blog, which he sums up as “notes from a hometown history dork,” handily won the contest for most insightful blog. Steinecke won “Most articulate blogger” in last year’s awards. Runner up: Punk With A Palate.
Funniest local blog: Slobot About Town
It was something of a tight contest this year, but Spartanburg’s own cardboard-box headed robot tour guide managed to eke out the win. Runner up: Spartanburg Parody Paper Press News.
Best local political blog: Seeding Spartanburg
Easily the most contested award in this year’s contest, voters ultimately decided in favor of the wide ranging blog by local community activist Tammy Stokes. This is the second time her blog as won in the category. Runner up: The Conservatist.
Most articulate local blogger: Jameelah Lang
Witty, well-informed and no slouch when it comes to putting personal insight onto the digital page, Lang is also the very first HUB-BUB Artist-in-Residence to win a Sparkle City Blogger Award out of the eight who have been eligible since the contest began last year. Runner up: Jason Spencer’s Crazyworld.
Best Local Mommyblog: The Pit Stop
With tons of photos of her kids looking cute, brief stories and even an occasional video, local mommyblogger Lydia Pittman has gone from last year’s unexpected winner to being the returning champ. Runner up: (Tie) Keep It Together & SpartanburgMoms.
Most pop-culture savvy local blog: Myles Will Save Us All
Myles Griffin’s random, highly entertaining jumps from being last year’s “funniest” blog to being this year’s most pop-culture aware. Runner up: The Ribbit.
Blog most in need of an update: The Downtown Scoop
With a cool apartment overlooking the heart of downtown Spartanburg, blogger Dani was able to keep an eagle-eye view of the city’s comings and goings. Sadly (for the rest of us), this is one blog that’s unlikely to be updated, as Dani long ago moved out of that sweet pad. But fret not! You can follow her ongoing adventures at Midget On The Edge. Runner up: Reeva Dubois.
Best visual or photography blog: Slobot About Town
This is the second time the Slobot crew has won the award, beating out four other noteworthy blogs for the honor. But with a focus on using photography to both document the city and tell an entertaining narrative, few could quibble with this uniquely local project’s win. Runner up: 4P Photoblog.
Best designed local website: Haven Knits
Local knitting blog Haven Knits may, in fact, be the only blog nominated for this award that actually had a custom-designed theme, as the other nominated sites used free templates. Greer-based web designer Michael Crittenden custom-designed the page for blogger Erin Shanafelt. (Full disclosure: In addition to being a blogger, she’s also my wife.) Erin credits an aggressive Facebook campaign for her win. Runner up: The Conservatist.
Blog is most in need of a redesign: Seeding Spartanburg
Even the most-informative local blogs can occasionally suffer from an outdated design, and in this case the voters feel that the winner of the “Best local political blog” may need a little updating to look just a touch more modern. Runner up: Slobot About Town
Congratulations to all our winners, and our hearty thanks to all of the local bloggers who threw their hats in the ring (or tolerated others throwing their hats in the ring for them). You’ll be getting your official prize — a digital prize certificate — next week.
And, if you like what you’ve seen here, consider paying a visit to the recently updated Sparkle City Blogs site, which showcases and aggregates content from a broad variety of local blogs.
Steve Shanafelt
So sorry the Hub-Bub blogs are down for repair. But hooray for Jameelah!
Feels great to be part of the team that can accept the award! Like Betsy, I’ll have to apologize, as SlobotAboutTown.com is down (temporarily) as well.