Aftonbladet's blog award gathered the Swedish blogosphere

All the winners of the Great Blog Award 2009.

Yesterday evening, as we talked about in our bambusing from the event, the Great Blog Award (“Stora Bloggpriset”) gala was held at Nalen in Stockholm. It’s a new award instituted by Aftonbladet and Bloggportalen (owned by Aftonbladet, so basically it’s an Aftonbladet award).

Talking about the FRA blog quake last summer and how bloggers had a better coverage than mainstream media, aftonbladet.se’s editor-in-chief Kalle Jungkvist explains his thoughts about the blogosphere and why it’s interesting from a mainstream media perspective.
– Historically, journalists have acted as a megaphone. Now we’re facing a new challenge, where we meet active citizens who challenge us, critisize us, comment on us and often, in many issues, know more than we do. That’s a good reason to institute an award for the best of the best of them.
– We are in a phase of learning, Aftonbladet’s editor-in-chief Jan Helin says. We’ll still be in the business of telling the many what few know, but in the future that’s only the start of the discussion. Reporters need to keep working on a story, together with the readers, and they are to a large extent the blogosphere.

The award was given in seven different categories, and a panel of 100 bloggers helped nominate five candidates in each category. Working closely with bloggers ensured that the award was well received in the blogosphere, though I found out that the organizers had been a little nervous about that. The Aftonbladet.se crew at Nalen, where the ceremony took place, were very happy with the outcome though. The room was crowded, and though not everyone agreed the best blogs had won, everyone seemed to think the whole arrangement was a good idea.

Here’s the full list of winners. For all nominations, check out Stora Bloggpriset’s blog.

Entertainment & Culture: Bokhora
Politics & Society: Opassande
Lifestyle: Husmusen
Gadgets & Technology: Moderskeppet
Everyday life: Tonårsmorsa
Sports & Leisure: Marcus Birro
Fashion: Style by Kling

Bokhora, Husmusen and two editors in chief.

Apart from the categories, a special honorary award for great journalistic achievements was presented. The winner, chosen by the editors-in-chief, was StoppaFRAlagen.nu, a site which had the function as the hub for the anti-FRA law initiatives last summer as well as for articles in general about the proposed law.
– It’s a very complex law, it’s hard to get an overview. A mix of competences is needed, and the blogosphere has a unique position to provide them, said Mikael Nilsson, who started the site together with Anna Peterson.

Anna Peterson and Mikael Nilsson from StoppaFRAlagen.nu, the honorary award winners.

Our Stora Bloggpriset set on Flickr. 62 photos from the event.