Background

The 2008 JLV Blogger of the Year Award came about as a result of my desire to acknowledge the best and brightest bloggers around my side of the blogosphere. There are plenty of spaces that acknowledge the same bloggers, most of whom deserve the praise. Blogs like TechCrunch, Deadspin, and Huffington Post will always get props because they’ve set the trends and have a whole staff that can crank out hundreds of posts a week. Others get praise simply because they have connections here and there, so they get accolades (for some, I can’t tell why they’re so lauded). Where does that leave the other bloggers, those who work for a living, those who don’t have corporate sponsorship or those whose life work comes from serving their constituents, and writing from their souls rather than just re-upping what the next man said. With that said …

The Process

I went through the 100 or so blogs I have in my Google Reader, picked out 5, and then thought about which of those made the greatest impact on others’ writing, their own writing, and more importantly, my thought process. There’s no real way to judge subjectivity.

The Nominees

Props to all the nominees.

Clay Burell

NYC Educator

A Slant Truth

The Unapologetic Mexican

GothamSchools

The Winner: The Unapologetic Mexican

Believe it or not, this was a really rough decision. Clay Burell’s writing ranks right up there with almost any contemporary author I’ve read. NYC Educator, as most of you know, is like the education Godfather (without the kissing of the ring, and all that nonsense). A Slant Truth tends to fill in the gaps in the news or any current event when he writes. The ladies at GothamSchools do great work at their blog, focusing on NYC education, and trying to be as objective as possible (plus, I love their blog’s design).

Yet, when it came down to it, I know in my heart of hearts, he was my blogger of the year. As far as I’m concerned, he’s been the premier Latino blogger on the Internet. Nevermind Perez Hilton and anyone else who may be secretly Latino; The Unapologetic Mexican represents his constituency so hard and with little contrition (hence the name). The writing itself makes you have to sit down and take time, and after reading it, you’re all the better for it. He speaks to the indignation of millions in this country, and picks apart arguments cogently, and so eloquently, you get the whole picture right then and there. Whether it’s his much needed work on immigration issues or his essays on life and fatherhood, his blog emanates a certain authenticity that welcomes you each and every time. His documentaries on the Democratic National Convention were particularly poignant.

Besides that, he’s got an awesome site, one he continuously works hard at (though he makes it look far too easy), and with all the praises he does receive, he stays utterly humble. While this blogging thing is still relatively young, I also still see a lack of Latino bloggers getting the proper accolade they deserve. Here’s a Corona to UMX.

Jose, who is himself an unapologetic blogger …