So I went down to Urbis for the Manchester Blog Awards. Sadly, there was no red carpet nor any chauffer driven limos outside although there were a few skateboarders and goths loitering with intent to… skateboard and use heavy black eyeliner. I arrived at about half past seven which was just in time to hear some poetry readings, part of the Manchester Literary festival. Oh Joy! One poem contained a line about being covered in shit and another about yanking out tampons which was very deep and meaningful, probably. Another poem was about a cat, I think. The cat, in question, may or may not have been a symbol for the futility of human existance or something. Mind you, I write about crap on the telly so what do I know.
There was a good sized audience including quite a few bloggers; Spinneyhead, Bitter and Blue, Skipper, Mancubist, Craig McGinty, Robin Hamman, Kitchentable, The Art of Fiction, The Tart of Fiction and, of course, the bloggers who had been nominated.
Anyway, the Blog Awards started out with 43 and The Airport Diaries reading selections from their blogs which were rather good. We’ve all been there, haven’t we? On the bus or surrounded by people that look like Anthony Hopkins. In the future, everybody will ride the bus for fifteen minutes whilst being Anthony Hopkins.
And the winners were announced:
- 43 (Blog of the Year)
- A Free Man in Preston (Best Personal Blog)
- Normblog (Best Political Blog)
- Yer Mam! (Best Arts and Culture Blog)
Yer Mam! gave what was probably the best acceptance speech of all time, “Uhm, cheers”. Gwyneth Paltrow take note.
Hey! Why didn’t you come and say hello?! Pah.
And I forgot to mention Craig McGinty. Thanks for reminding me.
I’m a bit rubbish at introducing myself to people!
I’d have though “my shitty twenties” would have been shortlisted this year. Dunno if the same blog can be shortlisted twice though perhaps thats why its not. Robin Hamman is quite good though!