November is national blogging month and to celebrate, Most Wanted Fine Art (MWFA) is teaming up with Pittsburgh bloggers to honor their contributions to the "Burghosphere," by giving out awards for the first time.
“The term describes our local blogosphere and that’s the series of well over 1,000 blogs in this region and how they connect and how they interact with one another,” said Sue Kerr, co-organizer of the “Best of the Burghosphere” awards.
According to Kerr, the term arose when a local reporter in 2006 put a spin on the late '90s term “blogosphere,” which described the emerging blog community.
Kerr has maintained the Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents blog for 10 years. She wanted to highlight the work of her fellow bloggers, but the idea of the awards was not to have a popularity contest. She said, because smaller blogs would have no chance of winning.
“How do you define what is the best blog? That’s impossible,” said Kerr. “There’s thousands of them and we decided that what we would do is let the bloggers do what they do best and invite them to come up for an award for another blog.”
No votes are being cast -- the blogs automatically win the category they are deemed worthy of winning.
The only requirement is to have your own blog. In September, participating bloggers were assigned a local blog to read and familiarize themselves with and then come up with a unique and “off the beaten path” category to award the blog.
There will be two celebrations for local bloggers. The first is a party, for adults 21 and older, at the Most Wanted Fine Art Gallery in Garfield on Friday, Nov. 20 where they'll give out awards and it'll feature an exhibit on the art of blogging.
The second celebration, also hosted by MWFA, is family-friendly and will take place on Sunday, Nov. 22.
There is a suggested donation of $5 per adult at both events to support the Artists and Residents Program, which supports around 25 local artists.
And why does local blogging deserve two awards ceremonies? Kerr said it’s because it contributes to the local community.
“It creates this content, whether it’s photos, or words, or both, it’s an opportunity to really get a glimpse into people’s experiences in their everyday lives,” she said.
The veteran blogger also offers a tip on what would make a good blog:
“Whether it’s photos or writing or poetry or whatever it is, you have to have good quality content so that people are engaged and they want to come back and read what you have to say.”
