The Pacer

Issue date: 2/6/07 Section: Technology

Heather Armstrong of Dooce.com

The winners of the seventh annual 2007 Weblog Awards, also known as the "Bloggies," will be announced on Monday, March 12. The Weblog Awards, held annually since 2001, recognize superlative Web logs in various categories, and honors one site with Weblog of the Year. The site for the categories and finalists, and where the winners will be posted, is 2007.bloggies.com.

The Weblog Awards divides the Web logs, better known as blogs, into categories including Best Web Application for Weblogs, Best Photography of a Weblog and Best Computers or Technology Weblog. Other categories include sports, food, music and so on. There are also categories for the best blogs from different areas around the globe. There are 30 categories in all.

This year's Weblog of the Year finalists are "Gizmodo," a blog that serves as a guide to new electronics; "Go Fug Yourself," a fashion blog; "Lifehacker," a blog dedicated to following new software and Internet downloads; "Dooce," which is an on-going chronicle of a former Los Angeles Web designer turned stay-at-home mom; "PostSecret," a page where anyone can submit postcard-like renderings revealing personal secrets (usually humorous); and "Boing Boing," on which unusual news stories and products are posted.

Heather B. Armstrong, founder and operator of "Dooce," grew up outside of Memphis and graduated valedictorian of Bartlett High School in 1993. She then attended Brigham Young University, where she earned a degree in English. She created the blog in 2001.

In her bio she says, "This Web site chronicles my life from a time when I was single and making a lot of money as a Web designer in Los Angeles, to when I was dating the man who would become my husband, to when I lost my job and lived life as an unemployed drunk, to when I married my husband and moved to Utah, to when I became pregnant, to when I threw up and became unbearably swollen during the pregnancy, to the birth, to the aftermath, to the postpartum depression that landed me in a mental hospital. I'm better now." Her story can be found at www.dooce.com. In addition to Weblog of the Year, Dooce is also nominated for Best American Weblog, Best Photography of a Weblog, and Best Writing of a Weblog.

Other notable finalists include "Photobucket" for the Best Web Application of Weblogs category, "Instapundit" for Best Weblog about Politics, and "Daily Blog Tips" for Best Web Development Weblog.

A Web log is defined by the Weblog Awards site simply as "a page with dated entires." Dictionary.com defines 'blog' as "a shared on-line journal where people can post diary entries about their personal experiences and hobbies," adding that entries are usually posted in chronological order.

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