Don’t worry, you still have time — it will take me until Wednesday at the very earliest (and probably longer than that) to prepare the polls. And you can keep adding nominations until then.
Here’s the current list, including my nominations. I have made a very serious effort not to swamp it this year with my own nominations, but Brodies time is, like, better than Christmas for me. As I review the past year’s posts, I keep thinking: OMG, I remember this one — it’s fantastic!!! I had eight times as many posts that I wanted to nominate than I actually nominated. So I’d like everyone to take a moment to appreciate my awesome restraint (not to mention my awesome speed-reading skillz). Then have a look at the nominations as they stand, and get ready to add all your faves that I somehow missed…
Year-long awards for people and websites:
Best New Blog
- LDS (Mormon) Stake Presidents Blog
- White and Delightsome
- This category needs more nominations!! — if you or someone you know started an LDS-interest blog in 2011, comment below!
Best Discussion Forum
Best Humor/Satire Site or Blog
Best faithful-perspective Mormon Blog
Best LDS-Interest Audio/Video Channel/Series
Best LDS-Interest Photo Blog
Awards for Individual Works:
Best Book-Length Memoirs
- Hippie Boy – Ingrid Ricks
- A Lost Argument – Therese Doucet
- Dancing with Crazy – Emily Pearson
- Heaven Up Here – John K. Williams
Funniest Humor Piece
- Relief Society Sisters Want THE DORK! – Donna
- Holiday Talking Points For Mormons – Donna
- Discussing potato chips with your future son-in-law* – Kuri
- Book of Mormon Zombies: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – Kuri
- Helping Mormon Women Overcome Their Porn Addiction – Cognitive Dissenter
- My Rejected Ensign Article – The Gay Dot
Most Amusing Vignette or Personal Anecdote
- “What is THIS?” – Sarah
- My Son Loves To See The Temple – Kullervo
- This category needs more nominations to continue to the voting and awards round!
Best LDS-Interest Comic or Image
- Fun With Skinny Jeans, or Lack Thereof – fMh various contributors
- The New Utah State Flag – ProfXM
- All the Mo’s… Its about perspective… – Sulli
Best Poem
- Letters to My Polygamist Ancestors
- Not a Good Little Girl – Mrrgan
- These Are a Few of My Favorite “Sins” – Amy
- This category could use some more nominations, perhaps someone could pick a favorite from The ExMormon Hymnbook or from Kuri’s Haiku.
Most Poignant Personal Story
- The Gray Areas of Agency – Winterbuzz
- Mormons and Beauty Pageants – Leah Elliott
- Faith Walk – BlissfulHeretic
- Body Appreciation Saturday: More period talk – Diana
- A Tale of Two Humanists – MoHoHawaii
- Julianes series on the aftermath of her talk in May Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
- An agnostic’s letter to a lost god – Sulli
- A Farewell from Tom – Heather C
- Reflections on Turning 30 – J. Seth (I go by Seth) Anderson
Best Deconversion/Exit Story
- I never imagined I would leave the Mormon church – Measure76
- I’m a happier, more rounded person now. – Tovarishch
- By small and simple things… – johnybackback
- Exodus: A Gay Mans Journey Out of Marriage and Mormonism – Invictus Pilgrim
- Our Exit Story – Norm and Gabi Thompson
Best Life Beyond Mormonism Post
- Place and Grace – Mel
- Friends – so says Me
- The Fractures and Factions of Mormon Blogging, Part I and Part II – Andrew S
- Matrix and Inception Exmormons – NoCoolName_Tom
- Building on a Religious Background – Chanson
- Why are Ex-Mormons So Angry (and other questions)? Part I and part II – Andrew S
- If it’s not available at Michaels, does it really count? – Eliza R. Snitch
- Leaving the Mormon Church – AintNoMoNoMo
- A Life in Sepia Tones – Dad’s Primal Scream
- Top 10 Reasons Why I Left the Church and Top 10 Reasons Why I Came Back to the Church – Happy
- I’ve grouped Mo/Exmo community posts with “Life Beyond Mormonism” — should it be split into a separate category? Or just call it Best “Mormon Life Journey” Post? Opinions?
Most Interesting Interfaith Interaction
- Cool interaction with an angry TBM mom and her son – Zuggy
- The Mormon Wall – Invictus Pilgrim
- You Know Were You Can Put Your Passive-aggressive Flag!!! – Kevin Dudley
- My dad’s request – That Guy with the Hair
- This category could use some more nominations!
Best Chat with the Bishop, Mishies, or Other Church Leaders
- Ashleigh attempts to get spiri-chle – Undis-clothed
- Chowing with the Elders – Ren
- Mormon Encounters – Smorg
- Transcription of interview with the bishop. – Mithryn
- This category could use some more nominations!
Best News Reporting
- The Strange Tale of the Invisible Beer Nazi – Cognitive Dissenter
- Mormon Church Fires Man For Having Gay Friends – Eric Ethington
- New Directive: No More Independent Sacraments – Molly
- God saves Mormon missionaries in Japan while allowing thousands to die or suffer unimaginable loss – the narrator
- LDS Church hires two PR Firms for a Missionary Media Initiative beginning in October – Mike Utah
Best LDS Church Watch
- A Modest Bit of Data – Ziff
- Reclaiming the “M” word, mormon(.org) – Apostate
- How those at conference “Feel the spirit” in a patented technology known as “Heartsell” – Mithryn
- The WORST Talks Ever – Brent
- Deseret News is at it again – Runtu
- Yes, the Church still officially discourages interracial marriage. – the narrator
- Elder Oaks and Dr. John C. Eastman – J Seth Anderson
- Heaven Aint Close in a Place Like This: Mormon.org and Maxwell Institute – Chino Blanco
- Mormon Churchs Perception Problem – Dad’s Primal Scream
Best LDS-Related Political Commentary
- The Windows of Heaven Shut: A Historic Moment Denied By A Publication Called LDS Newsroom Blog – Atticus F. McConkie
- An Unfortunate Attack – Kaimi
- Mormon Scripture Predicts Bolton Nomination – Gen. JC Christian
- The Little Spermy Who Couldnt – Cognitive Dissenter
Best Post Title
- “According to the survey, 3.2 million Americans identified themselves as members of the LDS Church in 2008. Official LDS Church statistics indicate that number was actually about 5.9 million.” To the writer who misused the word “actually” in that second sentence: please stop. – Chino_Blanco
- This category needs more nominations to continue to the voting and awards phase!
Best Philosophical/Theological Discussion
- Understanding biblical parables: The Sower – Kuri
- The Holy Ghost is a pussy – Lloyd Dobler
- Thoughts on the “milk before the meat” and “boiling frog” metaphors. – curious_mormon
- I Don’t Need Reasons To Believe in God: I’ve Experienced God – Skeptic Mormon
- What is Faith? – Chanson
- Do we owe gratitude to the universe? – Jonathan Blake
- The Book of Mormon as Inspired Fiction – Bruce Nielson
- Understanding Biblical parables: The Wheat and the Tares – Kuri
- Am I a Raging Religion-oholic? – Leah
- One Way Or Another: The Bacchae – Kullervo
Most Insightful Discussion of Mormon Beliefs, Practices, and Culture
- Tests of Faithfulness – Lynnette
- Animal Farm, Dictatorships and Mormonism – Jake
- The power of the penis – Kuri
- Abrahams Children – Julian the Apostate
- The Book of Abraham – A Powerful Missionary Tool – President Paternoster
- Sacred vs. Profane – Holly
- Go Ahead And Skip That Temple Wedding – Alan Rock Waterman
- Reinventing Your Sundays – Alan Rock Waterman
- If Worlds Doomed, Im Grateful to Have a Mormon Mother – Ingrid Ricks
- Patriarchy, redux – MoHoHawaii
- unfortunately, not endangered. – Stephanie
- Bigoted or Just Religious – Eliza R. Snitch
- A Mormon Vatican II – Mrrgan
Best Response to Apologetics
- My Testimony: A Response to Bruce D. Porter. – Isaac H
- Orson Scott Card: The Book of Mormon as Historical Artifact – Mrrgan
- This category needs more nominations to continue to the voting and awards phase!
Best Religion-and-Gender Discussion
- Forgotten Sacrifices – the Peacewriter
- No, Women Do Not Have Access to all of the Blessings of the Priesthood – Ms. Jack
- Spiritual Home Ownership – Beatrice
- Housecleaning and Guilt – Aerin
- Methinks the Non-Women Protest Too Much: On Non-Equality in the Mormon Church – Amelia
- A Short Post About Equality – Kristine
- The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it. ~Roseanne Barr – Juliane
Best Religion-and-Homosexuality Discussion
- I will NOT be someone else’s “sin” – Sulli
- A new focus in the gay rights debate – Jon Adams
- We’ve Already Won – Rob
- An Open Letter To Single Gay Men – Good to be Free
- Observations on MOMs from a Rambling Lesbian – Leslie
- Is Everyone Who Opposes Gay Marriage Homophobic? – Dad’s Primal Scream
- Guest Post from Dialogue – Taylor Petrey
- Toward a Mormon Lesbian Theology – Alan
- For Bishopric, Gay is the New Black – Bropromo
Best Religion-and-Race Discussion
- On Owning It – Brent
- Jane Manning James: Latter-day Saint and servant – Jon Adams
- Oh how racism haunts Mormonism – ProfXM
- Mormon young adult fiction: Preserving Racial Purity edition! – Daniel
- Saving the Seed of Cain from the Flood of Noah – Steve Wells
Best Religion-and-Parenting Discussion
- To Parents of Apostate Children – President Paternoster
- I know the scriptures are true – lifelongguy
- Sophia!….. You’re Blowing It! – Kevin Dudley
- The danger is they might think for themselves. – Daniel
- READ, READ! READ-READ! – Atheist Dad
Best Erotic or Sexual Piece
- Eliza Goes Black – Jennifer
- Molly’s saga – Just Zena
- Yes Ma’am: An Exploration into Mormon Sexuality – Maureen
- Emily vs. The Elders: MILF & Cookies – Emily Pearson
Best History Piece
- Mormon Women Giving Blessings – Mormon Heretic
- Agnes Coolbrith: Remembering the Forgotten Women of Joseph Smith – Winterbuzz
- Are Mormons
ChristianMormon? Part I and Part II – Ms. Jack - The Garment Wars of 1913: Temple Brand, or Approved By the Presidency? – day2mon
- How Gay Marriage Became Thinkable for a Generation of Young Americans – Chris C. Smith
- Donnie, Marie and Elijah Abel – J. Seth (I go by Seth) Anderson
Best Science Piece
- Proctor & Gamble study proves gender-based discrimination, fails to notice – Sabayon
- Anti-Science Beliefs and Religion – Roger Hansen
- ‘Moroni’s promise’ still not evidence – Daniel
- Belief in God is Natural? – Paul Sunstone
- This category could use some more nominations!
Best Review
- Hateful Homophobe Orson Scott Card Thinks Hamlet Should Be More Homophobic – Paul Constant
- My Amazon Review of Bill O’Reilly’s History of Lincoln – Gen. JC Christian
- FSM Help Me, But I Liked Grant Hardys Book A Lot. – NoCoolName_Tom
- BOM: The Most Correct of Any Musical? – Holly
- The Ishbane Conspiracy – Tachyon Feathertail
Let’s see what you have to add! 😀
I’d like to nominate my own site for Best New Blog: http://progressiveexmormon.wordpress.com
I’d also like to nominate my article “Life After Death” for Most Poignant Personal Story: http://progressiveexmormon.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/life-after-death/
Thanks.
Tom — Cool, absolutely!! Another blog for Outer Blogness!
Mormon Expression Podcast should be in Best LDS Interest Audio Series.
http://mormonexpression.com/
Or at the very least, Mormon Expression Voices.
http://mormonexpression.com/voices/
Heck, since ME voices started in 2011, it could also be a new blog if that works for you 😉
Sure, why not?
I have a few more and probably keep adding some until you close it…
Best poem Steph Peacewriter : http://www.thepeacewriter.com/2011/10/memorial.html
Most Insightful Commentary on Mormonism Letter of apology Tom Peacewriter : http://www.thepeacewriter.com/2011/08/letter-of-apology.html
How about this one for Best News Reporting. It’s from Ahab at Republic of Gilead:
http://republic-of-gilead.blogspot.com/2011/10/mormons-and-evangelicals-clash-at-2011.html
I don’t know if you will let this one fly…
Best New Blog for 2011
http://lgbtvoices.blogspot.com/
(They had five posts in December of 2010… BUT 2011 they took off…)
Best Forum / Discussion group:
New Order Mormon
http://www.newordermormon.org
New Order Mormon (newordermormon.org) ought to be nominated for best discussion forum.
Oops, I also meant to say, thanks for the shout-outs, Chanson.
Would like to nominate my review of the BOM Musica under Best Review:
The Book of Mormon Musical and Me
http://dadsprimalscream.wordpress.com/2011/04/23/%E2%80%9Cthe-book-of-mormon%E2%80%9D-musical-and-me/
Most insightful discussion of Mormon culture
Cognitive Dissenter
No one is Perfect
http://cognitivedissenter.com/?p=2384
Best Post Title
Oops! Your deity is showing.
http://weweregoingtobequeens.blogspot.com/2011/01/opps-your-deity-is-showing.html
Best Post Title:
I hate labels, but how else do I explain it? Only a Little Sugar Coated
http://stillme-thejourney.blogspot.com/2010/12/i-hate-labels-but-how-else-do-i-explain.html
This one was popular at some point. Not sure where it fits.
http://thegaydot.blogspot.com/2011/02/what-have-i-really-lost.html
Excellent, great choices!!
TGD @14 — I think it should go in the “Life Journey” category.
Kiley @8 — Yeah, we might as well allow it, otherwise blogs that start in December would never have a shot at “Best New Blog”. Let that be a lesson though — if you’re thinking of starting a new blog, the best time is January, February, or March. 😉
I don’t know where this would fit either, but people seemed to like it:
Carson’s Guide to Keeping Your Testimony
Carson — Ha ha, that one was on my “to nominate” list (like some other posts that other people nominated), but I rejected it because I couldn’t think where to put it.
However, I think we can find a spot for it. I’m kind of thinking of reorganizing/redefining the categories regarding philosophy, Mormon beliefs, apologetics, and community in order to organize the nominations better. I think the categories should be chosen anew each year, based on which topics generated the most interesting posts.
Out of the goodness of my heart, I’d like to flesh out that Most Amusing Personal Anectdote category. This might fit:
http://wardgossip.blogspot.com/2011/05/saturdays-warrior-is-load-of-crap.html
Much of it is review, but it is also about a very fun party we had at our house.
lol, thanks Donna!! And to the rest of y’all — please try to be as helpful! 😀
For Best Deconversion/Exit Story:
In and Out of the LDS Orifice
@20 That’s a great one! Actually, TGD already nominated it. 😉
Thanks to whoever nominated me for Best Erotic or Sexual piece! I’m stunned to be listed next to those incredible and talented writers.
For interfaith interactions, I’d like to nominate my own:
http://stillme-thejourney.blogspot.com/2011/11/to-my-family-thank-you-for-making-me-so.html
For new blogs:
http://beckyblogaholic.blogspot.com
Poem:
For a friend – http://gwypoetry.blogspot.com/2011/12/for-friend.html
Best Homosexuality discussion:
http://ingaymormonshoes.blogspot.com/2011/10/tht-are-you-prejudice-against-gay.html
And i’m not exactly sure where this one fits, but I want to nominate it for something:
http://backrubsleadtofrontrubs.blogspot.com/2011/07/its-not-just-me-its-also-you.html
Best title: http://backrubsleadtofrontrubs.blogspot.com/2011/03/in-which-puppy-doesnt-get-temple.html
And for women and religion: http://prairienymph.wordpress.com/2011/08/10/crystal-vases-and-tin-mugs/
I left a comment that seems to be stuck in the spam filter…
Hey, would it be possible to consolidate my two “Understanding Biblical Parables” posts under Best Philosophical/Theological Discussion into a single entry? I’m already running against myself in the Humor category; I don’t want to do it twice!
Great minds think alike! Funny thing is I was already planning to group the “Understanding Biblical Parables” posts into one series-type entry for the exact reason you cite. 😉
I’m sorry if it’s too late to nominate, but I’d like to recommend just one more: my SHAFT piece (or you could use MSP as the host site, as I posted it there too) “In defense of religious brainwashing”. It received a lot of discussion last year, and I’d like to submit it under “Best Theological/Philosophical Discussion”.
And many thanks for nominating other SHAFT posts!
Best of luck, everyone. There are a lot of phenomenal posts represented here.
Oops, here’s the link: http://usu-shaft.com/2011/in-defense-of-religious-brainwashing/
Jon — sure, no problem! The nominations are still open until tomorrow (and maybe longer, depending on how long it takes me to prepare the polls).
Jen — Thanks for your nominations as well!
Sorry, one more request: could “Discussing potato chips with your son-in-law” be moved from “Humor” to “Best Religion-and-Parenting Discussion”? (My posts are like my children; I hate to see them competing directly against each other. 😉 )
Kuri @32 — yeah, I know how that goes. I’m also trying to figure out how to recategorize Alan Rock Waterman’s posts so they don’t have to compete against each other…