Deutsche Welle Blog Awards at re:publica 2010

Winners of the Deutsche Welle International Weblog Awards, The BOBs, will first be announced next year at the re:publica'10 blog and social media conference in Berlin. Due to this change, The BOBs jury of bloggers and media experts will meet in April to decide the winners of The BOBs, and not in November as usual. The winners of the largest international blog awards will be announced on April 15, 2010 in Berlin.

The re:publica'10 conference focuses on blogs, social media and digital society and is holding its fourth annual meeting in the German capital from April 14-16. Last year over 1,600 people attended Germany's largest Internet conference.

The BOBs recognizes outstanding blogs, podcasts and video blogs as decided by Internet users as well as a jury comprised of established bloggers with expertise in 11 different languages. The award has been presented yearly since 2004 and now has 16 categories.

Internet users will be able to start nominating candidates for The BOBs on December 7, 2009. The People’s Choice winner will be decided by an online voting process that starts on March 16, 2010.

The jury-selected winners will be invited to an awards ceremony taking place during the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum in June 2010 in Bonn, Germany.

Deutsche Welle is Germany’s international broadcaster. With DW-TV, DW-RADIO and DW-WORLD.DE, it produces news, background information and cultural highlights worldwide, while creating a platform for intercultural dialogue. Deutsche Welle was one of the first German broadcasters to begin offering news and information through Weblogs and podcasts. Blogs and podcasts are reflections of the growing net culture, and Deutsche Welle is looking to create a cross-cultural resource for all Internet users. The goal of the BOBs is to support the spread of the freedom of expression, information and the press worldwide, especially in countries where such freedoms are limited.

Overview of important dates:

December 7, 2009

Internet users can start nominating candidates in the 11 different award languages

March 16, 2010

Worldwide online voting process begins

April 15, 2010

Award winners will be announced at the re:publica'10 in Berlin

June 21 – 23, 2010

Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum in Bonn, awards ceremony with jury-selected winners