Ezzie's JIB Picks

Now that the voting has almost ended, it's as good a time as any to give my own personal picks and who I voted for in the first round of this year's JIB Awards. So here we go...!

All-Around Categories:

• Overall
• Group A - SerandEz over a few other blogs I like, because... well, because it's me.
  
• Group B - Hirhurim over Treppenwitz in a close one; Trep tells amazing personal stories and has excellent insights on political issues, but R' Gil is just continually outstanding at what he does.
  
• Group C - Orthonomics over DovBear, IsraellyCool, and DryBones. Yaakov Kirschen is obviously great at what he does, writing great political commentary in 4 squares every day; Dave is entertaining and insightful; and DovBear is... well, DovBear. But Sephardi Lady adds so much to the J-Blogosphere and has such an impact on people's actual lives [and budgets] that this wasn't really a question.
  
• Group D - Orthomom. Was there a question?
  
• Large
• Group A - SerandEz again. Sorry, I can't help it. And I really like the people I'm up against, too.
  
• Group B - SoccerDad over A Simple Jew. Two very different blogs, and it could be that this would have changed depending on the week, but David can shred an editorial like almost no other.
  
• Group
• Group A - Ah! I'm supposed to choose from some of my favorites? I like Jewschool, I really like KesherTalk, I really like BeyondBT... but I think that one of the most important things to be able to do in a blogosphere that often has a negative streak is to smile, to remember that there are good people out there. Our Kids Speak is awesome for the smiles it brings to people's faces; Kindness Happens is that reminder that we're all still people, too, and that most people out there really are nice. I went with Kindness Happens.
  
• Group B - Jewlicious is the entertainer of the bunch.
  
• Small
• Group A - Modern Uberdox. Another one of those really good small blogs that may not post that often, but is almost always worth your time.
• Group B - Wolfish Musings vs. Curious Jew?! How cruel. Two of my absolute favorite blogs up against one another. I actually didn't pick a favorite; I picked Chana, assuming Wolf would get more votes.
• Group C - The Town Crier. Reasonable rhetoric from the left.
• Group D - Again, a group with a bunch of blogs I like. I actually can't remember who I voted for, but I think it was RafiG's Life in Israel.
  
• New
• Group A - Deep Thoughts of the Bat-Taz.
• Group B - RaggedyMom, who quickly became one of my favorites. Plus, her food's good!
• Group C - Jewbiquitous. Annie & Harley are funny, smart, and insightful. Can't go wrong with those.
• Group D - Jew-ish. She's good, and I started reading Little FrumHouse on the Prairie sometimes, too.

Specialty Categories:

• Designed
• Group A - I actually liked a few of them, but I'm always looking at the header before everything else, so I went with... SultanKnish. Maybe because I was in a dark room, maybe because I was in a strange mood, but I liked it.
• Group B - Muqata. I just love the cartoon kids on the header.
• I don't know why, but my favorite wasn't nominated: Sarah's View. Her ever-changing header alone is worth hitting refresh a few times.
  
• Best of the Rest
• Group A - SerandEz. What?!
• Group B - NFONSS over BagelBlogger. DAG hits a little more home more often than Bagel, though both are really good.
  
• Best Contribution
• I've already written why I think this is the most important category... and who should win. Alas, they won't. But if you're adding any blogs to your blogroll, these are the ones.
  

Best in Class Categories: Coming soon.