The 2009 Florida Netroots Awards winners were announced this afternoon in Orlando at the Florida Democratic Party convention. Finalists previously had been revealed on the Florida Progressive Coalition blog. There were a record 645 voters this year, shattering last year’s record and dwarfing the 100 or so who voted in the inaugural Awards competition in 2007. (Update: The Reid Report shares some of my opinion that Kendrick Meek did not deserve all of the hardware he won.)
Without further ado, the envelopes, please …
Best National Blog: Blast Off! Believe it or not, I am just discovering this blog, but I love what I’ve read so far. But is it a national blog?
Best State Blog: Progress Florida Perhaps the best online resource for Florida’s progressive community. But, again, is this recipient in the right category?
Best Local Blog: Opinion Matters I respectfully disagree.
Best Media Blog: The Buzz Better content than the newspaper with which it is affiliated. But The Buzz’ layout limits Adam Smith and Co.
Best Professional Blog: Kendrick Meek I love me some Kendrick, but there just isn’t enough activity on his blog to justify this award.
Best Party Website: Florida Young Democrats
Best Candidate Website: Kendrick Meek Couldn’t agree more.
Best Local Party Website: Hillsborough County GLBTA Caucus This is what is great about Netroots; I had never visited this site before it was nominated, now I visit often.
Best Interest Group Website: Fair Districts Florida
Best Writer: Dan Gelber DG needs to win something, right?
Netroots Candidate of the Year: Kendrick Meek Just by hiring Kenneth Quinnell, Meek deserves this award.
Netroots Activist of the Year: Susan Smith
Netroots Organization of the Year: Progress Florida This award should just be renamed the “Progress Florida” NOY award.
Best New Blogger: Vicki Impoco of Opinion Matters I guess I need to be reading Opinion Matters.
Best Online Campaign: Fair Districts Florida
Best Use of Twitter: Kendrick Meek I wish Marco Rubio could have won this award because he’s the Senate candidate who is demonstrating how a candidate can use Twitter. Before the FDP convention this weekend, Meek had tweeted just 5 times in October.
Best Overall Use of Social Media: Kendrick Meek Yes and no. Meek has a great website and he’s got a great online wizard working on the campaign, but there just isn’t enough content coming out of Meek’s blog and Twitter account to justify these awards. Sorry Ken, I’m just not a believer yet.
Best Post: “Travis Is Getting Married,” by Dan Gelber
Best Ongoing Series: Susan Smith vs. Ray Sansom, Florida Progressive CoalitionI was a finalist in this category and will readily admit that Smith deserved this award.
Best Online Radio Show: Blast Off! Radio
Florida Progressive Coalition Progressive Hall of Fame — 2009 inductees (in alphabetical order): Dave Aronberg, Dan Gelber, Mitch Kates, Kenneth Quinnell Three out of four ain’t bad.
Special Award for Progressive Courage: Alan Grayson
Congratulations to all the awardees, and congratulations as well to all finalists and nominees. And finally, thank you to everyone — all 645 of you — who cast a vote in the 2009 Florida Netroots Awards. Thanks to @Sinfonian for setting up this post and for all the updates.
