2011 Black Weblog Awards Nominations Open

It's nomination time for the 2011 Black Weblog Awards!   The process is getting started a little earlier than last year for these awards because they are going to have a live awards ceremony at this year's Blogging While Brown Conference taking place July 8-10 in Los Angeles, CA.

As you know TransGriot won the Judge's Category for Best LGBT Award over some stiff competition, and I want to see if I can make it back-to-back wins this year.

The nominations period opens today and runs through May 7.    The voting will commence on May 17 and run through June 17 with the winners being announced in the live ceremony for the first time in BWA history on July 9.

As to why the BWA's exist?   It started in 2005 because Black blogs often get overlooked and ignored in other online Internet award events.   To date, the Black Weblog Awards has recognized nearly 180 blogs in over 30 categories. The Awards have been featured in several mainstream and online media outlets, including NPR, CNN, and others. Winners of the Black Weblog Awards have also gone on to appear in other media outlets such as MSNBC, the Huffington Post, BET, and many others. 


On that note, time to get the nominations in for a few blogs that I know are worthy of BWA consideration, and like last year, it TransGriot is named one of the finalists, i will keep you loyal readers posted.

Happy Birthday Toni D!

There's another Toni I love even more than a certain petite diva from Severn, MD and today is her birthday.

The Toni I'm talking about is Antonia Elle D'orsay, AKA Dyssonance for those of you who have had the pleasure of reading or being on the receiving end of her commentary at various blogs and her own spot.

That is when she isn't working at her day job.

I have had the pleasure of meeting her and getting to know her since 2009, and wasn't going to let today pass without wishing her a very happy, stress free, and blessings filled birthday.

Happy birthday sis!   May you have many more so you can keep speaking truth to power and keep tellin' it like it T-I-S is!.

The 2010 Black Weblog Award Winner for 'Best LGBT Blog' Is...

Wow! TransGriot in the Judges' Category! The Skorpion Show won the popular vote.

The results for the 2010 Black Weblog Awards are up as Maurice promised at 12 noon EDT today and I was shocked to see that I was the Judges' Vote winner.

It's even sweeter because I was up against two previous winners in Rod 2.0 and Pam's House Blend and the award comes from my own people.

Hmm..don't and won't know how the voting went in the 'Best LGBT Blog' category, but didn't do much promotion of it, either. Oh well, there's always 2011 assuming I'm blessed to get a finalist nod next year.

Once again, thanks to everyone who voted for TransGriot and thanks to the Black Weblog Award judges who chose my blog over some stiff competition.

And we now return you to your regularly scheduled TransGriot blog posts

Last Day To Vote In The 2010 Black Weblog Awards

Today at 12 midnight EDT is the last day you can get your vote on for TransGriot and my homegirl at Womanist Musings in the 2010 edition of the Black Weblog Awards.

Of course you knew I was going to help y'all loyal readers out by providing the link to the ballot. ;)

I'm nominated in the 'Best LGBT Blog' category while Renee is nominated in the 'Best International Blog'. We'll find out the winners tomorrow September 1.

if you've done so already, I thank you for your support, and thanks once again for supporting and reading TransGriot.

Deadline Coming For 2010 Black Weblog Awards

The August 31 midnight deadline for voting in the 2010 Black Weblog Awards is fast approaching, and as you know I'm a finalist in the 'Best LGBT Blog' category.

This is a Republican election, so you can vote once per day until Tuesday. According to the latest newsletter I've received from the esteemed webmaster, several categories are very close voting total wise.

Renee's Womanist Musings was nominated for 'Best International Blog', so show her some ballot love as well

If you've voted for me already, I thank you. If not, I humbly ask that you take just a few moments to do so.

We'll know the winners next month, and I hope I'll have good news to report.

Voting For 2010 Black Weblog Awards

Just a gentle reminder people that I'm a finalist in the 'Best LGBT Blog' category for the 2010 Black Weblog Awards. There's also a certain Timmy's Icecap drinking Canadian bacon loving blogger who is a finalist in the 'Best International Blog' category as well.

The voting is going on there until August 31, and winners will be announced in September.

While it's an honor to be a finalist, I would like to be the bride for once and not the bridesmaid.

So if you haven't done so already, surf on over there and cast those electronic ballots.

2010 Black Weblog Awards Nomination Deadline Is Tomorrow

The 2010 Black Weblog Awards nomination period closes tomorrow July 25, so there's still time to nominate TransGriot for Best LGBT Blog (hint, hint)

You can also show our Canadian homegirl Renee of Womanist Musings some love for the Best International Blog category along with other Blackosphere bloggers who do a wonderful job tellin' it like it T-I-S is.

Yeah, I'm proud of the fact I was the first trans blogger period to become a finalist in the Best LGBT category of the Weblog Awards. But bloggers of color rarely get nominated, much less win these overall blog awards, which was why it was a big fracking deal when I got nominated in 2008.

But for the most part, if we want to show some love and recognition to our best bloggers, we have to do it our damned selves because sadly, nobody else will.



I didn't start TransGriot with the idea of garnering piles of awards. I did so because I was tired of the accomplishments and the voices of African descended transpeople being ignored and whitewashed out of trans and GLBT history.

TransGriot exists because I have a lot to say about many issues besides just trans ones, and I have a voice that needs to be heard.

So if you haven't done so already, surf on over the the 2010 Black Weblog Awards website and take a moment to nominate your favorite chocolate flavored bloggers in the categories you think they deserve to win.

The finalists will be announced on August 1, so once you nominate them, come back to the site and vote for the blogs you nominated as well.

Happy Birthday Pam!

Couldn't let this day go by without giving a shout out to one of my blogging role models, Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend.

She is definitely one of our leading award winning bloggers who isn't afraid to speak truth to power. She held down the number one spot in the Villager's BBR rankings for over a year and has blogged at and about the 2008 DNC convention and other events inside and outside the LGBT community.

The Blend is one of the blogs I read on a regular basis and even comment on at times.

Her influence has grown to the point that a North Carolina Democratic nominee for US Senate credited her support for his recent primary win.

I'm looking forward to one day meeting her and thanking her for the traffic boost she gave TransGriot when it was a fledgling blog in 2006 by linking to it.

Happy Birthday, Pam. May this be a blessed and low stress day for you and may you have many more.

2010 Blogging While Brown Conference

The third annual Blogging While Brown Conference stars today and runs through tomorrow at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington DC.

This conference for bloggers of color started in 2008 and its purpose according to the website is to facilitate conversations that lead to collaboration and innovation among bloggers of color, African American bloggers in particular.

Emphasis is placed on stimulating interaction between the attendees. All conference activities and events are aimed at fostering a shared experience which forms the basis of new relationships or strengthens relationships already in existence. Those relationships then form the basis of collaborations. Technology is important. The relationship between the attendees is more important.

For the most part, the Afrosphere has some blogs and bloggers who have gotten attention, but not to the extent our white counterparts do.

This conference is our way to nurture the growth of the Afrosphere, meet each other face to face, and explore ways to forge working relationships amongst each other.

This is one I would love to attend, but haven't been able to do so for various reasons.

Well, maybe next year.

Best of luck and hope this third edition of the Blogging While Brown Conference is just as successful as the previous editions.

2010 Black Weblog Awards

While I don't do what I do here at TransGriot for awards, it sure is nice when I get recognized for the hard work and the hours I put in to make TransGriot entertaining and informative.

The Black Blog Awards have been around since 2005, and are now in their 2010 nomination phase until July 25.

I would like to have the opportunity to compete in and hopefully win the Best LGBT Blog and Best Writing in a Blog categories this year.

But in order to be in a position to win it, I first have to get in it.

So here's where you come in loyal TransGriot readers.

I'll need your votes to get me to the point where I'm in contention for those categories. While you're at it, show Renee, my Womanist Musings homegirl some love for the 'Best International Blog' category because frankly, she's got it like that.

Here's the link to the Black Weblog Awards Nomination Page to get you started.

Thank you and here's hoping I'll have some good news to report about the 2010 BWA's in a few months.

Happy Birthday, Tami!

Happy Anniversary of your 29th Birthday Tami!

Today is the birthday of another one of my favorite bloggers, and I couldn't let the occasion slide by with giving her a TransGriot shoutout.

If you've surfed by her home blog What Tami Said or checked out any of her guest posts here or in the other spots she guest blogs at such as Racialicious, you know that she not only is a wonderful and thought provoking writer, she definitely isn't afraid to tell it like it T-I-S is.

And she's cool people on top of that. One of these days I'm going to have to make that drive up I-65 north and hang out with my blogging sister for the day.

Until then Tami, have a very happy and stress free birthday, and may you have many more!

Villager's Black Blog Rankings Are No More

The hot summer weather has eased into fall and cooler days. Football season at the high school, college and pro levels is in full swing and Halloween is coming

But unfortunately there will be no more posts in November and beyond on TransGriot tracking my progress up the BBR's.

Due to changes in the Technorati rankings that the Villager used as the basis for the BBR's, he's made the painful decision to shut down the Black Blog Rankings.

As I've stated in many of those BBR posts, I not only looked forward to those monthly rankings, it was one of the things I used to measure my progress in growing TransGriot.

In some cases it motivated me to push my blog to even greater heights.

I was so pissed about my tie with Bossip being broken and getting bumped out of the top 25 BBR blogs that it inspired a new burst of activity and a goal to be permanently ensconced in the BBR Top 25.

Be careful what you wish for, you just may get it.

As of the October 3 compilation date, I am back in the BBR's Top 25 at number 24 with an 88 old school Technorati ranking.

Under the new Technorati rankings I have a ranking of 592.

And yes Renee, Womanist Musings is still in the Top 10 BBR blogs at Number 8.

And what is our number one BBR ranked blog? All together now gang, Pam's House Blend!

But my joy is tempered by the fact that unless Villager changes his mind about it, I'm permanently ensconced in the BBR Top 25.

I set a goal to get a repeat nomination for Best GLBT Blog in the upcoming 2009 Weblog Awards as well. If I get another finalist nod, I want to do better than the 9th place I got voting wise last year.

I understand why Villager made the decision, it's just saddens me to know that I won't see the BBR's pop up by the 8th of the month anymore.

I thank the Village for putting together the BBR's in the first place, and hopefully someone else will come up with a system just as good or better that will rank Black blogs and give them and the Blackosphere the attention that they need.

Color Online Shows Me Some Love

Thanks to Color Online for profiling me as part of a feature they do there highlighting various bloggers.

It was the TransGriot's turn in a post entitled COLA: Transgriot: Expanding Our Ideas of Gender & Equality.

I deeply thank and appreciate the love from Color Online's editor for doing so.

If you peeps wish to see it, you can check it out via this link.

Congrats To The 2009 Best Black Blog Nominees

Thanks to JasmyneCannick.com I discovered that one of the blogs I guest post on, Racialicious, was nominated in the Best Black Blog Category for a Black Press All Star Award.

The 5th Annual Black Press All Star Awards event will take place on Friday, September 18 in Harlem, NY.

Unfortunately the September 10 voting deadline has already passed, but here's the full slate of nominees for the Best Black Blog category.

Black Agenda Report
Jasmyne Cannick
Mario Armstrong
Opinionated Black Woman
Racialicious


Congratulations to both Latoya and Jasmyne for being nominated. While we don't get into blogging for the awards, it sure is nice when people recognize the hard work you put in to make your blog a quality one that people will want to visit.

It's even more rewarding when your own people recognize the work you do.

August 2009 Villager's Black Blog Rankings

Depending on where you reside, school has either started or will be doing so shortly. Yes, it's a wonderful time of year for the parents, but not so wonderful for the children whose summer vacations have rapidly come to a close.

Just in time for back to school is the latest edition of the Afrosphere's most anticipated post on Electronic Villager, the Black Blog Rankings.

After a one month hiatus, the Villager has released the latest edition of the Black Blog Rankings, or BBR's as we fondly call them in the Afrosphere.

I'll give you one guess what the BBR number one ranked blog is. It's been holding down the Number One spot for the last year, and is still the undisputed BBR champion, Pam's House Blend.

This month's BBR ranked 1766 blogs, an increase of 62 blogs from the June 2009 rankings. To see the full list click on this link.

In my last blog post that chronicled my progress up the BBR charts, I was nine tantalizing spots away from cracking the BBR Top 25. As of the June 2009 BBR's I was number 34 with a 138 Technorati ranking.

Renee's Womanist Musings jumped to Number 6, just missing the Top 5. You can check out the rest of the Top Ten and Top 25 here.

Speaking of the BBR Top 25, you'll see a new blog listed there. As of the August 24 compilation date, I FINALLY cracked the list of BBR Top 25 blogs! TransGriot is now at BBR 24 with a 102 Technorati ranking.

I jumped ten spots to accomplish my goal and beat my Labor Day deadline for doing so.

I'm concerned like everybody else in the Afrosphere about what's happening with Technorati since it's one of the primary ways Villager compiles these rankings.

I've gone from a 159 ranking to a 102 despite having more readers from around the globe, having various blogs link to my posts and getting 1500 to 2000 hits per day.

But I'll worry about that later. Break out the Champale! TransGriot is in the BBR Top 25. I'm BBR number 24! Next stop, the BBR Top Ten.

Can't wait to see next month's rankings!

Where's The Villager's July 2009 Black Blog Rankings?

I know that like many of you, I eagerly await the revelation of the Black Blog Rankings every month.

The BBR's have become an important tool that helps me gauge the growth of TransGriot and set goals that help nurture and sustain that growth.

I'm probably not the only one who feels that way, people across the Afrosphere do as well. So when July 8 came and went without updated BBR's, that triggered concern for the Villager and made many of us in the Afrosphere wonder what was up.

In my last episode of my monthly tracking posts pertaining to TransGriot's progress up the BBR ladder, I was celebrating the fact that Renee got her early birthday present and finally cracked the BBR Top Ten. I climbed to number 34 in those same June 2009 BBR rankings despite taking a massive hit in my Technorati rankings.

I am still only nine tantalizing spots away from reaching my goal of cracking the BBR Top 25, but lost ground toward reaching a Technorati ranking of 200 by Labor Day.

So TransGriot readers, lets see how well I do next month, since the Villager has let us know he'll do his best to have a BBR post up for August.

And when he does, I'll be right behind him letting y'all know if I finally cracked the BBR Top 25 Blogs.

2009 Black Weblog Awards Nominations Open

I don't do what I do at TransGriot strictly for awards, but it sure is nice to get the recognition for being one of the better bloggers out there.

The 2009 Black Weblog Awards began their nomination process June 20 and will run until July 25.

The Black Weblog Awards have been around since 2005, and I'm nominated in three categories for it. Best LGBT Blog, Best Writing In A Blog and Best Political/News Blog.

I also have two shot at each category in terms of there's a Popular vote and a Judges’ vote. The winners will be announced on September 4.

So I'll keep y'all posted as to what's transpiring on that front.

Jena 6 Free!

After more than two years of protesting, writing phone calls and thousands of people descending on Jena, LA to protest this outrageous retro Jim Crow case, the Jena 6, Jesse Ray Beard, Carwin Jones, Robert Bailey, Theo Shaw, Bryant Purvis and Mychal Bell are all free to move ahead with their lives.

The five remaining Jena 6 cases were brought to a conclusion Friday when Beard, Jones, Bailey, Shaw, and Purvis pleaded 'no contest' to misdemeanor simple battery charges.

They will spend no time in jail, serve seven unsupervised days on probation, and fined $500 and court fees.

It's a remarkable outcome considering the Jena Six were originally and outrageously charged with attempted murder in this small Louisiana town with a racist past for what basically was a schoolyard fight.

Thanks to the efforts of Black bloggers, the Jena Six got the attention of Tom Joyner, the African-American community, our civil rights orgs and later the rest of the MSM. They began to get attention about their plight, funding and high profile legal representation.

It culminated in 50,000 people coming from all over the United States to peacefully descend on Jena in a televised September 20, 2007 protest.

Because people stood up, these six young men are not rotting in a Louisiana jail for basically BS charges. While Judge JP Mauffray was removed from the case because of the appearance of bias, unfortunately the person largely responsible for the drama in the first place, LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters, still has his job.

Nevertheless, justice prevailed. It's now up to the Jena 6 to ensure that they take advantage of the opportunity the African-American community and our allies collectively fought to give them and ensure they never do.

Villager's June 2009 Black Blog Rankings

The first day of summer is fast approaching and we are halfway through 2009. We're also approaching the 40th anniversary this month of the Stonewall Rebellion. It's also time for another edition of the Afrosphere's highly anticipated Villager's Black Blog Rankings.

This month the Villager and his team ranked 1704 blogs, an increase of 45 blogs from last month.

The runaway Number One BBR ranked blog is still Pam's House Blend, which is approaching a year in the top spot. Congrats to my homegirl Renee's Womanist Musings for finally reaching the BBR Top 10!

For the other nine members of the BBR Top Ten you can check out the Villager's post.

Villager and I noted that the Technorati ranking scores of Black owned and operated blogs have been declining. Since the Technorati rankings count links on a rolling six month calendar, the drops in rankings are probably related to the increased traffic we garnered from the historic 2008 presidential election and reflect those links now dropping off the rolling calendar.

I think it's time that we tackle this problem by immediately beginning to cross promote other Black blogs.

While I'm proud that I have a diverse readership, I'm always looking for new readers who haven't perused TransGriot. I don't think we do a good enough job across the Afrosphere of promoting each other's blogs.

It would also be nice if I had my own people linking to this blog as well.

Just as Villager created the BBR's as a measuring metric to track our progress and a tool to aid us in goal setting, it's time to apply the same FUBU principles to promoting the Afrosphere and our blogs.

Since no one else is going to do it, we'll have to do it for ourselves.

Read Black Blogs, Promote Black Blogs!

On that note, time to get off the soapbox and find out what my TransGriot BBR ranking is this month?

In the May BBR rankings TransGriot had a BBR of 37 with a Technorati ranking of 159.

As of the June 8 compilation date, TransGriot is now number 34 on the BBR rankings with a 138 Technorati ranking. I lost 21 points on my Technorati ranking but gained three spots in the BBR rankings.

I'm also just nine tantalizing spots away from my goal of cracking the BBR Top 25.

I have much work to do if I'm going to reach my goals of the BBR Top 25 and a 200 Technorati ranking by Labor Day.

Villager's May 2009 Black Blog Rankings

Go Moni! It's your birthday month! Go Moni! It's your birthday month!

And now that the celebration of the blessing of me getting another year older is out of the way, let's see if I'll be doing more dancing as I peruse the latest edition of Electronic Villager's Black Blog Rankings.

The BBR's started in September 2007 with 75 ranked blogs and has exponentially grown since them to become a much anticipated monthly event in the Afrosphere.

In our last episode of tracing TransGriot's climb up the BBR mountaintop, I was still as of the April 12 compilation date of that month's BBR's whining about my stagnant 150 Technorati ranking, but for some reason still managed to climb to a Number 43 BBR ranking.

In May the BBR's ranked 1659 blogs, which is an increase of 30 blogs over the last ranking period. The runaway Number One BBR ranked blog is still, all together gang, Pam's House Blend. (bowing in direction of North Carolina) If you wish to see Numbers 2-25, check the link. The full May BBR ranking list is here.

The 2009 Blogging While Brown Conference is June 19-20 in Chicago, and the TransGriot is seriously thinking about going if I can make it fit my schedule. If I can commit to it, I'll announce it on the blog.

So let's get to it, how did the birthday girl do this month?

Well, I'm a little disappointed I didn't make it to my goal of reaching the BBR Top 25 and a 200 Technorati ranking by my birthday. I did finally start making forward progress in both the upward mobility and see a rise in my Technorati ranking after three months of stagnation, but the three months of treading water around the 150 mark killed any shot I had of achieving that goal.

So where's TransGriot now? As of the May 10 compilation date the blog has a BBR ranking of 37 and a Technorati ranking of 159.

I jumped 6 spots in the BBR's and gained 9 points. I knew that continuing to create quality posts and adhering to that standard would eventually pay off.

So that means I need to set a new target goal. It's still reaching the Top 25 BBR's and the 200 Technorati ranking by Labor Day, September 7.

Since it's going to take a lot of labor for me to get to that level by that date, making that a target date seems apropos.

Okay, time to me to blow out the candles on my birthday cake and get busy.