ConservativeHome's ToryDiary

Several bloggers have beaten us to announcing our own awards, but in our defence we were duty-bound to stay out until the hardcore bloggers finally went home!

The winners of the first Conservative blog awards, as voted by you, are:

Best Young Conservative Blog  -  Birmingham Uni CF 

Best Anonymous Blog  -  Archbishop Cranmer

Best Local Government Blog  -  Maida Vale Conservatives 

Best Newcomer Blog  -  PragueTory

Best Parliamentary Blog  - Nadine Dorries MP 

Best Conservative Blog  -  Iain Dale's Diary 

Unfortunately but understandably, Cranmer ("owing to the lack of a corporeal state") and PragueTory (due to being in Prague) couldn't be there in person but statements were read out on their behalf (see below).

Thanks to all who came and filled out the bar, as with the conservative movement awards last year there was a genuinely friendly and positive atmosphere. Nadine Dorries even thanked the Whips Office for their daily encouragement.

Conservative bloggers need to communicate with eachother if we are to stay ahead of the curve. ConservativeHome will continue to encourage such communication - you can start by joining the "Conservative Bloggers" group on Facebook.

Deputy Editor

Update: We've put together a short 4 minute video of some of things attendees said about blogging, blogs the awards and ConservativeHome. Featuring, amongst others, regular CH commenters malcolm and Justin Hinchcliffe...

For those who have registered to attend the blog awards evening tonight, and haven't had a correction by email or on Facebook, the venue is now the upstairs bar at The Old Star rather than the Marquis of Granby. Click here for the map  - it is next to St. James's Park tube station, and very close to Westminster and Victoria.

It's a full house already but email me if you would like to come along. We'll be there from 6:30pm. The organised part of the evening, with Nadine Dorries MP announcing the winners for each award, will start at about 7pm. There's a decent-sized TV in this place so you can watch Liverpool win the Champions League afterwards if you so desire.

The winners will get a bottle of champagne on the night and a side-bar banner for their blog. We'll announce them to the rest of the world in the morning.

Deputy Editor

Last week we nominated three blogs for six awards categories.  Before voting you might like to remind yourself of the nominees by clicking on the links below:

• Best Parliamentary Blog - Nadine Dorries MP, Dan Hannan MEP and John Redwood MP
• Best Young Conservative Blog - Mark Clarke, Matthew Sinclair and Birmingham CF
• Best Anonymous Blog - Watlington, Archbishop Cranmer and Mr Eugenides
• Best Local Government Blog - All Saints Gazette, Iain Lindley and Maida Vale Conservatives
• Best Newcomer Blog - PragueTory, New Culture Forum and Croydonian
• Best Conservative Blog (overall) - Dizzy Thinks, Iain Dale and Burning Our Money

Click HERE to vote and for information on the pub get-together we'll be holding.

Dizzy Thinks - Managing to blog prolifically in-between meeting computer programming deadlines, Dizzy is always an amusing and enlightening read. A London-based Conservative activist and self-described "internet geek", he is particularly good at digging out random websites and technological stories of interest, and has a knack for rebuffing left-wing columnists.

Iain Dale's Diary - Surely the most popular personal blog written by a Conservative in the UK, the readership of Iain Dale's Diary has shot up since restarting after the David Davis leadership campaign. Iain's blog does what it says on the tin ("Politics, commentary, humour, gossip"), being largely a place for political punditry with the odd bit of football, TV, etc thrown in. The comprehensive sidebar of links is worth checking out, as is his alternating banner!

Burning Our Money - Former Treasury worker "Wat Tyler" relentlessly exposes government waste and excessive bureaucracy on this blog, he really is quite the expert on the subject. He urges that "we the peasants demand our high-spending, high-living, conflicted politicos mend their ways", and supplements the blog with a factfile and the absolutely brilliant Tyler Telly.

(The online vote on all awards will open on Monday)

Deputy Editor

PragueTory - The only blog shortlisted for any award that is based overseas (no prizes for guessing where!), PragueTory has burst onto the centre-right blogosphere in the last year. Better known for his blog-based campaigns and wars against left-wing bloggers than for commentary, he's a good person to have on your side!

The New Culture Forum - The cerebral NCF blog is updated every other day or so with some of the highest quality articles in the British blogosphere. It is really going against the tide with right-wing reviews and conservative critiques of the arts. The NCF is a good example of how new organisations can use the internet to establish themselves without needing a large operation.

The Croydonian -  Profilic libertarian, "reluctant large 'C' Conservative" blogger who has written well over a thousand posts since starting a year ago. You don't always know what to expect from it, there is a lot of commentary on world politics, but also has a smattering of Croydon issues and whatever takes his interest. Croydonian's posts always get comments and he has become a regular pundit on 18 Doughty Street.

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Tomorrow we will publish the shortlist for the Best Conservative Blog overall, and open an online vote on all six categories. The winners will be announced at an informal event on Wednesday May 23rd (before the football final) at the Marquis of Granby near the old Smith Square HQ. It'll be free to attend and there will be complimentary nibbles. Email me to put your name down.

Deputy Editor

All Saints Gazette: Robin Millar was quick to see the potential of blogs as a way of communicating with his constituents, starting it in October 2004 and receiving a local award in 2006. He is a senior member of Forest Heath Council and the founding director of a consultancy company that deals with local government. All Saints Gazette is usually updated every day and often features videos and light-hearted links to break up the more serious, yet approachable pieces.

Councillor Iain Lindley: Iain, a young councillor in Salford, also started blogging towards the end of 2004. He has written over 400 posts since then, mostly sticking to issues that are relevant to Walkden. In terms of national politics he can be seen debating local elections on a very popular non-partisan forum he set up, as well as criticising ConservativeHome!

Maida Vale Conservatives: This blog is multiple-authored by the three Conservative councillors in this Westminster City Council ward. Working together means they can keep it regularly updated with very focused posts on local issues. Their side-bar is very well designed with pictures of themselves, prominent contact info, surgery times, a Meebo box, local links and online In Touch leaflets.

Deputy Editor

This was a very difficult category to shortlist (it got by far the most comments when we first mentioned it). There are many notable exceptions but we've chosen the following three very different blogs:

Matthew Sinclair - Sinclair's Musings is updated about twice a day, often with lengthy, academic posts. It is wide-ranging in scope, analysing the philosophy and arguments of social conservatism, economics, foreign policy, environmentalism and Islamism. He has had significant attention recently for writing about the Anglo-American Right, the costs of cutting carbon emissions, and "labrador conservatism". Matthew has now finished a Masters and is going to work with the talented folks at the TaxPayers' Alliance.

Mark Clarke - As Chairman this year, Mark has helped engender a new era of transparency in the goings-on of Conservative Future through his blog and CF Diary. His blog hasn't been updated much in recent months (understandably) but it has been a useful tool for keeping members in the loop about what was going on nationally, and for showing that he was keeping himself busy visiting branches and going to events.

Birmingham University CF - This is a great example of a CF branch blog. Hosted from the organisation's homepage, it is multiple-authored by the committee so has always got fresh stories for visitors.

Deputy Editor

Next week we'll be opening the online vote for the 2007 Conservative Blog Awards. Over the next few days we'll be running through the three finalists in each category.  Here is the parliamentary shortlist:

Nadine Dorries MP - This daily dose of raw honesty and emotion has attracted a massive daily following inside and outside of Nadine's constituency. Some of her more traditional parliamentary colleagues think she is crazy for writing the things she does but most are secretly jealous. Nadine approves many of the comments herself and frequently responds to them (usually with several exclamation marks!!!).  This blog, essential reading for every Fleet Street diarist and proof that women can excel in the male-dominated blogosphere, will make Nadine more famous than most shadow cabinet members if she continues her mix of insights into the latest episode of Desperate Housewives and what the junior doctors crisis means for patient care.  More than anything else Nadine's blog is succeeding in demystifying what it means to be an MP.

Dan Hannan MEP - Dan Hannan's blog has quickly become one of the most popular that is hosted by The Telegraph.  Always provacative, often amusing, every post attracts a good number of comments.  Lifting the lid on the goings-on in Brussels the Hannan blog is also very internationalist.  Recent weeks have seen Dan post on Iran, Switzerland, USA and Bolivia.  Why The Telegraph hasn't given Mr Hannan a more regular column in the main newspaper is a mystery but Eurosceptics can delight in his regular postings in cyberspace and the Europhiles can be jealous at the platform enjoyed by this one MEP who (unlike his daughter) has refused to go native.

John Redwood MP - All blogs reflect their author's personality and just as Nadine's blog is very personal and friendly, John Redwood's blog is serious and often combative.  But readers seem to appreciate that.  The blog provides regular insights into the European project, government waste, Gordon Brown's burdens on the economy, the dangers of state funding of political parties and it offers a sceptical view of a big government approach to combating climate change.  This scepticism on command-and-control approaches to the environment has propelled this blog into the headlines on a couple of occasions.  In terms of intellectual seriousness the Redwood Diary almost certainly leads the field.

Something to ponder on over Christmas - the nominations for the inaugural Conservative Blog Awards.

Shortlists will be drawn up for each of the following categories based on the comments on their respective threads, which will then be voted on by the end-of-January ConservativeHome Members' Panel.

• Top blog
• Biggest scoop
• One to watch
• Best blog-based campaign
• Best organisation's blog 
• Best Parliamentary blog
• Best Local Government blog
• Best young conservative's blog

You may find this list of Iain Dale's favourite 100 Conservative blogs and this definition of a weblog useful.

The awards will come in the form of a personalised banner for the winning blogs, and due to popular demand for another CH event we will have an informal celebratory event sometime afterwards.

Merry Christmas and may the best blogs win!

Deputy Editor

A handful of Conservative MPs are blogging regularly now, as are Conservative Associations and selected Parliamentary Candidates. Please highlight your favourite one in the comments, preferably with a citation of some sort.

Deputy Editor

All aspects taken into account, who's the Daddy?

Deputy Editor

Which blogger made the biggest political reverberations with a self-made story?

Deputy Editor

Who's the most promising newcomer?

Blogs first established in 2006 are eligible for this one.

Deputy Editor

There are a few great examples of blogs sticking doggedly to issues that were otherwise wrongly ignored, often through exceptional teamwork.

Nominate your favourite example below...

Deputy Editor

Think-tanks, campaign groups and member organisations.

Which had the best blog this year?

Deputy Editor

This award will go to one of the 8000 serving Conservative Party Councillors, or to any kind of Local Government representative - including Assembly Members.

Councillors etc who blog daily about national issues are likely to fare well, but more and more of them are finding blogs to be a cheap and effective way of keeping residents up-to-speed with everything they are doing on their behalf and for stimulating debate about local issues - so give them a chance too!

Deputy Editor

This year has seen an exponential growth in the number of blogs written by young conservatives in the UK, notably amongst this year's Conservative Future executive committee. "Young" will be defined by eligibility for CF membership, i.e. under 30 years old.

Consult the "CF blogs" links list on the left of CF Diary (not eligible) for a selection of the possible contenders.

Deputy Editor