I know many of you are trembling in anticipation: "Did I make it this year?". Well, it's like the Oscars - the Academy Awards are kept tightly under wraps until the moment the envelope is opened.
The list of entries was long, and full of excellent posts - this was hard to judge!
And, Jennifer Rohn, this year's Editor, just handed me the envelope. Trust me - I have not seen the list of winners myself until now.
And, the winners are.....
Adventures in Ethics and Science: Research with vulnerable populations: considering the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (part 1).
All My Faults are Stress-Related: Data, Interpretations and Field Work
Bad Astronomy: WR 104: A nearby gamma-ray burst?
Bayblab: A History of Beardism and the Science that Backs It
Cabinet of Wonders: A Rule of Thumb
Catalogue of Organisms: Are You Sucking on a Lemon or a Lime?
Charles Darwin's Blog: Someone should invent a device to look at the micro world
Cognitive Daily: How to make your eye feel like it's closed, when it's actually open
Cosmic Variance: The First Quantum Cosmologist
Dear Blue Lobster: Bloop: A Crustacean Phenomenon?
Denialism blog: Fountain pens
Dr. Jekyll & Mrs. Hyde: Why I blog....
Effect Measure: Important new flu paper in Cell: part I
Green Gabbro: The Igneous Petrology of Ice Cream
Hope for Pandora: Dear Reviewer
The Beagle Project Blog: Detecting natural selection: a pika's tale
Laelaps: Who scribbled all over Darwin's work?
Life, Birds, and Everything: Do we see what bees see?
Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted): Audubon's Aviary: Portraits of Endangered Species
Mad Scientist, Jr.: Brain Extractions
Marmorkrebs: How Marmorkrebs can make the world a better place
Mind the Gap: In which science becomes a sport - hypothetically speaking
Minor Revisions: To Whom it May Concern
Nano2Hybrids: What IS a carbon nanotube?
Neurotic Physiology: Uber Coca, by Sigmund Freud, (reposted on Neurotopia 2.0: Uber Coca, by Sigmund Freud)
Not Exactly Rocket Science: Space Invader DNA jumped across mammalian genomes
Nothing's Shocking: Poster session paparazzi
Observations of a Nerd: Having Some Fun With Evolution
Plus magazine - news from the world of maths: United Kingdom - Nil Points
Podblack Blog: Smart Bitches, Not Meerly Sex
Pondering Pikaia: Social Clocks: How do cave bats know when it is dark outside?
Providentia: Dr. Fliess' Patient
Quintessence of Dust: Finches, bah! What about Darwin's tomatoes?
Reciprocal Space: I get my kicks from thermodynamicks!
Rubor Dolor Calor Tumor: Calor?
Science After Sunclipse: Physics Makes a Toy of the Brain
Sciencewomen: A reckless proposal, or 'Scientists are people too, and it's time we started treating them that way.'
Terra Sigilatta: Liveblogging the Vasectomy Chronicles
The End Of The Pier Show: On The Hardness of Biology
The Loom: Even Blood Flukes Get Divorced
The OpenHelix Blog: The Beginnings of Immunofluorescence
The Oyster's Garter: How a coccolithophore without its plates is like a grin without a cat
The Scientist: On the Nature of Networking
The Tree of Life: What is so bad about brain doping? Apparently, NIH thinks something is.
Tom Paine's Ghost: Biochemistry of Halloween: Installment 1
Tomorrow's Table: 10 Things about GE crops to Scratch From Your Worry List
Uncertain Principles: We Are Science
Wired Science Blog: Correlations: The Third Branch of Science?
A canna' change the laws of physics: Expect The Unexpected
The winners in the poetry and cartoon categories will be announced tomorrow, right here, same place, same time.
Update: the winners in the cartoon and poetry categories are:
xkcd: Purity
Digital Cuttlefish: The Evolutionary Biology Valentine's Day Poem
Education & Careers
Technology
Comments
W00t! There is some truly excellent writing here (and the rest is just writing I haven't gotten to reading yet, I'm sure).
Posted by: Stephanie Z | January 3, 2009 2:54 PM
Actually, I'd almost entirely forgotten about it — but it's good to be anthologized, anyway! :-)
Posted by: Blake Stacey | January 3, 2009 3:05 PM
If you are an author of one of the above 50 posts, check your e-mail (especially whatever e--mail address you have displayed on your blog). If you did not get anything, or you do not display any contact information, please e-mail me ASAP. The posts are in their rough form right now - we need you to get busy editing and formatting, so the book can come out in two weeks!
Posted by: Coturnix | January 3, 2009 4:24 PM
Wow, thanks so much--what a day brightener!
I will look for the email and have the edits in ASAP. That might be something fun to do while I'm at Jury Duty on Wednesday....
Posted by: Mary | January 3, 2009 6:36 PM
Correction: the e-mails with detailed formatting instructions will be sent out tomorrow.
Posted by: Coturnix | January 3, 2009 6:37 PM
Congratz everyone! :D
Posted by: Mimi | January 3, 2009 7:23 PM
*cries*
:D
I is recognised Science Blogger!!! With SEXY post!!! :D
Posted by: Podblack | January 3, 2009 7:59 PM
Feel free to (self)congratulate on your blogs ;-)
Posted by: Coturnix | January 3, 2009 8:09 PM
I think it's only apt that this comes out at the same time as the announcement of a new Doctor Who...
http://podblack.com/?p=1154
Posted by: Podblack Blog | January 3, 2009 8:38 PM
I think once we purged out spam, duplicates, etc. we had 518 entries in the running. It was not easy cutting that down to 50. But all 50 (and a couple of hundred more, which, unfortunately cannot be included) are excellent. Thank you all.
Posted by: Coturnix | January 3, 2009 9:47 PM
Wow!
Thanks, y'all. I submitted my post without really expecting anything, I figured that my rarely updated blog would be easily eclipsed by the larger, more prolific, and more experienced science bloggers. But still, even though my expectations were low, I am flabbergasterly honored. Thanks a lot.
Posted by: Toaster | January 3, 2009 11:32 PM
Thanks for the honour. I'll look forward to that email.
Posted by: Romeo Vitelli | January 3, 2009 11:54 PM
WOO HOO! And what auspicious company - I'm having a Sally Field moment!
I haven't received the formatting e-mail, but I'll be looking for it tomorrow. Now, if I can just find a photo of a crowing rooster for my self-congratulatory post on LB&E...
Posted by: Sheri Williamson | January 4, 2009 2:57 AM
This totally takes the sting out of having to go back to work tomorrow. Thank you Bora and Jennifer, and thank you judges!
Posted by: Karen James | January 4, 2009 6:30 AM
Wow, that's exciting news! Thanks to Bora, Jennifer and the judges. I'm looking forward to catching up on the rest of those excellent posts!
Posted by: Kamel | January 4, 2009 11:35 AM
Thanks for all the work, Bora and Jenny. It's great to be selected!
Posted by: Sean Carroll | January 4, 2009 1:59 PM
wow, i am thrilled. i was certain i would not make it into this year's OpenLab -- but I always think this! -- so being included is an amazing and wonderful accomplishment, as it always is! many thanks to the judges and to the nominators who enjoyed my writing enough to submit and vote to include it in this year's collection!
Posted by: GrrlScientist | January 4, 2009 6:51 PM
Congratulations all! Now I have so much more reading to do. I love everything on GrrlScientist's excellent blog, Living the Scientific Life(Interrupted) so I'm glad her Audubon review was a winner; I also enjoyed "The Igneous Petrology of Ice Cream" on Green Gabbro, which I sent to BoingBoing: http://www.boingboing.net/2008/08/21/ice-cream-is-an-igne.html
Posted by: Marilyn Terrell | January 5, 2009 4:40 AM
So far, a consistently excellent selection in the sample I've read so far. It will make for many hours of procrastination. Many kudos to the whole volunteer staff for winnowing the entries down - and thank you for keeping both lists up, Bora, as it's fun to dip back from time to time.
Posted by: Heather | January 5, 2009 9:34 AM
Eeeee! Thank you!
Posted by: Miriam | January 5, 2009 2:06 PM
A glass of sherry raised in the direction of all concerned.
Posted by: Mr Darwin, MA, FRS, Openlab 2008 | January 6, 2009 2:26 PM
I was just wondering... will there be a little badge, like last year? To put on the blog? :) I'd like one, please! :)
Posted by: Podblack | January 25, 2009 10:31 AM
Yes, there will be!
Posted by: Coturnix | January 25, 2009 12:32 PM
When will the anthology be available?
Posted by: thomas | February 14, 2009 11:22 AM
Entering this competition and subsequently being selected as one of the top 50 has inspired me to host a competition of my own on the blog Tom Paine's Ghost. Posting subject matter is broad - free thought. The theme is multimedia integration. creating a post that fluidly integrates as many forms of media as possible - text, photos vidoeo, ppt etc etc. Read more and enter your submissions through the blog at http://www.tompainesghost.com/2009/02/post-with-most-on-tom-paines-ghost_23.html
thanks
-Kris
Posted by: Kris | March 5, 2009 10:50 PM