Had it not been for Marc Randazza, I wouldn’t have even known this tidbit, but apparently the 2008 Weblog Awards for Best Law Blog has already opened and closed nominations.  Who knew?

Apparently, nominations closed last Friday, November 23, after having been extended from an initial ending date of November 19th.  They opened, judging from the first post, on November 3rd. 

While there are some fine blawgs nominated, the pickings are rather sparse this year.  This might be because the number of people aware that nominations were open was equally sparse?  In any event, many of my favorites blogs were not nominated, ranging from Anne Reed’s Deliberations to Mark Bennett’s Defending People to Eric Turketwitz’s New York Personal Injury Blog, and a bunch more along the way.  I mean, seriously, without A Public Defender, how can this be taken seriously?

I tend to support some of the smaller niche law blogs, the sort that are not ordinarily on the bigger radar and seen by the millions of readers that some of the more prominent blogs enjoy.  It’s not that they win the Best Blog Award, but that it puts them on the radar of people who could learn a lot from them, come to appreciate their humor and insight, and perhaps find something that is worth their time.  I would like to nominate them.  Unfortunately, I can’t.  I missed the window of opportunity.   Game over.

It strikes me that the Weblog Awards, to merit much credibility, really need to announce the fact that nominations are open in a more effective way.  Obviously some people knew to nominate blogs, but I read a bunch and never saw anything about it.  Maybe the rest of you were well aware and I’m just out of touch.  In any event, it would have been nice to know and be in a position to participate.

So Weblog Award people, if you happen to stumble upon this post, I would appreciate it if you can add in a few more law blogs.  No, it won’t make this year’s award more credible, but it will definitely make me happier.  And besides, I think they deserve it.

And next year, can you let somebody know before you close the nomination?