Bloggies '27 - Enter the Arena
It's almost time for us mere bloggers to step into the arena again, break billiard cues in half, grab whatever improvised weapons we can find, and battle to the death. There can be only one. It's BLOGGIES time!
So celebrate with us! Find your favorite blog posts of the year. Read them again, share them, recommend them, caress them, love them. This is the time for everyone to stop what they're doing and read three random posts whenever the clock strikes the hour.
Following tradition, I've been cursed chosen to host this year's blogosphere tournament. Here's what you need to know:
Nominations are open NOW until December 31, 2026!
>>> NOMINATE YOUR FAVORITE POSTS HERE <<<
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, I'll just point you to Clayton's run from last year. He did a much better job explaining the whole thing than I will. There's also the archive if you want to dig into previous Bloggies.
Nominations are opening early to give you more time to find and submit your favorites, and me a fighting chance of sorting through everything before announcing the brackets in January. And to those of you who will forget and do it at the last minute, don't worry. I see you. I validate you as well.
No idea if this will work, but let's try it anyway.
HOW
There are 6 main categories this year, each with a tournament style bracket of 8 posts, or 16 if we've been particularly hard-working. We will crown the top 3 posts in each category.
First, you nominate the posts. That's where YOU come in. A community effort. See above. Once nominations close, I'll wiggle them down to a shortlist and make enemies along the way. Nomination counts will matter, but popularity alone won't decide who makes it.
I'll announce the brackets at least a month before voting so everyone has time to actually read the posts. Then all 6 categories will battle it out over the course of a week.
Yes, you can nominate yourself. Yes, you can tell others to vote for you. Even better, tell everyone about your favorite posts this year and promote each other.
You can nominate up to five posts per main category at a time and come back with more later. Just don't nominate the same post twice.
Any blog post published between January 1 and December 31, 2026, is eligible.
WHAT
This year the categories will be:
- Theory. Tell me how games work and why we play them.
- Gameable. Tell me something I can use in my game to torment players with.
- Advice. Tell me what I'm doing wrong when running or playing games and how to do it better.
- Critique. Tell me why books and games are good or bad.
- Creative. Tell me about your sick worlds and show me your awesome art.
- Meta. Tell me about the communities, drama and gossip.
The special bonus categories are still around and awarded separately:
- Best Debut Blog. Tell me which new blog already has the coolest posts.
- Best Series. Tell me about play reports and posts that got split into too many parts for their own good.
WHO
I'm hosting this year because you voted me into this position last year.
WHEN
Alright, here's my preliminary plan:
- Nominations open. NOW
- Nominations close. December 31, 2026
- Nominees announced. Mid January (TBD)
- Voting begins. Mid February (TBD)
- Winners declared. Early March (TBD)
>>> NOMINATE YOUR FAVORITE POSTS HERE <<<
That's it for now!