Nerdvana named ‘Best Features Blog’ again by Arizona Press Club
May 21, 2012
For the second year in a row, Nerdvana has been honored by the Arizona Press Club with the first-place award for Best Features Blog in the Metro division.
Here’s what judge Kathy Blackwell had to say about Nerdvana’s 2011 entry:
“‘There’s much to love about this blog — strong writing and reporting, eloquent opinions, photos and community engagement. A lot of personality. Very well done.”
Phoenix New Times bloggers rounded out the top 3, with music blog Up on the Sun coming in second and food blog Chow Bella third. (Chow Bella also took the top prize for best opinion blog).
This is the content Nerdvana submitted for judging:
- Downtown Mesa’s eclectic Evermore Nevermore closing Dec. 9 – http://evtnow.com/22p (11/25/11)
- The Blog is Yours: Atomic comments – http://evtnow.com/9a (8/30/11)
- Comic book fans, creators mourn Arizona’s Atomic Comics – http://evtnow.com/ac (8/21/11)
- Phoenix Comicon guest Bruce Boxleitner talks ‘Tron,’ Apocalypse and the sad state of space travel – http://evtnow.com/ll (5/23/11)
- ‘Stargate Universe’ finale: Looking back on 14 years as the iris closes — for good? – http://evtnow.com/ee (5/9/11)
Last year Nerdvana took first place in the same category, and we came in second the year before that.
The recognition means a lot, but it wouldn’t be possible without all of Nerdvana’s readers, tipsters, Facebook fans and Twitter followers, as well as East Valley Tribune managing editor CeCe Todd for putting up with me through the contest submission process and beyond. And congratulations are also in order for fellow Tribune honorees Tim Hacker, Mark Heller, Mike Sakal and Darryl Webb of the affiliated Ahwatukee Foothills News (whose amazing supermoon photo has taken the Internet by storm and is sure to garner honors in the coming year).
Arizona Press Club names Nerdvana ‘Best Features Blog’
May 22, 2011
I wanted to share the exciting news that our little blog has been honored by the Arizona Press Club with a first-place award in the “Best Features Blog” category!
This is my first first-place honor ever in journalism (I came close last year with second place in the same category) and it’s especially thrilling because the local competition in this arena is always so formidable. Case in point: Second place went to Karen Davis Barr of Raising Arizona Kids magazine’s Behind the ‘Zine blog for entries chronicling her trip to Ethiopia, and third went to the Chow Bella bloggers at the Phoenix New Times. Congrats to all!
Here’s what the judge had to say about my entry, which was one of nine in the category:
“Peters’ blog is a must-read for anyone interested in science fiction, fantasy, comic books and the like. His reporting is exhaustive, his writing clear. He strikes a strong balance by not being boosterish but also not being hyper-critical. His blog posts are filled with links to underlying documents, photos, useful user-friendly information and timely, level-headed writing that indulges readers’ appetite for in-depth treatment of the topic.”
Nerdvana honored by Arizona Press Club
May 15, 2010
Nerdvana has just won second place in the “Best Feature Blogs” category of the Arizona Press Club’s 2009 Best Journalism in Arizona.
I wasn’t in attendance for the awards banquet, held Saturday at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in downtown Phoenix, but former Nerdvana co-conspirator Chris “KeL” Adams was there to represent the team.
Our entries were judged by Heather Irwin, who writes the food blog BiteClub for the Santa Rosa (Calif.) Press Democrat and is the recipient of the 2009 EPpy for best entertainment blog. Here are her comments:
I love the great original reporting and geeky insights about the sci-fi world — but all the entries were approachable and interesting to someone who may not know all the ins and outs of the comic/game/sci-fi world. That’s a wonderful quality. Terrific diversity in the entries — from Star Trek to Star Wars.
Congrats to KeL on his first award in the industry, and to the gang at the Phoenix New Times’ Up on the Sun music blog for their first- and third-place wins in the same category. I also want to congratulate all my colleagues for their well-earned kudos!
Wired blog recommends following us on Twitter — again!
Jan. 14, 2010
We would like to thank the fatherly folks over at Wired magazine’s GeekDad blog for including us in their latest list: 150 Geeky Media People You Should Be Following on Twitter.
It’s an honor to see @nerdvana listed as an “excellent geek blogger” right between @roddenberry (Rod, Star Trek creator Gene’s son) and @donttrythis (MythBusters’ Adam Savage).
Last summer they were gracious enough to include Nerdvana in their list of ‘100 Geeks You Should Be Following On Twitter.’ And I’m still reeling.
Just last night I discovered that Nerdvana co-conspirator Chris Adams and I have the distinction of being listed in Technorati’s “Top 100 Comics” blog list. Wow.
So thanks for reading, geekosphere! There might be something to this whole blogging thing after all …
@nerdvana in ‘100 Geeks You Should Be Following On Twitter’
May 13, 2009
So being a geek and a dad, I regularly read GeekDad, a blog at Wired.com dedicated to “raising geek generation 2.0.” The editors and many contributors maintain a tone and style that have influenced me as I ventured into the world of blogging about things like video games and science fiction. (And there’s plenty for you GeekMoms and Geeklets, too.)
They were such an inspiration, in fact, that last month when they sought volunteer writers to round out their ranks I considered throwing my hat into the ring. But they got such an overwhelming response that the call for applications was closed before I had a chance to submit mine!
Today they have an article by head GeekDad Ken Denmead entitled “100 Geeks You Should Be Following On Twitter.” Intrigued, I clicked through to read more, and discovered that I was already following many of them, with surprising exceptions like Bill Amend of Foxtrot fame and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. These oversights were immediately corrected.
But I was delightfully surprised to see my own name (Jayson Peters, “Geek blogger”) and this blog, Nerdvana, sandwiched between Geek Girl Diva (“Geeky blogger and affiliates manager for Entertainment Earth”) and Alison Lunde (“Code monkey and sarcastageek”).
Thanks, GeekDads! So there you have it — all the cool people follow Nerdvana on Twitter. And so should you!
