2oceansVibe.com made the personal decision to hang up it’s SA Blog Awards boots prior to the commencement of the 2010 competition. We did not enter this year’s competition.

One thing we always enjoyed in the previous rounds of competition was the tight contest. A victory was never a sure thing for anyone in the SA Blog Awards. Dark horses and breakout successes are a treat for South African internet users, and the blogging community in general. Last year’s overall winner, WatKykJy, is a case in point.

Healthy competition breeds healthy innovation, right?

So it was with great delight that we scanned the 2011 Blog Award category finalists page this morning.

According to the mechanisms of the blog awards, the top three blogs in each category were determined by sheer number of votes cast in a public vote for each blog in its respective category.

The public vote phase opened on 31 October, and closed at midnight, 9 November 2011.

Now that the public vote phase has closed, the SA Blog Awards panel of judges will determine the rank of first, second, and third place blogs in each category. The overall winner will be determined by the judges from the pool of category winners.

Our personal congratulations goes out to the likes of Bandwidth Blog, Popyacollar.co.za, thebounce.co.za, WatKykJy, and ZA News, to name a few.

So, with all of that behind us, let’s get to the elephant in the room.

There are some big names missing from that pool of finalists. More particularly, the coveted “Best Entertainment and Lifestyle Blog” category is fairly interesting.

As a defending winner, you’d expect to see WatKykJy in the mix, and you do. But my little eye failed to spy the likes of Bangers and Nash, Life Is Savage, My City By Night, Mr Cape Town, and a few other names that one would consider to be strong contenders, based on popularity and quality of content.

Baydu.co.za is there. So is justcurious.co.za.

I will say this, I am constantly amazed at the Internet’s ability to reveal new and undiscovered corners of itself to me.

But there’s something important for all entrants to remember.

The SA Blog Awards is merely a method of ranking and assisting bloggers and is recognised as an informal social process.

Some of you can take solace in that statement, lifted from the SA Blog Awards rules and regulations page.

Those of you who feel slighted or wronged – don’t give up on blogging. Sometimes you win. Sometimes you miss out on canapes and complimentary mojitos. Sometimes you dive into a fountain. The point being, when you’re good, it’s pleasurable to be recognised for your talent, but an occasionally absent trophy doesn’t mean your talent fairy has abandoned you. Keep updating your blogs. The South African internet needs you. And everyone in this virtual room knows that, for better or worse, we need our beloved outlets of expression.

Heck, the world needs more expression right now.

You can see a full list of the 2011 Blog Awards Finalists, HERE.