The only thing that really matters is the ST Post of the Year award.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Your piece on Julie Miller. BTW, time for a follow-up.

The most comprehensive and memorable article I can readily recall from 2015 is Jim Gourley's multi-part series '35 Years of Ironman Statistics'.

Your edited post advises that 'blogs' are excluded. Presumably, this is to exclude the website that commissioned the piece, and hosts the content. I'll suggest that - using your qualifiers - this submission is valid. The author was paid for his piece, and the publisher incurs costs in presenting this content to the public.To offset these costs, revenue streams are pursued through the sale of advertising (website & podcast), as well as merchandise through an online store.

If that doesn't fit your definition of "in the business of triathlon", you may as well just say 'anything but the fruit of Ben Hobbs.'

whoa, cowboy. please wait until i commit the crime before you convict me of it.

are you asking me whether i think holding a day job disqualifies the owner of a site from consideration as industry? no, i don't think so. i don't see any reason why an article appearing in ben's magazine wouldn't qualify. the last i heard ben hobbs is a national account manager at stryker medical devices. so what? i held a day job - actually a night job - waiting tables in a restaurant so that i could pay for rubber and sewing machines when i began Quintana Roo in 1986. it was a comedown, i hadn't done that since college, but it was the only way i could afford to keep the bills paid. did that disqualify me from being in industry? i built a wetsuit manufacturing company larger than all my competitors combined, so i hope not.

ben hobbs inhabits a unique place. based on what he's said and written about me and others via twitter, and on his podcast, it's hard to come to a different conclusion. i'll leave it at that.

ben has an audience. breitbart and drudge each have an audience, and my view of their product doesn't disqualify them from being considered professional media. so, i agree with you. an article on ben hobbs's site, or a photo, or anything else, should be just as eligible for an award as the same on slowtwitch, lava, triathlete.

that established, when i look at the response from our readers to these categories, there is a BIG response to races, and to videos. there was a very small response by our readers to articles and to still photos. if i listen to the response we got here on this forum to our call for nominations, we need to not only include best video (which we have never before honored at TBI) we maybe ought to include both long and short video, or videos in more than one category.

therefore, what i don't know is whether we will continue to honor best article and photo. it seems only to be of spare interest. i think we ought to honor what it is that captures the interest and imagination of triathlon's stakeholders. it's up to TBI to decide both the nominees and the categories for its awards. i've given my recommendations, they will decide.

two articles in ben's publication have been put forward as possible nominees: your suggestion and the article on meredith kessler. it will be my recommendation that at least one of these be on the ballot, assuming we continue to honor in this category.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Was there not a mention of the Kessler article in this thread earlier?

To your first point: I don't think I asked you a question - I was making an observation. It seems most everyone in the sport has a day job; pros included. I'm not sure why you discount the work of Blogs in this category. I imagine Ray Maker might have a similar question.

Apologize if I missed it, but where is the category for 'Best Podcast Segment?' There is an incredible amount of knowledge, information, and entertainment with this format. It also offers the greatest variety of ways in which the content can be consumed.

To begin, I'm not sure I have anything from a triathlon-specific standpoint that would really qualify in this category - so, I don't think I have a specific horse in this race. Though, I'd argue I've taken some high quality triathlon selfies this year, so perhaps I qualify in that category. ;)

That said, I'd think the aim would be to get the best article about triathlon, no matter where it comes from. I think Dan clarified that in his follow-up comment. Even if it does come from a 'blog'. So that's great to hear.

At the same time, I'm not sure there's really any difference between a blog and a site. Technically speaking, a blog is merely a distribution mechanism (officially RSS), which any number of sites use today (including Slowtwitch, and most media outlets). It looked like there was a distinction on having to spend money on running the 'site', though I'm not sure that's necessary. Either way, by that definition I'd quality like most others. I pay hosting fees, developers for things, not to mention editors and occasional writers. None of which are cheap when you're looking for both high quality and niche to the sport experience. Like Dan and I others, I started off doing it part-time at nights, and of course recently made that transition full time.

I'm sure there are things ST and I 'compete' on, but I'd guess the vast majority of the time we're more complementary. I often link to ST posts where I find something interesting. I think in general, the sport is big (or small) enough that more coverage is better for everyone involved.

Obviously, I'm here - so I certainly enjoy ST and reading it numerous times a day. So I've got no particular bone to pick either way.

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My tiny little slice of the internets: dcrainmaker.com