Now Accepting Nominations for the BlogH.O.T. Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Blogging for Independent Bloggers. Deadline for Nominations is February 22.

To nominate a blog, simply enter the name of the blog and the blog url address you would like to nominate in the comments box below. Each blog nominated for a category will be included in the selection process; additional nominations for a blog in the same category will have no effect, so once a blog is nominated for a category there is no reason to nominate it again.

For an overview of the awards process, please visit our BlogH.O.T. Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Blogging. Thank you for participating!

Independent Blogger:  This award is given to the individual blogger that’s demonstrated consistent excellent in blogging.  This award will be open to bloggers that are attempting to monetize their blogs as well as those that are not.  The criteria that finalists will be judged on include:

• Ability to consistently create excellent content that engages readers
• Ability to build engagement and community on the blog
• Ability to use the blog as a platform to create  and share the blogger’s unique voice

Additionally, all blogs will be judged on its posting frequency, and greater consideration will be given to blogs that can not only create great content, but do so consistently.

As a bonus, the winner of the Independent Blogger Award will receive two free passes to the 2014 BlogHOT conference!