And Mashable’s Award Goes To…

Get out your best suit or fancy dress, Mashable’s 2009 Open Web Awards are under way. Ok, forget the suit… its a social media thing which means you can vote online and graciously accept your awards from the comfort of your own shorts and PC. (If you do win, be sure to read 9 Things to Avoid When Accepting an Award)

This year is Mashable’s 3rd year hosting the OWA’s (as I will call them for short with a slight snobby ring). Three years is actually long in internet time. Trends, social climates, and other internet junkie-ness age faster than a US president after the first term. Started in 2007, the first Open Web Awards saw over 250,000 votes and more than 20 million page views when combined with Mashable and their 50 international blog partners. Last years OWA’s, which included over 26 categories, rang up over 50,000 total nominations, 80,000 votes in the first round, and 90,000 votes in the final round. Past winners of the various categories included names such as Google, ShareThis, Netlog, Diigo, Flickr, and YouTube.

So who’s up for the big trophy in 09? Well, you decide. This year the Open Web Awards have expanded their nominating procedure and are open for anyone to vote via social media. The rules are fairly simple, any company, brand, person, website, hyperlink, page or product can be nominated in any of the 50 categories. Categories include the best of brands, agencies, companies, media, mobile, people, photo’s, video’s, Facebook, and of course Twitter.

Check out Mashable’s 3rd Annual Open Web Awards Social Media Edition for complete rules, categories and entry form.

There are some pretty great names and brands in the running this year. What about Bit Rebels? I may be the newbie around here but I think there is something great in what this site is doing and how we use social media to spread our “Bits” of knowledge. How about sending a few votes to the way of your favorite geeky bits of awesomeness blog…

Go to: https://mashable.com/owa/ and find a category that best fits @BitRebels or anyone one else for your nomination. Best Online Magazine? Best News Source to Follow?