We’re a week behind, but the nominees are in and voting is now open. We sent out ballots today to those who registered for voting. If you did not receive one or if you haven’t registered yet, please email us for a ballot. Voting runs through February 7.

As with last year, we will use a Borda-count process to create a list of finalists and then proceed to a second round in which a panel of judges (last year’s winners and Duck permanent contributors) will determine the winners in each category.

We ask voters to choose three (3) finalists for the Best Blog category, six (6) for the Best Individual Blog category, (2) for the Most Promising New Blog, and five (5) for Best Post.

Here are the final nominees by category:

Best Blog (Individual)

• Deborah Brautigam at China in Africa
• Jay Ulfelder at Dart Throwing Chimp
• Kan Opalo at An Africanist Perspective
• Tom Pepinsky Blog
• Lawrence Haddad at Development Horizons
• Michael Levi, at Energy, Security and Climate at CFR
• Bruce Whitehouse at Bridges from Bamako
• Ari Kohen at Running Chicken
• Daniel Serwer at Peacefare.net
• Stephen Walt at Foreign Policy
• Gerard Toal at Critical Geopolitics
• Micah Zenko at Politics, Power and Preventive Action at CFR
• Patrick Meier at iRevolution
• Emmanuel Yujuico at IPE Zone
• Kevin Lee at Suffragio
• Xavier Marquez at Abandoned Footnotes
• Chris Blattman at Chris Blattman
• Dylan Kissane at Dylan Kissane — e- international relations

Best Blog (Group)

• Political Violence at a Glance
• The Disorder of Things
• The Monkey Cage
• Transitions
• Kings of War
• Participation, Power and Social Change
• Africa is a Country
• China FAQs
• Democracy Arsenal
• The Arabist
• Syria Comment
• War on the Rocks
• Grand Blog Tarkin

Best Blog Post

• “Growing Anger with Western Opinion” by Mariz Tadros at Open Democracy
• “The 4 Things We Know About How Civil Wars End (And What This Tells Us About Syria)” by Barbara Walters at Political Violence at a Glance
•  “The Fine Line Between Critique and Bigotry When Evaluating Islam and Egypt” by Mira Sucharov, in Haaretz
• “What Threat from Mali’s Islamist groups?,”  by Bruce Whitehouse at Bridges from Bamako.
• “Why Apologize?” by Brent Sasley in Mideast Matrix
• “History’s Seven Dumbest Self-Inflicted Political Disasters” by Philip Schrodt at asecondmouse
• “Going Feral! or “So long, and thanks for all the fish.” by Philip Schrodt at asecondmouse
• “‘Credibility’ is not everything, but it’s not nothing either,” by James Fearon at the Monkey Cage
• “Researching While Black:  Why Conflict Research Needs More African Americans (Maybe),”  by Christian Davenport at Political Violence at a Glance
• “Can China’s Action Plan to combat air pollution slow down new coal power development?” by Ailun Yang and Yiyun Cui at ChinaFAQS
• “Welcome to Mali,” by Gregory Mann at Africa is a Country.
• “Behind Mali’s Conflict,” by Bruce Whitehouse at Bridges from Bamako.
• “Some Thoughts on the Causes of Mass Protest,” by Jay Ulfelder at Dart-Throwing Chimp
• “Engines of Sacrality:  A Footnote on Randall Collins’ Interaction Ritual Chains,” by Xavier Marquez at Abandoned Footnotes
• “American Defense Policy: 8 Reality Checks” by Martin Skold at Next War Blog
• “Is Change Coming to Bosnia? Reflections on Protests and Their Prospects,” by Florian Bieber at Florian Beiber blog

Most Promising New Blog

• Nuclear Diner
• Next War Blog