It’s that time of year folks. We are now receiving nominations for the third annual Online Achievement in International Studies (OAIS) Blogging Awards — aka the Duckie Awards.

We are asking Duck readers to reflect back over the past year to consider the best blogging contributions to the field of International Studies and to submit nominations for the awards. Post your nominations in the comments thread or drop us a note at duckofminerva2015 @ gmail.com. We will later ask readers to vote for the three finalists in each category. Last year’s winners have generously agreed to judge the finalists and select the 2015 winners.

Also, once again we are thrilled that with the support of SAGE, Duck of Minerva and SAGE will be co-hosting the third annual IR Blogging Awards and Reception at the ISA Annual Conference to be held in New Orleans.    The reception is scheduled for the evening of Thursday, February 19, 2015.   Charli is again coordinating the program for the Awards ceremony and we’ll have details on the program soon.

At this point, we need Duck readers to submit nominations — we’ll ask you all to vote on the finalists in January. Here are the rules and nomination and judging procedures for the 2015 awards:

For 2015 there will be five awards:

• Best Blog (Group) in International Studies;
• Best Blog (Individual) in International Studies;
• Best Blog Post in International Studies; and
• Best New Blogger (Individual) in International Studies
• Special Achievement in International-Studies Blogging;

General Eligibility

OAIS awards are intended for English-language international-studies blogs and bloggers whose output has significant scholarly content.

• Blogs are defined as “web-page[s] that [are] subject to minimal or no external editing, provide online commentary, and [are] presented in reverse chronological order with hyperlinks to other online sources.” Farrell and Drezner (2008: 16) [PDF].
• International Studies covers the issues and concerns associated with the study of international relations, comparative politics, and foreign policy. In general, blogs devoted to the internal politics of a single country do not fall within the purview of the awards, but blogging devoted to transnational, regional, and foreign interactions of single countries may be considered for relevant awards.
• Scholarly content should be understood in broad terms to include output that bears directly on international-studies scholarship. To be considered for an OAIS award, a blog need not be exclusively or mainly concerned with disciplinary debates, but rather must demonstrate an ongoing interest in and awareness of international-studies scholarship. The possession of academic degrees  is irrelevant to the criteria for scholarly content.

Permanent members of the Duck of Minerva collective are ineligible for the 2015 OAIS awards. Guest bloggers who maintain their own blogs are eligible for awards based on their non-Duck of Minerva activity.

Recipients must agree to serve as judges for the 2016 OAIS awards.

Specific Awards

• The 2015 Best Blog (Group) OAIS prize will be awarded to a blog with two or more permanent contributors that, in the opinion of the selection panel, demonstrates a consistent track record of exemplary international-studies content over the period 2013-2014.
• The 2015 Best Blog (Individual) OAIS prize will be awarded to a blog with a single permanent contributor that, in the opinion of the selection panel, demonstrates a consistent track record of exemplary international-studies content over the period 2013-2014.
• The 2015 Best Blog Post OAIS prize will be awarded for a single post, published in 2014, that contains, in the opinion of the selection panel, the best written and most substantively compelling prose on an international-studies topic or topics.
• The 2015 Best New Blogger (Individual) OAIS prize will be awarded to best new blogger. Nominees for this category could be someone who has who has established a new individual blog or who has blogged for a new or established group blog and who began blogging within the past two years. We are looking for nominees of individuals who display the most promise for ongoing contribution to the intellectual vibrancy of the international-studies blogging community.
• The 2015 Special Achievement OAIS prize will be awarded to a blogger who has made, in the judgment of the award committee, an outstanding contribution to the development, legitimation, and forwarding of international studies blogging.  The recipient of this award will be selected by the Duck of Minerva staff. In 2015 we will not be accepting nominations for the Special Achievement award.

Process and Selection

The following process applies to the 2015 prizes.

• Nominations for the four “best” prizes may be entered in the comments thread. Each nominating comment must begin “Nomination for [specific category]” and provide a full URL to the post or site.  You may also a nomination directly at duckofminerva2015 @ gmail.com. Please specify the award in the body of the text, provide the name of the blog, and a URL. Nominations close on 1 January 2015.
• We reserve the right to rule any nomination ineligible for failure to meet our eligibility requirements. Such nominations will not appear on the ballot for finalists.
• Finalists will be selected by popular vote, which will run from 15 January-31 January 2015. We will conduct the vote via online survey. You can receive a ballot by requesting one via duckofminerva2015 @ gmail.com.
• In 2015, prizes will be awarded by a jury selected by the Duck of Minerva staff. Winners will be notified by private channels. Awards will be announced at the 2015 ISA Blogging Reception.

Awards

Each award comes with the right to display an award badge on recipient(s) website(s) and an engraved Duckies Award trophy (some variant of the awards pictured above).