At what other awards could you mingle with the Oscar nominees before the event? See them preparing the acceptance speeches, display their pre-show nerves and ask them for tips on the secret of their success? At the Irish Blog Awards - Business Blogger Meetup next Saturday March 1st , of course.

Details : The blog awards kick off at 7.30pm. So lets do it one hour earlier at 6.30pm. Same venue , Alexander Hotel, has a nice big foyer area. There’s no food at the awards themselves , but the hotel does a waiter service in the lobby if you’re just up ‘from the country’. Just look out for me (I’ve been told I look like my photo on the top right. Which is not a good thing) , or any of the nominees (although I suspect Rowan and Michele aren’t as cartoonish in real life).

You don’t have to be a nominee to come along. Just come along and talk about what has worked for you as a Business Blogger.

Update: I would put good money on Kieran from Ice Cream Ireland turning up in full ice-cream-man gear. Click here to encourage him. It does solve the problem of ‘you-dont-really-look-like-your-photo’.

Did we mention that FirstPartners is sponsoring the Best Business Blog award? As a taster, here are the profiles of the 13 people short listed for the award. Who will we be giving the prize to? Come along on the 1st of March , Alexander Hotel, Dublin to find out.

		Brightspark Consulting Brightspark is a Dublin web design and internet marketing agency, run by Maryrose Lyons who has been blogging since 2003. So she probably knows what she is talking about. Maryrose doesn’t pull her punches (read her blog to find out who she called ‘a shambles’) and is recommended to people dipping their toes in the world of business blogging.
		Bubble Brothers The tagline to this blog pretty much sums it up : ‘Wine, Champagne , more’. These Cork Wine Merchants ooze sophistication, even when they branch out from wine to talk about pancakes, pizza and the Bridgestone pick of 2008. All on the one page. They’ll even sell you some of their stuff if you ask nicely.
		Pat Phelan Cork Based Giant Killer Pat Phelan is out to slay the telecoms monsters. Watch a blow by blow account on the roam4free blog. You’ll never look at your mobile phone bill in the same way again.
		Keith Bohanna Keith’s main job is as part of the Irish Internet Association and creative camp Kilkenny. Or maybe it’s as part of a startup , DB Twang, a site for Guitar enthusiasts Kilkenny Creative Camp. Or maybe it’s teaching other business people to blog. Whichever subject is, Keith covers them well on his site.
		Ice Cream Ireland Ice Cream. In a blog. From Kerry cows. What more do you need to know?
		BH Consulting Blog Brian Honan , one of Ireland’s top Security Consultants , will have you paranoid after reading his blog. And while everybody else except you gets hit by virus, phishing attempts and emails that knock over your PC, you’ll be glad that you listened to him.
		The Blacknight Blog Michele Neylon has been a supporter of the blogging community, since well , before they were called blogs. Michele runs Blacknight hosting based in Carlow. The Blacknight example shows how a company in a ‘commodity’ industry (web hosting) can stand out by showing a human face on their blog(s). At the very least , it shows faith in their quality of service.
		O’Conall Street Conall manages to make business and politics mix. A man who has journeyed from Dublin to Belfast via Spain, the SDLP and the Good Friday Agreement , he is currently head of PR Company Weber Shandwick in Northern Ireland. He’s also a Man United fan, but everybody has to have at least one flaw.
		McGarr Solicitors McGarr solicitors are the first point of call for bloggers in legal distress. The site is very much legal people who blog, rather than just bloggers with a passing interest in the law. The blog provides a lot of useful advice in areas such as Personal Injury, (accidents at work particularly) , Environmental , Planning and Employment Law. And they do the bread and butter buying and selling your house as well. .
		Interactions Annette Clancy is an organisational consultant, coach and psychotherapist. An unusal combination perhaps, but she helps people overcome their ’stuckness’ and solve business problems. The blog isn’t afraid to venture into uncharted areas such as the role of emotion in the work place.
		Worldwide Cycles One of europes few specialist bike stores run by people who are still competing regularly. Barry, based in Tipperary, explains what those infestations of cyclists are actually doing on our roads. And what cyclists get up to with cans of Lynx. It will make 4×4 drivers think twice before overtaking with only inches to spare.
		Fortify Your Oasis Thinking of changing your job? Read this blog first. Rowan explains how to give your life direction, how to pick , then land the job that fits in with this. And shows you how to preform a graceful exit from the role your are currently in and hate. And he’s written a book about it, showing that bloggers can do ‘real’ writing as well.
		Frank Fullard Mayo based Frank talks about entrepreneurs and the businesses they start. And he’s not afraid to think small, taking a different view from many of the ‘we’re a startup, we’re going to take over the world’ blogs that are out there.

Inside sources (who declined to be named) are suggesting that the longlist for the ‘Best Irish Business Blog’ will look something like this …

Update:
The fact that this information was given to me (in ready to paste HTML) has nothing, absolutely nothing , to do with the fact that FirstPartners.net are sponsoring the Best Business blog award.

Did we mention that we’re sponsoring the Best Irish Business Blogger award at the Irish Blog awards on March 1st? We’ve written a guide to business blogging in Ireland, and I’m really looking forward to see who the winner is on the night.

In case you’re looking at the blog award nomination form and wondering who to fill in the business section, may I be as bold as to suggest a couple of possibilities? If I’ve missed your blog , leave a comment.

• [RSS] A Random Walk - Irish Financial Blog
• [RSS] Achieve Marketing
• [RSS] Allagi Blog
• [RSS] ask direct
• [RSS] BIZ GROWTH NEWS
• [RSS] blogged thoughts
• [RSS] Blogh an seanchai
• [RSS] Brightspark, Dublin Ireland
• [RSS] Business on the web - derekorgan.com
• [RSS] BusinessAdvisory.ie
• [RSS] Clear Communication
• [RSS] Coworking Ireland
• [RSS] denise cox’s blog
• [RSS] Den’s Enterprisey Foghorn
• [RSS] Edelman Dublin
• [RSS] FrankFullard.com
• [RSS] Interactions - Creative Strategies for Business
• [RSS] Iona
• [RSS] iQ Blog - Latest Posts
• [RSS] itnorthwest.org
• [RSS] LouderVoice Blog
• [RSS] MadeForOne.com
• [RSS] Market Leader - Technology Sales and Marketing blog
• [RSS] McGarr Solicitors
• [RSS] Murphy’s Law
• [RSS] Paul Lanigan
• [RSS] Piaras Kelly PR - Irish Public Relations
• [RSS] Pinstripe
• [RSS] Pure Play
• [RSS] QUMAS Connect
• [RSS] Real Business Blog
• [RSS] Red Cardinal
• [RSS] Richard Delevan’s notes
• [RSS] The Health Tech Blog
• [RSS] Turbulence Ahead
• [RSS] Web 2.0 Ireland

Or you could follow our suggestions for Best Political Blogger.

Unlike last year, I’m not going to give a complete list of alternative nominations for the Irish Blog Awards. Instead we’re going to plug a few specific categories for your consideration (including the Best Business Blog that FirstPartners.net are sponsoring).< /p>

Given that the shortlist could (partially) be done on the number of nominations, I’d urge you to check out the blog below, and see if it’s worthy of your consideration.

James Lawless (view from the tracks) has been started online as a rail activist, now writing as a member of Fianna Fail. Does that make him the only member of Ireland’s largest party to be brave enough to stand up online?

I often disagree with what he says, but it’s a useful counterpoint to the tide of anti-government opinion that seems to prevail in the blogosphere. Whether the tide is justified or not is a question that will last past March 1st when the awards are given out.

Of course, if you want a plug for your blog / nomination, please leave a comment and we’ll see what we can do. Next up: Business Bloggers that’d we like to hand the award to on the night.

Damien asked for blurbs from the sponsors of the Irish Blog Awards as to what they actually do. After years of trying explain in our 3 minute elevator pitch, I think we’ve finally got the answer.

FirstPartners.net build the ugly bits of websites. Not the lovely front ends but the bits that do the heavy lifting - the bits that ensure your bank balance is correct, that your ticket is there when you arrive at the airport, or bits that capture your teams’ knowledge . We deliver using a combination of Enterprise Java Technology, our custom Red-Piranha framework and Agile project techniques.

More at www.FirstPartners.net

Thanks to Eoghan, there are going to be some changes around here. He’s just announced that we’re the winner of the 2000 Euro worth of web design work. For a sample of his work , check out the redesign that he has done of the Barcamp Dublin site.

I actually tried to convince Eoghan to pick somebody else with even more readers (in a mercenary get some more exposure kind of way). He’s sticking with the person choosen by his random number omiter.

So the question is, What’s your favourite colour? What part of this website do you think needs an upgrade - this blog, the main FirstPartners.net ‘Corporate site’, or the wiki / knowledgebase? What changes do you think should be made?Or should I save the prize for the forthcoming mad, take over the world attempt part 2 (Red Piranha)?

Further Kudos to Eoghan for carrying out some Charity work as well: tuppenceworth.ie, entered by Simon McGarr, the other is a project by IQ Content for the Red Door School, entered by Laurence Veale

People we met at the pre-blog meetup

• Eddie from McGarr Solictors; Keep up the good work - yes at least one non-legal reader can follow your blog, and I suspect that there are many more.
• EllyBabes. I’ve volunteered to help organize Barcamp Dublin. I don’t even have the excuse of being drunk. And now I’ve gone and put it in writing , so I’ll really have to help.
• Tom and Damien, and ended up stuffing things into paper bags (I’m sure that wasn’t on the original invitation).
• Antoin from Eire.com , busy handing out fon.com cards (and he has me almost sold on the concept).
• GrannyMar. She’s a lovely lady, and was very graceful about my confusing her with Grandad’s wife.
• Eoin O’Dell - cearta.ie, who wasn’t able to stay for the rest of the evening

At the Awards themselves (mainly beside the bar, take from that what you will)

• Bernie Goldbach. Ungrateful sod that he is , gave away the award that we sponsored. I couldn’t have done it better myself, given that I originally wanted to nominate Damien for the category.
• Keith Bohanna, who looks exactly like his photo on his blog (don’t know if that is good or bad - see next point).
• Krishna De, who told me I should lose the tie in the photo (top right) , and she’s probably right.
• Ann from Allagi, also nominated for ‘Best business blog’ , but lost out to the Ice Cream guys (below).
• Conor from LouderVoice - as funny in the person as he is on his (award winning) blog posts.
• Thomas Holmes (YClickit) and Eoghan McCabe , fellow conspirators competitors in the pint competition. Thomas is living my ideal lifesytle (working remotely , living in Montpellier France. It might also be worthwhile (hint) subscribing to Eogans blog today.
• Richard Hearne, Red Cardinal. Target number 2 for lifestyle Jealously with 6 months a year in Thailand.
• Joe Drumgoole , yet I still don’t understand what ‘ace king - check it out’ means (see the top of is blog page). Maybe if I help organise barcamp dublin he’ll let me in on the secret.
• Roger Galligan , from irishblogs.ie. Yes I do know the difference between you and boards.ie
• Conn Ó Muíneacháin. Giving the (Irish Language) awards away this year, instead of winning them

and pings for the people that we didn’t meet …

• Brian Honan couldn’t make it (he was nominated for best business blog), but lost out in the end to the Ice Cream guys.
• Ken McGuire, who I still owe a pint (unless he can come up with a ‘double or quits’ scheme).
• Kieran from Ice Cream Ireland. He must have been surrounded by frozen food groupies
• Lar from IQ Content - almost got talking a couple of times, but generally one or other of us got sidetracked.

It seems like we’re handing out prizes every day of the week.

We’re (as in FirstPartners.net) sponsoring the Best Contribution to the Irish Blogosphere at the Irish Blog Awards. If this was Rock’n'roll, this award would be given for ‘lifetime achievement’ and Keith Richards, Bono or Burt Bacharach would be accepting it.

So who will we be handing the award to on Saturday night? Who is the blogging equivalent of Keith, Bono or Burt? Will it be ….

• Bernie Goldbach , from Irish Eyes. I want Bernie to win as he was generous with his time 2 years ago at Techcamp to a wet-behind the ears blogger.
• Donncha from Holy Schmoly. I want Donncha to win for his contribution to Wordpress - one of the best pieces of web software there is (and we use a lot of them , so we should know).
• Tom from Tom Raftery IT. I want Tom to win as like Bernie , he’s been very generous with his advice over the years. His new tagline is ‘Highest ranked blog in ireland’ so you can’t argue with that.
• Simon from Irish Election. Simon’s is the only blog that I wasn’t previously aware of. I still want him to win because anything that injects a bit more democracy to the current Irish political system is a good thing.
• Rick from the Breakfast blog. I want Rick to win as he’s one of the better 2FM DJ’s (damning with faint praise), but as one of the first mainstream bloggers, he’s done a lot to raise the profile of blogging in Ireland.

So good luck all , and I’ll be speaking to you on the night.

And the winners of the Feedburner T-Shirts (as chosen by our completely automated selection process) are …. at the bottom of this post.

In another shock scandal, Bernie Goldbach got disqualified by following a link from his own blog. He did send the most (25) commenters our way, and since we’re making this up as we go along, if anybody doesn’t take up their prize , I’ll pass one onto him.

Thanks to everybody who took part , and to everybody who posted the message on their blogs! (Bernie , Damian, Phil, Billy Leo and Podcasting Ireland.

Drum Roll please …. The winners are ….

• Jonathan Brazil (from the Weblog of the same name) , as sent by Irish Eyes.
• Frank , from BifSnif , as referred by AskDirect
• Bernard from Running with Bulls, as sent by Irish Eyes.
  

What happens next? I have the winners emails , so I will contact them directly to arrange posting the stuff out.

You may remember our ‘Free beer at the Irish Blog Awards competition‘. Well FeedBurner have smiled from on high at our efforts, and decided to donate some goodies to the cause.

So, in the spirit of increasing everybody’s subscriber numbers I’m going to give YOU the gear to give away on YOUR blog. Here’s how it works:

1) Leave me a comment on this blog. Wordpress will ask for your email when you leave a comment, but it won’t be publicly displayed.

2) Sometime next week, I’ll ask you (by email) to post on your blog. I’ll even give you a bit of advance notice . Most blogs allow you to publish at a given time in the future , so you don’t even have to be there to push the button.

3) I’ll be asking your readers to leave a comment on this post. We’ll leave the lines open for a couple of hours, then pick 3 comments at random to win the stuff.

To keep it clean , you can’t giveaway the stuff on your blog and win at the same time. I’ll reserve the right to change the rules if somebody blatently tries to cheat (not that it would be hard!).

Unfortunately , because I’m not a photo blogger , I couldn’t get a clear shot of what the goodies look like. Trust me that they’re pretty cool.

• 1st Prize : A long sleeved FeedBurner Jersey, and assorted stickers and badges.
• 2nd Prize : A T-Shirt with the FeedBurner logo, and assorted stickers and badges.
• 3rd Prize : Just the T-Shirt with the FeedBurner Logo.

I’ll post the stuff direct to whichever reader of yours wins - so it doesn’t matter what sort of blog you have, where you’re located , or where your readers come from.

You may have heard about the 2000 Bloggers project hosted by Tino Buntic. You may have even got your photo included among the 2000. And you may have pulled the links when Technorati complained about what was going on.

What Technorati (and to some extent Google) didn’t like was this as an attempt to game the system - loads of blogs , with little or nothing in common, all linking to each other and in process seeing a massive increase in their Technorati and Google rankings. Given that 2000 bloggers included photos and nothing else, what’s the difference between this and a sophisticated link farm? Better said on ‘I don’t deserve this Technorati rank and you don’t either‘.

If you’re one of the people nominated for the Irish Blog Awards You’ve probably seen a lot of incoming links from people who have taken the original IBA Nominee List (by Jason Roe) and posted it on their blogs. Over the past couple of days, I’ve seen about 20 links come my way via this method. Out of curiosity, I’d tend to visit people linking to me in this way.

Is this the same idea as 2000 bloggers, an attempt to game the Google / Technorati pagerank system? Will all 500 of us be blacklisted by Google? I don’t think so.

The difference between this and the 2000 Bloggers is:

• All the links have a connection (they’re Irish Bloggers, or bloggers with some connection to Ireland).
• More information is provided on the links - not just a photo , but what they blog about.
• There is a quality screening going on (i.e. you have to be nominated) not just first come first served.

Just to prove the point, the list of nominees is below. And if you haven’t voted already, drop over and vote for us (FirstPartners.net / Technology in Plain English).

Best Designed Blog

• 5 Pieces
• Ach go háirithe
• Beaut.ie
• BifSniff
• Clamnuts
• Creative Imagination - Ken McGuire
• ElBlogador.com - The Voice of Irish Nationalism
• From Ireland to Kansas City
• Fustar
• Ginger Pixel
• Inside the mind of an idiot
• IrishElection.com
• Jason Roe’s blog
• John Handerlaar’s Blog
• Kind I Like - Things that look like people
• Léigh ar mo T-léine é!
• Letter to America
• Magoo
• Nialler9
• Pretty Cunning
• RedFly Marketing
• Soundtracks for Them
• Spoilt.ie
• Stunned.org
• Team Geared Up
• The InFactah Blog
• The IQ Content Blog
• Twenty Major
• UnLaoised

Best Blog

• Alive in Limerick
• An Irish Craftworkers Good Life
• An Spailpín Fánach
• An tImeall
• Arse End of Ireland
• ArseBlog
• Backseat Drivers
• Barbara’s bleeuugh!
• Beaut.ie
• BifSniff
• Biz Growth News
• Blogorrah
• Bock the Robber
• ElBlogador.com- The Voice of Irish Nationalism
• Fustar
• Head Rambles
• I Take Photees
• Ireland 16 Days
• IrishElection.com
• Letter to America
• Manuel Stimulation
• Mcawilliams.com
• Mine’s A Jack Daniels
• Nialler9
• Pygment
• RedMum’s Blog
• Skinflicks
• Snackboxdiaries
• StigOnline
• The Cedar Lounge Revolution
• The Community At Large
• The InFactah Blog
• The Limerick Blogger
• Tir na Blog
• Twenty Major
• Womans Aid

Best Use of the Irish Language in a Blog

• Ach go háirithe
• An Saol
• An Spailpín Fánach
• Arm Rúnda na Gaeilge
• Blag Shomhairle
• Chetwynde Down
• Hilary NY
• Léigh ar mo T-léine é!
• MH Wombat
• nobyegarawn
• Roinnt Smaointe
• Seo Panu ag labhairt
• Smaointe Fánacha Aonghusa

Best Political Blog

• 1169 and Counting
• A Tangled Web
• An Caomhach
• An Saol
• An Spailpá­n Fánach
• Balrog
• Best of Both Worlds
• Bock the Robber
• Damien Blake
• Daniel K. Sullivan
• Dominic Hanngian’s blog
• ElBlogador.com- The Voice of Irish Nationalism
• Extra Extra
• Graham O’Maonaigh
• Green Ink
• Harry McGee’s blog
• ie-Politics by Gerry O’Quigley
• Ireland - The Voice Of The Nation
• IrishElection.com
• Maman Poulet
• Richard Delevan’s blog
• Seamus Ryan’s blog
• Semper Idem
• Sicilian Notes - Richard Waghorne
• Skinflicks
• Slugger O’Toole
• The Cedar Lounge Revolution
• The Dossing Times
• The Tuppenceworth Blog
• The United Irelander Blog
• The Young Unionists

Best Group Blog

• ArseBlog
• Backseat Drivers
• Balrog
• BifSniff
• Blather
• Blogorrah
• Howth Coastguard Blog
• In Fact Ah
• Ireland 16 Days
• IrishElection.com
• Links Heaven
• Old Rotten Hat
• One Breast Less
• Sligo Camera Club
• Sligo Rugby Football Club
• Team Geared Up
• The Cedar Lounge Revolution
• The Community At Large
• The Dublin Blog
• The Limerick Blogger
• Tuppenceworth
• UCD Science Librarians
• Womens Aid Blog
• Wow Blog

Best Contribution to the Irish Bloggersphere

• Bernie Goldbach
• Cian and Simon for Irish Election
• Conn O Muineachain
• Donncha O’Caoimh
• Gavin Joyce for Kick.ie
• Macdara in the Leb
• Michele Neylon for IrishBlogs.info
• Rick O’Shea
• Sarah Carey
• Simon McGarr
• Tom Raftery

Best News/Current Affairs Blog

• Adam Maguire
• Alive in Limerick
• An Spailpá­n Fánach
• Best of Both Worlds
• Dublin Opinion
• IrishElection.com
• Public Inquiry
• Road Deaths.ie
• Sarah Carey
• Skinflicks
• Stephen Spillane
• The Limerick Blogger
• The NewsWire
• The Story

Most Humorous Post

• Ach go háirithe - Reasons Behind Australian Rough-House Tactics In International Rules Series (Exclusive)
• andcurve - Cock-blocking beats
• Arse End of Ireland - Berties Perspiration
• Arse End of Ireland - Won’t Somebody think of the children
• Backseat Drivers - Sex - Breakfast of Champions
• BifSniff - Dry White Seasoning
• BifSniff - Spyware
• Blogorrah - The Twink Tapes
• Blogorrah - Why can’t we all just get along?
• Captain Purplehead - Ah Tis All Too Much
• Chetwynde Downs - The Naile Raye Quintet
• Dublin Opinion - Property Market Causes Ireland to shit its brain
• Earth and Universe - Legend of Uncle Tom and the Bubble Car
• ElBlogador - DUP In Gay Marriage Shocker
• ElBlogador - These are a few of my favourite things
• Fustar - Dis-courtesy Call
• Fustar - Manky Toy Monday: League of the Transformable
• Gingerpixel - Garda Prank Call
• Green Ink - Beep Beep Beep
• Head Rambles - Giving Up Smoking
• Head Rambles - Translation Help Needed
• In Fact Ah - The Occasional Diary Entries of German Director Werner Herzog
• Irish KC - A Kansas City Phone Call To An Irish Mother
• Irish KC - Irish Conversations
• Kav’s Blog - Westside Story Bud
• Letter to America - Drama - Thy Name is Pong
• Life’s a bastard - Scientists - I’m against them
• Manuel Stimulation - From Bad to More Bad
• Manuel Stimulation - Victory to Moroccan Imperialism
• Old Bitter Balls - Or was this just a dream?
• Political Quote - PDs new Spin Doctor
• Pure Cork Boy - Music: The Roaring Forties
• RedMum - Guilty Pleasures
• Rick O’Shea - Ketchup… Catsup..
• Rinceoir - Cry Havoc
• Skinflicks - Babys called Bad Bad thing
• Snackbox - AbuseOS from TwinkSoft
• Snackbox - The Story of Jimbob
• The Great Wee Azoo - Awfully awfully
• Twenty Major - Countdown to Next Election
• Twenty Major - Post Secret
• Wayne Ordinary American - Wayne loves you one and all

Best Newcomer

• 4Basra
• Alan in Belfast
• An Irish Craftworker’s Good Life
• An Saol
• Arse End of Ireland
• Beaut.ie
• Betty the Sheep
• Blogorrah
• Bock the Robber
• Dario Sanchez’s Angry Dome
• Elly Babes
• Fastlad
• Harry McGee
• Head Rambles
• Ireland 16 Days
• Ireland from a Polish perspective
• Kav’s Blog
• Lexferenda
• Linkmap
• Michael Flangan
• Notes on the Front
• Peppermint Tea
• Skinflicks
• Style Treaty
• The Cedar Lounge Revolution
• The Great Wee Azoo
• The Midnight Court
• The News Wire
• The Waiting Game
• What will you see next?
• Where’s the Salt?
• Womens Aid

Best Blog Post

• “Ach go háirithe - We love Irish we do
• An Cainteoir Dáchais - Ag táraíocht na ndálseoirá i mBaile Átha Cliath
• andcurve - Cock-blocking beats
• Annie Rhiannon - Three years too late
• Arse End of Ireland - Where do you get your smoke from?
• Arse End of Ireland - The Bertles
• Balrog - McDowell should walk over Rape crisis
• Bifsniff - Should You Be Laughing At This?
• Blather.net Snackbox Diaries - Introducing AbuseOS from Twinksoft corp
• Blogorrah - Rochegate: Why Can’t We All Just Get Along?
• Bock the Robber - Haughey
• Conor’s Bandon Blog - You may feel a small prick
• Cruiskeen Eile - Boys will be Boys
• Cruiskeen Eile - Phwoarr. How to Report on the Troubles While Getting
• David McWilliams - The Dundrum Paradox - Don’t be Paddy Last!
• Dervala.net - The Passion-Industrial Complex
• Earth and Universe - The day I quit as an Altar Boy. The Genesis of success!!??
• Earth and Universe - The legend of Uncle Tom and the Bubble Car
• ElBlogador - Bloody Sunday In Pictures
• ElBlogador - Peter Robinson
• “Empire State View - Barry Egan