I would think that Indonesia, India, China and the like have a better claim to that continent.

Is this based on religion or racial bias?

Are the American people picking a fight with more than one group?

Middle East, Indonesia, Central Asia and other parts of the world.

What I believe, peple are showing their distaste by going straight for the .com domain – Have you tried to get a .com.au? Heck, you gotta jump through too many hoops for my liking.

I would love to support Australian hosting and registrars but the bottom line speaks and I have been hosting and buying my domains from the US for years now – there’s no GST and there’s simply more competition.

My experience of .au domains is they are difficult to register, more costly plus hosting is expensive. This result should send a message to hosts charging excessive fees, that they are driving dollars out of this country. Ditto to whoever makes the rules about .com.au domains

If anyone knows Australian hosts providing reasonably priced and reliable services, please promote them.

Still, I do agree with all that Trevor says, this was a poor choice, and as for the work in Singing Bridges? Well this kind of thing was done when the artist was in nappies, hardly original.

BTW, remind me if the time ever comes to never use Roseannes services. And yes I also write for Larvatus Prodeo, and yes our server difficulties are being solved as we speak.

Chris – I find the proverbial “suck” type attitude a trifle boring… if I offended, then I owe you an apology. And God bless Darren for his work, but you insult our entire nation, if you measure Aussie internet entrepreneurs, only by Darren’s accomplishments as a Blogger for 3 years.

I was initially slightly annoyed with the choice of winner, but it was after reading Tim Blair’s Blog and the clever research on the topic of judging, and the grant this upstart took from our Government, and then spat right back in their face, when I exploded? His excellent post, leaves you with no doubt as to which judge was solely responsible for awarding the struggling young artist the prize (and BTW young Jodie is currently buying herself a pair of pink gloves in Moscow, compliments of taxpayers’ money – ah! such fine work should be rewarded should it not – she can now get a pair of pink boots in Athens to go with it – I hear leather is quite economical in Greece.)

And mate if you can only make some lame comment as to “well done to anyone who beat Darren” – then I’m afraid you leave yourself open to critique.

BTW. One who genuinely helps is called a “mentor”.

A “mentor” takes the time to reply to emails when a valuable subscriber asks. A recent email to Robin Good (a well known Italian blogger) had a reply within literal minutes, and my esteemed Aussie “hero” has still to reply to his neighbour in Melbourne some 6 weeks later…. about a very legitimate issue surrounding the murder of a young blogger in New York.

Darren… I apologize for causing dissention amongst your troops.

My best to you, always
Roseanne

That said, Darren is not the reason ProBlogger is my favourite Aussie blog. It’s the content. With it’s value to other bloggers, that’s why I say any blog that beats it out of #1 spot is doing well – and should be particularly proud of that effort.

Personally, I don’t agree with these types of competitons though, because they are so subjective. And just looking at the international one, reinforces my feelings on that. And the response here and elsewhere proves it too.

I read heaps of blogs and feeds (92 in all), but only two are not somehow related to my own blogging efforts. So even though I’ve looked at all 11 finalists, I haven’t added any to my RSS reader, because they don’t serve my purposes. But I bet plenty of other people have made some on that list a must a read.

I think this award is an insult to all serious bloggers.

I can help you out with one thing: Larvatus Prodeo is a phrase coined by Rene Descartes – it means “Like an actor wearing a mask, I come forward, masked, on the stage of the world.” Red Rag is the domain name. Larvatus Prodeo is a left wing group blog with over twenty contributors and upwards of three thousand daily visitors. I hope this answers your question.

I’d like to remind hero worshippers like Chris H, that we have a wealth of talent in this country.. which has been insulted by the final choice.

Nor is Blogging about persistence – a decent weblog fills a void, a need, a niche! It educates and entertains. And what the heck does “larvatusprodeo.redrag” mean anyway! (their home page takes about 3 minutes to load) – forget it – I don’t really care.

Good on you Ray – a crock of sh… it is mate!

I wrote more about it on Larvatus Prodeo this morning, should anybody care.

The Ozblogosphere has in fact held its own no-cash-prize awards for the last two years running – google up Australian Blog Awards + Keks for a squiz – I’m pretty surprised people reading here don’t know about them already.

Read the outrage: Australia’s Best Blog Announced: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

I’m scratching my head about 1st place too but I’m still pleased to have made the list. It was unexected pleasure on what was otherwise an ordinary day.

The best blog? It’s personal. Which blog makes a difference to my day? My life? What I do? As Australian blogs go, that’s ProBlogger.

For each person that would be different. Someone shopping for a portable MP3, DVD, video or game players might think my Go Play AV site is the best thing since sliced bread.

So it’s too subjective to pick one best blog. Categories as you suggested earlier, are the best solution.