The Houston Chronicle won by landslide, featuring amazing blogs like Enron: Legal Commentary (a group-blog produced some smart, easy-reading lawyers, a rare thing!) and In Exile: Blogging for New Orleans (by Abram Himelstein, a writer and educator struggling to rebuild after Katrina). Out of all the ratings, this was my favorite standard from the Blue Plate Specials:
"Quality of Writing, Thinking, and Linking
By 'writing' the editorial team meant blog writing. 'I wasn’t looking for regurgitated newspaper columns,' wrote Jessing-Butz in her review. 'I wanted to see sharper writing in these blogs, with an inherent awareness of its form. I also wasn’t looking for diary entries.' They were particularly hard on newspaper blogs that did not link a lot outside their own domains."
Take heart, fledgling web writers--we gotta work harder. I'm still trying to figure out blog writing myself, so don't try any of that fancy rating business with me just yet. It's tough to strike a balance between the speed and professionalism of those full-time Houston bloggers. Still, I love how these NYU journalists stuck some evaluation standards to a genre that badly needs some evaluation standards.
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