If you have a post you want to nominate, please leave a link in the comments below.
The deadline for nominations is Friday January 11th, and the rules of the game are just a click away.

Regular readers will also note the introduction of a Post of the Week “Hall of Fame“. This honour is bestowed upon blogs who have been shortlisted five times or more, and who have also won Post of the Week on at least one occasion. There’s one catch, though: in order to keep the site fresh, members of the Hall of Fame are no longer eligible to be shortlisted.

As always, we are keen to recruit new volunteers for our editorial team. If you fancy helping us out on a regular basis - or even just on a one-off basis - take a look at what’s involved and get in touch.

It has been neck and neck all the way during the voting, with no more than a whisker separating two of our eight shortlisted posts.

In the end, the final set of votes received brought both of our front runners together, in a dead heat photo finish. It therefore gives us great pleasure to announce that the ultimate accolade of Post of the Year 2007 is to be split between…

Big Ass Belle: piano music.

…and…

Little Red Boat: Hard life in the low rises. Of Hassocks.

One is American; the other is British. One is moving; the other is hilarious. Both are beautifully written, and both are splendid examples of the sort of diversity that, at its best, Post of the Week is all about. Hearty congratulations to both Lynette and Anna, and many thanks to all who voted.

Post of the Week will now be taking a quick breather, while we sort ourselves out behind the scenes. We’ll still be accepting nominations, but the next shortlist won’t be appearing until Saturday January 12th.

Wishing all of our readers a Happy New Year,

The Post of the Week team.

Our judges (including special guests James and Jessica) have been voting all week on this year’s fifty winning posts (yes, fifty: week 47 was a dead heat). Here’s our final shortlist of eight.

In order to decide upon the ultimate accolade of Post of the Year (ooooh!), we are throwing the voting open to all of you.

Have a read of the eight excellent finalists, and e-mail mikejla@btopenworld.com with your five favourites, in order of preference, starting with your favourite and working down. (Votes left in the comments won’t be counted. We must all respect the secrecy of the ballot box.)

If you’d like to add some supporting comments for any of the posts, then please feel free to do so.

The deadline for voting is 14:00 (UK time) on Monday December 31st.

Post of the Year will be announced later on the same day.

BIG HEAVY WARNING: Although you are more than welcome to publicise the vote on your own sites, any open soliciting for particular favourites is strictly forbidden. We want this to be decided on merit alone. You got that? Good, then we understand each other.

(Oh, and if you are the author of one of the blogs listed, then you are not permitted to vote for yourself, although you’re free to vote for your fellow finalists. Kinda obvious, really.)

OK, bring on the shortlist!

1. A Beautiful Revolution: Stuff in the air at 1 a.m. (Week 4)

2. Glitter for Brains: The Milky Bar Kid is Strong and Tough. (Week 11)

3. Big Ass Belle: piano music. (Week 14)

4. Growing Up With A Disability: Sandbox Lessons. (Week 16)

5. Little Red Boat: Hard life in the low rises. Of Hassocks. (Week 25)

6. Status Anxiety: I Blame Facebook. (Week 28)

7. Everything Is Electric: I was in a canteen somewhere in the Midlands this morning. (Week 47: joint winner)

8. Sarah, The Bringer of Tea: Happy Tranniversary to Me! (Week 47: joint winner)

See you on Monday!

There are no nominations this week, as we’re suspending the usual operations in order to vote for the Post of the Year.

On Friday night, a Post of the Year shortlist will be appearing. All of you will then be invited to help choose the winner. Come back at the end of this week, and all will be explained.

After the record-setting number of nominations this week, the coveted Post of the Week #49 goes to May Contain Notts’s “By the way, I hate Christmas“. It’s retread of a piece written for last year and a shot of lemon juice in your egg nog! What better for the season, I ask?

“I dunno about you, but if I was his missus and all I could see at night was a massive neon reindeer head staring at me through the curtains, I’m not going to be massively up for a seeing-to.”

Read more…

Nominated by Kate. The shortlister of a thousand faces was Lyle, bless his patience for sorting through such a long list. Judges were quickdraw Mike and Alex the able. Head judge and dutiful scribe was Patita.

Care to join in on the fun? Click here for details of how you can get involved. Go on, you know you’re curious.

Next week is the vaunted, the valued, the vertiginous… ooh, wait for it… POST of the YEAR AWARD! Cue the music!

No nominations for this week, but you can have a look at all of the previous weekly winners here.

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Post of the Week Public Service Message:
Have a look at Girl with a One-Track Mind’s post Consent. It’s a difficult but important read, and very nearly won this week’s award.