Today may be just another lazy summer day for you, but it's an exciting one for me, with the announcement that JDLand.com is
one of the four finalists for this year's
Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism. I'm beyond thrilled that my work as a neighborhood blogger has been recognized as one of the many innovative approaches to journalism bubbling up on the web--I guess the lack of sleep has been worth it. It's also a pretty cool (and ironic) award for someone who ditched journalism school way back when because she couldn't stand going to public meetings.
The actual awards--a $10,000 Grand Prize, a $2,000 Citizen's Media Award, plus two $2,000 Special Distinction awards--will be handed out during a September 10 symposium at the National Press Club, where the four winners will present their sites.
There would be no JDLand, of course, without all the people (mostly unheralded) who have helped me out over the past five-plus years by answering my pesky questions, or by passing along information they've come across, or just by reading the site and reminding me that there are folks out there who are interested in this stuff--to all of you go the sincere thanks of the entire JDLand staff.