2020 Book Blogger Award nominations

Hello bookworms!! Welcome to my 2020 Book Blogger Award nominations post!!

Why yes, I have absolutely left my nominations this year until almost the very last moment. Something new and different for my procrastinating self!!

In case you weren’t aware, this is the fourth annual awards, and this year May @ Forever and Everly (who ran them last year) and Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books will be co-hosting them. If you would like to see their posts, please check them out here:

• May’s introductory post for 2020
• Marie’s introductory post for 2020

Nominations are open until 26 July, 11:59PM CDT, so you still have about a day-ish (because what even are timezones) to nominate your fave bloggers!!

There are 24 different award categories, but I’m (probably) not going to nominate for all of them, but who knows what will end up happening? I very rarely come back and edit my intro paragraphs!! Just know that it was really hard to just pick these. I would give all of you an award if I could.

Finally, before we get into it all, I would just like to say that I was so honoured to make it to the second round last year. So I want to thank each and every one of you who nominated me, and voted for me. You are amazing, and your support is one of the things that keeps me coming back to this community, even through the hard times.

2020 Book Blogger Award nominations

Romance

Kayla @ Books and Blends is my go-to romance reader/reviewer. Not just because she reads romance books, but because she’s blatantly honest in her reviews. If Kayla doesn’t recommend a book, you know why. This is something I really appreciate because when I’m in the mood, I don’t want to have to guess from all the amazing-sounding blurbs and then be disappointed. Kayla is providing a community service.

Literary Fiction / Classics / Poetry

Kate @ Books are my favourite and best talks a lot about books that I am not a huge reader of – primarily award winning literary fiction. I always find it really fascinating as to what Kate likes and doesn’t like, but her blog also keeps me up to date with books that get shortlisted for awards.

Mystery / Thriller

If I was to read thrillers, then these two bloggers would be my go to:

• Cassie @ Let’s Get Galactic: Cassie’s blog and instagram is all sunshine and rainbows, but she reads all of the books that I could never bring myself to read!! Seriously, if you’re looking for a thriller, this is the place to go.
• Blair @ Feed the Crime: Blair is my second pick for this category because she has started to branch out into fantasy (yay!), but still reads a LOT of crime and thriller books. If I was to go down this path, I would take Blair’s recs!!

Best Book Reviews

I’m one of those annoying people who barely read book reviews from other bloggers. Don’t get me wrong, there is a genuine reason for this: it’s because I hate spoilers. Not only do I hate spoilers, I prefer to go into a book with absolutely no knowledge of it. Usually the first time I read the blurb is after I’ve finished it. (Please note that if I HAVE read a book, then I will usually read your review.) However, there are some people that I read the reviews of to see if I might like the book because I’ve found we have similar tastes. So, I’m not sure if this means I should put these people under reviews or recommendations… But here we are because they write reviews!

• Birdie @ Birdie Bookworm can pretty much choose all of my books from now on. That’s how similar our tastes are. If Birdie says a book it good, 9 times out of 10 it goes on my TBR.
• Marie and Nyx @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books write some of the best book reviews I have read. I love the way they are set out, and I love how easy they are to understand. They include trigger warnings and a section about the author too.
• Annie @ Dreaming of Cats is one of my fave bloggers, but also one of my fave reviewers. If Annie gives a book 4 or 5 cats, it goes on my TBR. It’s really that simple!!

Best Book Recommendations

Veronika, Ruzi and Sabrina @ Wordy and Whimsical write fantastic recommendation posts. They do the general recommendation posts, but they also write really creative ones as well, such as tropes, coloured covers or if you enjoyed a particular tv series. I think that’s what makes them stand out from the others.

Best Discussion Posts

The Orangutan Librarian writes some of the best discussion posts I have read. I’m not sure I actually need to comment any further on that!! Some of them are deep, thoughtful and evocative posts. Some of them are light-hearted and funny. But they all have one thing in common (well, two, really). They’re all enjoyable. (And they’re all written by someone maskerading* as an Orangutan).

Secondly, I’m nominating Rukky @ Eternity Books. Rukky runs a discussion series called Let’s Talk Bookish. This is a series that I wish I had more time in my life so that I could take part too, but it hasn’t happened yet. However, these discussion posts have such great topics, like ‘Is there too much sexual content in YA books?‘ or ‘What makes a great anti-hero / morally grey character?‘ As part of this, Rukky promotes everyone who takes part in her fortnightly prompts.

* this is a deliberate spelling mistake. Please don’t at me. The Orangutan will understand. (Hopefully…)

Best Blog Aesthetic

I know I nominated Kat @ Novels and Waffles for this last year, but I’m doing it again for 2020. And there are two reasons why. Firstly, and most importantly, Kat’s blog is seriously gorgeous. There is no doubt in my mind about this. Secondly, I love Kat’s designs for all of the blogs she has worked on (there’s a design portfolio section in her blog and it has links to some of the others), which is why I asked her to do my blog when I went self-hosted earlier this year. Kat is amazingly talented, and I love working with her too.

I also want to talk about two other amazing bloggers who have such gorgeous blogs:

• Tracy @ Truffles Literary Wonders: If you have ever been described as having your head in the clouds, then you very much need to stop by Tracy’s blog. It has the most beautiful colours and graphics, and Tracy also offers blog makeovers!
• Meaghan @ Hail and Well Read: Meaghan’s blog is so completely different to everything else I have seen, and I LOVE IT. She redesigned it this year (and renamed the blog too), and honestly it just brings me so much joy every time I read one of her posts!! Not only is it nice to look at, but it’s clever too!!

Best Blogging/Writing Voice

Olivia @ Purely Olivia‘s blog is absolutely gorgeous. I’m not just talking about the graphics, but about how all of her posts are set out and the way she writes them. Olivia’s posts are genuinely some of my favourite to read although I rarely comment because I’m low-key intimidated by their amazingness. They’re always fun, even when they tackle serious issues, and just bring me a sense of happiness.

Most Helpful

I would be lying to myself if I don’t nominate Kal @ Reader Voracious for this. The prompt explanation is “someone who posts thoughtful blogging guides/advice”, and without Kal’s very helpful four-part series on what she learned about going self-hosted, I would not be currently self-hosted. Or probably even know what the differences going self-hosted can do for me. So, Kal is my nomination for this category.

Most Supportive

The explanation for this is “someone who always shares others’ posts in wrap-ups/has kind comments/boosts other bloggers with initiatives, etc.”, and honestly, who better for this than Sofii @ A Book. A Thought. who literally does an entire post dedicated to book blogger appreciation EVERY. SINGLE. MONTH. Yes, Sofii is just that amazing. Not only this, but Sofii is just one of the kindest, sweetest, most supportive and encouraging people in existence.

Most Engaged in the Community

I am re-nominating Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm. Shanah ran the Top 5 Tuesday prompts that I have been participating in for over two years now. As part of this, Shanah visits every one of the posts that link back to her blog, promotes them with links from her list each week, and comments most weeks as well. Not only does she have amazing creativity to ensure that there are unique prompts every week and blog hop to all participants, but she also takes part in other challenges and prompts developed by other people, and does read-a-thons as well. Shanah is taking a break at the moment, but that doesn’t mean that she deserves that recognition any less.

Most Creative (creative/original posts)

For me, this category has to go to Clo @ Cuppa Clo. Clo writes some of the most amazing and creative posts I have come across in the bookish community. First there was her ‘imagine’ series that had topics such as “imagine if two book dragons got married” and “imagine a book dragon in a blackout, during a snowstorm”. And now, Clo has been writing almost like a ‘choose your own adventure’ story for her blog called “Island Adventures”, where all of these readers from across the world are transported to a deserted island, and honestly, I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Best Social Media Influencer

I just cannot go past Cait @ Paper Fury for this one. Cait not only writes amazing novels herself, but she writes fantastic blog posts, hilarious tweets and takes the most gorgeous instagram photos that I am beyond envious of!! Plus she’s a fellow Aussie so she gets a bonus from me for that alone! Cait also adds an unseemly number of books to my TBR every time she posts, so I’d say she’s a pretty good influencer.

Best Personality

Can we all just take a moment to appreciate the force of nature that is Sophie @ Beware of the Reader. Sophie is hilarious, amazing, creative and supportive. I could throw another 30 adjectives in there, and it wouldn’t even come close to me telling you how much I love this woman. Her family updates and crafting posts are always fantastic, and her recommendations are so good. Even when we don’t always agree on a book, I still value her opinion. Seriously, if you aren’t following Sophie then you need to fix that.

Friendliest Member of the Community

I have met so many friendly people through the book blogging community, that this hardly seems fair!! But, here are some I have loved engaging with this year:

• Chana and Malka @ Paper Procrastinators. I really only met them both this year, but they have been two of the sweetest people in this very short time we have known each other!!
• Lili @ Lili’s Blissful Pages is basically the sweetest person alive. Her bubbly personality just shines through her blog and her comments, and to be honest, I kind of just want to adopt her.
• Finally, I want to nominate Evelyn @ Evelyn Reads. I don’t know that I have ever posted a blog post that Evelyn has not commented on. She is loyal, friendly and so incredibly engaging – even if it’s just a quick stop by on my WWW Wed post to tell me what she is reading, Evelyn never misses.

Best at Promoting Diverse Books

So many people are amazing at doing this, which is fantastic on so many levels, especially now. This prompt is another that I want to nominate three bloggers for, so let’s get to it.

• CW, Joce and Skye @ The Quiet Pond are probably all very tired book bloggers. I think I saw a pride month post (Our Friend is Here!) every day from the start of June until mid-July!! Also, the amount of BIPOC authors, own voices authors, and Asian authors that are promoted through this blog absolutely blows my mind.
• Michelle @ Michelle Likes Things posts a LOT of diverse books posts. Every June she has pride related posts, and even in April she was making ‘queerantine’ lists. However, the last few months have been a bit of a shit show for us all, so I’ve been missing her posts greatly!!
• Charvi @ Not Just Fiction started a segment this year called Read the Rainbow, and I love it. The segment itself is about promoting discussion around diverse books, and Charvi interviews other bloggers and readers who might identify with the characters in the book. Seriously, if you haven’t checked out this conversation, then you really need to.

Best Overall Book Blogger

This is always so hard… but I think this year I have to nominate Destiny @ Howling Libraries. I love the consistency of Destiny’s posts, I love scrawling through her shelfies, currently reading lists, and am always gobsmacked by how much she actually reads in a month. I am constantly taking note of the books and reviews that she reads, particularly the graphic novels, as this is where I get a lot of recs from. Destiny’s blog brings me a lot of joy just from reading it. And I highly recommend!!

These are just SOME of my favourite bloggers, certainly not all, and even if I didn’t nominate you for something, then please don’t think that I don’t love and appreciate you, and all of your amazing content. Book bloggers are some of the hardest working people out there who do this job for love, and that’s something that I admire more than anything.