In an article published yesterday morning, Editor & Publisher provides confirmation that indeed, I am a nominee for Blogger of the Year in The Week’s third annual “opinion awards.” (I previously knew about this only through a fellow nominee’s second-hand report; see here.)

It’s a really cool honor to be nominated, but, um, is it weird that no one has, like, contacted me about this? That I found out about it only by chance, because one of my fellow nominees linked to me while discussing it on his blog, and I noticed the link in my traffic stats? That I received confirmation of my nomination only through a Google News search for “blogger of the year”?

Anyway, the lack of contact would seem to suggest that I’m not actually going to win, considering that, according to E & P, “Winners will be honored at an event in Washington, D.C. on April 4″ — coincidentally my fourth blogaversary. Here’s more on the event, which says it’s “by invitation only.” Presumably, if I were invited to an event in D.C. next Tuesday, I’d know about it by now. :)

Not that I’m complaining, mind you. Like I said, being nominated is awesome, and I didn’t seriously expect to win. (Though I’ll admit to being mildly disappointed that I don’t get to attend an event at which one of my senators*, Chris Dodd, is the keynote speaker, and the panel discussion is on the topic: “Covering the Presidency: Are White House Correspondents Real Journalists?”) It just seems a little odd that nobody’s contacted me, that’s all.

*Well, technically Evan Bayh and Dick Lugar are “my senators”… soon to be supplanted by John McCain and Jon Kyl… but in my heart I’m still a Nutmegger, not a Hoosier, so I feel more attachment to Dodd and (especially) Lieberman than Bayh or Lugar.

P.S. Hmm… thinking this through… if only the winning blogger is invited… how on earth do they prevent that blogger from revealing the result on his/her blog, in advance? It’s generally fairly difficult to convince bloggers to “sit on” a story. If someone called me up tomorrow and said, “Brendan Loy, you’re the Blogger of the Year, and you’re going to Disney World Washington, D.C.,” I’d sure as heck blog about it! I suppose if they specifically asked me not to say that I won, I’d probably be willing to oblige, but I’d certainly feel obligated to at least tell my readers, “Umm… I’m going to D.C. next week… can’t really tell you why, but um… stay tuned.” And that would pretty much give away the ghost to those in the know, wouldn’t it? But then, I guess this isn’t exactly the Oscars, secrecy-wise…

P.P.S. Wonkette suggests “an eating contest between Arianna Huffington and Michelle Malkin for Blogger of the Year.” Heh. Well, if it’s to be decided by an eating contest, I would definitely lose. Unless maybe we’re eating brussel sprouts, as I believe I’m the only person in America who seriously loves brussel sprouts.