End-of-Year Awards: WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

Happy end of 2024, everyone!  Today, I am pleased to announce the results of the recent voting for my 4th annual End-of-Year Awards.  Sit down, grab yourself your favorite beverage, and enjoy taking a look at the best of the best for 2024.

First up, we'll look at the baseball card voting results.

Best Topps set of 2024:

Winner:  Topps (flagship)

No real surprise here, Topps flagship ran away with 76% of the vote over the other two nominees (Heritage and Holiday).  I tend to agree with the voters as I was compelled to collect this year's flagship based on the quality of the base card design.  I do love the neon effect that Topps used.  I should also point out here that I didn't vote for any of the categories this year in an effort to not influence anything on my end.

Best Bowman set of 2024:

Winner:  none

That's right, the masses have voted "No Bowman set deserves an award" over the other two finalists (Bowman and Bowman Chrome).  I'm not a Bowman guy myself and it appears that the majority of my readers feel the same way about the brand as I do!

Best Unlicensed set of 2024:

Winner:  none

For the second category in a row, we have no winner.  This particular vote wasn't close, over 60% of the respondents chose "no winner" on their ballot.

Best Insert or Parallel of 2024:

Winner:  Topps Chrome:  All Etch

The All Etch set barely eeked out a victory over Topps Series 2:  Women in Baseball set.  The All Etch set was based on the 1999 Topps Chrome set which I must confess I don't think I've ever seen in person.  Generally speaking, I don't collect Topps Chrome in set form so I often miss some of the more interesting inserts in the set (of course, I also miss the vast majority of inspired inserts that also bloat the typical Topps Chrome release). The All Etch revival is a hit among my readers!

Card of the Year:

Winner:  Topps Update #100:  Paul Skenes

No real surprise here, the young Pirates' pitcher has perhaps single-handedly kept baseball cards relevant for 2024, especially throughout the offseason.  

Best Innovation in Cards:

Winner:  2024 Topps Allen & Ginter Got the Itch

The Got the Itch set is a scratch-and-sniff set featuring 20 distinct smells in cardboard form.  When holding one of the cards in hand, all you need to do is rub the photo a bit and then you can (usually) make out what the odor is supposed to be.  In my experience, I've found certain scents to be much easier to identify than others (apple is particularly powerful).  It's a cool concept and something I've never seen in baseball cards before - certainly a worthy winner though if I were to have cast a vote I think I would have nominated the X-Ray cards from this year's Ginter set.

Now, on to the blogging awards!

Funniest / Most Entertaining Blog

Winner:  Chronicles of Fuji

Fuji is a commenter extraordinaire, I have no idea how he finds the time and energy to read as many blogs as he does and leave some sort of insightful commentary letting the blog's writer know that someone actually read their work!  As for Fuji's blog, it's an eclectic mix of topics that's always sure to entertain (and very often teach as well) which is fitting for a teacher.  

Favorite Blog Series:

Winner:  Flea Market Finds (by Chronicle of Fuji)

Fuji nails the second award in 2024 with his always enjoyable Flea Market Finds series (here's his November Flea Market Finds post as an example).  

Favorite Blogs to Read:

Winners:

1956 Topps

1991 MusiCards blog

Adventures of a Baseball Card Collector

Baseball Card Breakdown

Baseball Cards Come to Life

Baseball Cards Come to Life

CardBoredom

Cards & Coffee

Cards as I See Them

Cards on Cards

Chronicles of Fuji

Crocodile Sport Cards

Diamond Jesters

Dillard's Dugout

Don Cardwell Loves this Blog

He's Known as Strider

Johnny's Trading Spot

Nachos Grande

Night Owl Cards

Nine Pockets

Nothing if Not Random

Penny Sleeves for Your Thoughts

SABR Baseball Cards Research Committee

SR75Cards

The Collective Mind

The Diamond King

The Topps Archives

So many great blogs on that list, congrats to all of you who were nominated by one of our voters.  There are a few blogs in that list that I need to check out but most are blogs that I've been reading for years (and definitely recommend).  Heck, that above list could be a super solid blogroll for someone to check out each day!

Favorite Under the Radar Blog:

Winners:

Don Cardwell Loves this Blog

Nothing if Not Random

Crocodile Sports Cards

Card Boredom

SR75CARDS

Diamond Jesters

Tanner Bibee's Lumber Co.

Dillard's Dugout

Dub Mentality

Not Another Baseball Card Blog

Nominees for this category were supposed to be blogs that perhaps don't get the readership that they deserve.  I hope all of you reading this take a moment to check out the various blogs in the list (especially any that are unfamiliar to you), I know I have a few I need to check out for myself!

Blog of the Year:

Winner:  Night Owl Cards

Once again, a huge congrats to Greg over at Night Owl Cards for claiming my End-of-Year Blog of the Year Award!  This year's vote was the closest ever between Night Owl and the second-place finisher but the venerable owl keeps his crown for another year (and a well-deserved victory, once again).  One of the best things about Night Owl Cards is that he doesn't rest on his laurels, each post is its own special work of art complete with well-researched ideas and (occasionally) a hot take or two on the state of baseball cards.   I also think Greg might be the only baseball card blogger who seems to have a constant batch of people who comment on his stuff simply to be rude and/or get his goat so to speak.  You know you've made it big when you start to attract haters in the comments!  

That does it for this year's awards show!  I want to take a moment to thank everyone for participating in the two phases (nominations and then voting).  I also want to congratulate all of the nominees (and winners) for the various categories.  I want to keep the awards as a positive ending to a year so please, celebrate those that were nominated and maybe go add a new blog or two to your personal reading habits!  And heck, who knows, maybe next year at this time it'll be your blog in the winner's circle!