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It's finally time to unveil the winners of the third annual Nachos Grande Blog Awards (as voted on by readers of this blog)!
This year, readers got to vote for the following categories:
For baseball cards:
- Best Topps set
- Best Bowman set
- Best Panini set
- Best Insert/Parallel set of the year
- Baseball card of the year
For blogging:
- Favorite blogs to read
- Funniest/most entertaining blog
- Favorite blog series
- Favorite "under the radar" blog
- Best blog post of the year
- Blog of the year
Before we get to the results, I do want to thank everyone who took the time to cast their ballot. I hope to continue doing the End-of-Year Awards in the future (though maybe someone should be sure to remind me sometime around September)!
Without further ado, let's get to the awards! Note: I'll try to include the winners from previous years under each category as well for a bit of historical context.
Best Topps set:
2023 Winner: Topps flagship / Topps Heritage (tie)
2022 Winner: Topps Clearly Authentic
2021 Winner: Topps Stadium Club
We ended up with a tie between Topps flagship and Topps Heritage. I personally don't vote for any of the awards (to avoid any sense of conflict of interest, favoritism, etc.) but if I were to cast a tie-breaking vote my vote would go to Topps flagship. That being said, I'm not actually voting so this will officially go down as a tie this year!
Best Bowman set:
2023 Winner: No Bowman Product Deserves an Award2022 Winner: No Bowman Product Deserves an Award
2021 Winner: Bowman's Best / No Bowman Product Deserves an Award
If there's one thing that's clear about my readership it is that the majority of you feel like I do (namely that Bowman isn't worth the cardboard it is printed on). Three years running the category of "no Bowman product is worthy of an award" has taken top billing. This year, nearly 42% of you voted that way!
Best Panini set:
2023 Winner: No Panini set Deserves an Award
2022 Winner: Donruss Optic
2021 Winner: Panini Chronicles
Exactly half of all respondents said Panini wasn't worthy of any awards this year. For those wondering, the highest rated Panini set that did receive votes was Panini Prizm with 25% of the vote.
I did also include a couple of open ended questions on the poll but there was no sort of consensus among respondents. I really ought to start the End-of-Year Awards earlier in the year and do them in two phases - a nomination phase and then a voting phase. Unfortunately, by the time I thought to do that this year it was too late (much like what happened in 2022). Who knows, maybe in 2024 I'll be more on the ball?
Moving onto the blogging awards!
Favorite blogs to read:
- A Pack To Be Named Later
- A Penny Sleeve For Your Thoughts
- Baseball Card Breakdown
- Baseball Cards Come to Life
- Cardboard History
- Cardboard Junkie
- Cards on Cards
- Cards to Talk About
- Chronicles of Fuji
- Diamond Jesters
- Dime Boxes
- Johnnys Trading Spot
- Junk Wax Jay
- Nachos Grande
- Night Owl Cards
- Nine Pockets
- Plaschke, Thy Sweater is Argyle
- The Angels- In Order
- The Collector
- The Pedestrian Collector
- The Shlabotnik Report
- The Topps Archives
- Wrigley Wax
That's an impressive list of blogs, to be sure! While I'd probably add on a couple more if I were to vote, I can't complain about most of the above choices (and there's even a blog or two in that list that I need to seek out as the titles are new-to-me).
Funniest and/or Most Entertaining Blog:
2023 Winner: Cardboard Junkie, Night Owl, Nine Pockets (tie)
2022 Winner: Cardboard Junkie, Cards Over Coffee, Dime Boxes, Night Owl Cards (tie)
Pretty much the cream of the blogging crop right there.
Favorite Under the Radar Blog:
- 1991 MusiCards Blog
- Card Buzz
- Crocodile Sports Cards
- Nothing If Not Random
- Sports Cards From The Dollar Store
- The Angels, In Order
- The Mad Set Collector
If you aren't reading Crocodile Sports Cards or The Angels, In Order you are definitely missing out as those blogs have been on my reading list for quite some time! Personally, I need to check out a few of the others (Card Buzz, Mad Set Collector) as they are truly under the radar for me.
Best Blog Post of the Year:
2023 Winner: My tribute post to my friend Ryan (found here).
I wouldn't normally include myself in an award if I'm the sole winner but I'm making an exception here because 1) I didn't vote at all and 2) I'm completely honored by the outpouring of love that happened due to the post I wrote about Ryan.
2023 Blog of the Year:
2023 Winner: Night Owl Cards
Congrats to Greg over at Night Owl Cards for taking home the crown for a third year in a row! Greg nabbed just under 70% of the total vote in this category making him the runaway favorite blog for 2023. This is Greg's third win in as many years of me running this particular award voting - and it's well-deserved every single year.
I hope everyone enjoyed the awards ceremony - and I personally want to thank each and everyone of you (whether you write a blog or simply visit my blog). Without all of you, I wouldn't still be doing this blogging thing for 15 years here at Nachos Grande!
Congratulations to all these winners, and all the awesome bloggers out there!
ReplyDeleteI'm just happy that someone deemed me worthy of a blog vote! There are a few blog titles I don't recognize, so I'll have to check them out!
ReplyDeleteAm entertained by this every year and not just because I won again! It's cool to see the list of blogs that people enjoy ... Also I'm not surprised no one is interested in voting for a Bowman product, I don't think anyone who is a fan of Bowman has the patience to read a blog, even a blog about Bowman.
ReplyDeleteYep, the blog list is always great (and some new names on there for me to check out as well)! Also, I agree about Bowman. Blech.
DeleteGood year, good results. I hope we see more expansion and more new blogs this next year.
ReplyDeleteI've decided that as much as I'd like to get every possible Royals card I have to start setting limits on my collection. For 2024 I had decided that I would no longer put any Panini/Donruss or Bowman cards on my TCDb wantlist. Nice to see that I'm not the only one that find these cards aren't worth the effort or money.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the award ceremony and congrats to all the winners.
I don't have the talent or ability to write a blog, but sure enjoy reading them.
Truthfully, if "talent" were a requirement for having a blog I"m fairly certain I would have had to fold up shop about a decade ago! Thanks for stopping by (and give blogging a try, we can always use more voices out there).
DeleteI see an absolute Who's Who of excellent blogs listed and am glad some deserving folks are getting some nice recognition here. Also, congrats to Greg once again!
ReplyDeleteHey, I'm on there twice somehow! :)
ReplyDeleteGood to see the quality of card blogs is outpacing the quality of cards. Baseball card set of the year and Topps set of the year can be pretty much one category unless Panini (or Upper Deck) somehow gets a license again. And Topps is barely even trying anymore. I'd have voted for Stadium Club but uh... where is it? :/
Not a single one of my blogs made it. First year ever in any of these voting things. I must be on the decline.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how I missed voting this year either. I never saw the post I guess. Not that i ever vote for mine because I rather see if it makes an impact on its own but i like to vote. I will have to pay closer attention next year to vote.
Dang! I completely missed the voting for this. Honored to see that my blog made the list. Really happy to see that so many trading card blogs are getting recognition, too! There are a few unfamiliar names on the list, so I've got some reading to do. Thanks very much for putting this together!
ReplyDeleteThanks for running the awards! Fun stuff.
ReplyDeleteShhh...if you keep mentioning my blog I'll never stay under the radar! Congrats to the winners...all of them worthy of the honor.
ReplyDeleteSeeing that neither Bowman or Panini have any products deserving brings a smile to my face. I wonder if in 20 years we'll be clamoring for their products for nostalgic reasons. As for the blog awards... congratulations to Cardboard Junkie and both Gregs! Great job guys! And thank you Chris for running the End of the Year Awards!
ReplyDelete