The 2013 Bruins Nation Awards: Vote for Best Writing

Happy 2014, Bruins Nation! It's time for the 4th annual Bruins Nation Awards. Let's kick off the first day of the New Year by looking back at the last with our yearly awards for the best writing on from the best online Bruins community. The nominees and the poll for your votes are included below.

Today we will start with the Best Writing from the BN community, and tomorrow we will share our nominees for the Best Comedy. Your votes will determine the winner of the highly coveted Benny, a 5 inch replica of the 40 foot high blue Bruin sculture in downtown Denver. Bruins run Denver, too.

I want to start with my sincere thanks to everyone who participates here at BN. We've been through a lot together since Nestor and Company started this place, and 2013 had its own share of ups and downs. We may not always agree on the day to day issues or the big picture directions, but we can all agree how important U.C.L.A. is to all of us.

As with previous awards, we reviewed everyone of the year's fanshots and fanposts, selected the best, and then narrowed it down to a final 5 nominees. We had some great articles this year from moderators from other blogs, BRO staff writers, and our crew of front pagers, but these awards are given only to our BN community members. The community members are the lifeblood of BN and the reason for these awards as well as for the writing itself.

The finalists were chosen on a totally subjective combination of eloquence, importance, originality, and emotion. It was harder than ever this year to choose just 5, and that's a testament to the great minds and the great passion of the people here on BN. This year's semifinalists included: Nico, mexi, beer&math, furman, pauleydog, 66, islandbruin2, joebruin15, hctiM, cubers, nicks, bryan, VA Bruin, GoFightWin, Karl II, chrisorr, muircoach, russortiz, KS, dbear, charnaw, bruinette, Waitingfor12, seahawcla, BruinCore, brugym, avtwvi, 67, loveucla, penny2i, GoBruins88, OC95, liggphys, ScottEG, and Alum Band Tony. Their works were outstanding.

But we had to pick 5. Each title below is linked to the original post so you can go back and reread the finalists. With no further ado...

The finalists for the 2013 BN Award for Best Writing are:

REFRESHER: Why the National Sports Media Still Hates UCLA Basketball - Bruin Blue, Feb 11. As concern about the basketball program reached a fever pitch, the national media spun a poisonous narrative that embarassed the program and divided the fanbase. Bruin Blue explained the history and motives that pitted U.C.L.A. against the world, and also against itself.

It's Time To Decide, Chancellor - bruinfollower, Feb 19. While U.C.L.A.'s marquee basketball program was flailing under a struggling coach and an apathetic A.D., bruinfollower offered a passioned and reasoned lesson to Chancellor Block about the importance of both academics and athletics to the U.C.L.A. legacy, and asked which side he would take, his own or all of ours.

No Leadership By Guerrero Leads To No Integrity For Our Program - Bruingirl83, April 1. After the Athletic Director completed another crucial coaching search and settled on a option with debatable qualifications and more debatable character, Bruingirl83 elegantly summarized the history that Guerrero failed to consider or prepared to address, and came to the clear conclusion that U.C.L.A. and its fans deserved better.

How a fellow Bruin saved my life! - Dallas-Bruin, Aug 26. One of the best parts of this blog is getting to know the other members a bit better and hear about some of the special conections we share with U.C.L.A. Dallas-Bruin shared an incredible story that combined family, football with Nebraska, and a chance Bruin connection that made an incredible difference in his life.

Soul for Sale, Part 3: Walk with Mad Dog - Bruinut, Sept 7. Any single piece of Bruinut's epic 4 part opus on the construction of an unneeded hotel in the center of campus could have been a finalist, but it was this inspired piece of fiction that spoke of what could have, and should have, been that stood apart. This piece appeared the week of Nick Pasquale's tragic death and was understandably overlooked, but it gets its due recognition here.

Voting will remain open until Jan 7 when we will announce the winners and award our second annual Editors' Choice Award. Last year's Editors' Choice winner was IE Angel, but we then pressed him into indentured service on BN, so we will have a new winner this year.

Get your votes in and share your thoughts in the comments below. Go Bruins!