Hooray! I’ve won both the Informative/Practical and Single Author Travvy awards!

Thank you to all of you who voted for me. Since this isn’t the Academy Awards, I won’t bother to list you all by name and bore everyone else. Just know that I definitely appreciate the outpouring of support.

These awards mean the bar has been raised, and I need to keep creating posts that are more informative AND more practical. As if that’s not enough pressure, I have to keep doing it alone if I hope to win the Single Author award again next year. Let me know how I’m doing at my brand new email address - cf@crankyflier.com.

I would definitely like to encourage everyone to check out the other finalists. They all work hard to put out quality blogs, and they’re certainly good reads. The other Informative/Practical finalists were, Cheapest Destinations Blog, The Perrin Post, Today in Travel, and View From the Wing. The other Single Author finalists were AdventureGirl, Flight Level 390, Killing Batteries, and Travel Sweeps.

While we’re at it, congratulations to the winners of the other four Travvies. They were:

Best Travel Blog: National Geographic Inside Traveler
Best Destination Blog: Newyorkology
Best Group-Written Travel Blog: The Lost Girls
Best Photography on a Travel Blog: Exposed Planet

And lastly, thank you to Mark Ashley at Upgrade: Travel Better for creating and organizing the Travvies. Since he organized it, he wasn’t allowed to win, but he certainly would have been a finalist had he been eligible.

Now it’s time to go celebrate by, er, going to work.

This is the last day of voting for the Travvy awards, so please head on over to Upgrade:Travel Better to cast your vote if you haven’t done so already.

Voting ends at 6p Central Standard Time today, February 28. For the time-zonally challenged, let me spell that out for you. You can vote until the following times in the following areas:

Kalaupapa, Molokai - 2p
Prudhoe Bay, Alaska - 3p
Barstow, California - 4p
Paradise Valley, Arizona - 5p
Elk Grove Village, Illinois - 6p
Fishers, Indiana - 7p
Boston, England - midnight
Ljubljana, Slovenia - 1a (March 1)
Lusaka, Zambia - 2a (March 1)
Baghdad, Iraq - 3a (March 1)
Kabul, Afghanistan - 430a (March 1)
Beijing, China - 8a (March 1)
Uluru, Australia - 930a (March 1)
Auckland, New Zealand - 1p (March 1)

Remember, click HERE to vote. This is your last chance . . . .

I was honored to find out that I am one of the top 5 finalists for two Travvies this year. So, now it’s your turn to help me win. Here’s how you can help.

1) Go over here to vote for Cranky before 6p CST on February 28.

2) Vote for me for both Best Single-Author Travel Blog and Best Informative/Practical Travel Blog. While you’re there, don’t forget to vote for the other categories as well.

3) Check out all the other finalist blogs - there are some great ones in there.

4) Turn off your computer and go to bed. It’s getting late. Do NOT go back and vote again - you can only do it once.

Thanks to everyone who nominated me. Now let’s see if we can win one of these things. Remember, go here to vote for Cranky.

You all know what time of the year it is, right? It’s Travvy time! Wait - you didn’t know? Well, I guess since this is its first year in existence, I’ll forgive you just this once.

Today marks the opening of the nomination process for the 2007 Travvies. These awards are meant to recognize the best travel blogs in the following categories: Best Travel Blog, Best Destination Blog, Best Informative/Practical Travel Blog, Best Group Written Blog, Best Single Author Blog, and Best Photography.

So, head on over to the links above and start nominating your favorite blogs. The blogs have to be in English and they must have had at least 52 posts in 2006. They also must have the word “Cranky” in the title. (I kid, I kid.) Unfortunately, since the awards are being hosted by Upgrade: Travel Better, you can’t nominate that excellent blog, but other than that, you can nominate anyone who fits the above guidelines (ignoring that “Cranky” part, of course). My nominations are already in and, yes, I included myself. If I’m allowed to do it, why wouldn’t I!?!

Remember, this is just the nomination process, but I imagine the more nominations the merrier. Judges will pick their top five favorite blogs in each category and then general public voting for the winner begins on Feb 21 and runs for one week.

I’ll report back here with all the finalists on Feb 21. Happy nominating!