The Language Insight blog has been nominated for The Top Language Lovers 2012 competition. Voting begins on the 15th May.

Organised by ba.bla language portal and the Lexiophiles blog, The Top Language Lovers competition rewards students, teachers, translators and businesses who show a passion for and/or promote the language cause. Entries are nominated in four categories, which are:

1. Language Learning Blogs: blogs about the language learning process, both from the learners and teachers perspective.
2. Language Professionals Blogs: blogs by people using languages in their profession, such as translators or interpreters.
3. Language Facebook Pages: Facebook Pages related to language topics, such as dictionaries, translation tools, language lovers’ communities and more.
4. Language Twitter accounts: Twitterers who share content about languages.

Nominations began on 2nd May, and this stage will run until the 13th May. During the nomination phase, you can nominate any blog/Facebook page/Twitter account you would like to be included by leaving a comment on the website or sending an email to stefanie (at) bab (dot) la. After the 15th May, voting will open to the public, and the winners will be decided by taking user votes and the Lexiophiles ranking criteria into equal consideration. The ranking criteria can be found below:

Learning & Professionals Blogs: We look for authored and original content, considering the depth of postings, the incorporation of multimedia (such as videos, pictures, slideshows etc.) and meaningful linking (e.g. in-depth information for further reading, background information, interesting opinions on a subject, etc.). Interaction is also very important, i.e. sharing information and getting other people involved. The most observable feature is comments, but it doesn’t stop there: can users contact the blogger via a contact page, Facebook or similar? We also take into consideration the regularity and frequence of updating, and, finally, the overall appearance of the blog.

Facebook Pages: We look for originality and diversity of content. Good interaction means there are discussions with comments from users and answers to them. We will take into consideration the regularity of posting and the fan base of the page.

Twitter accounts: We will take into consideration the relevance of the shared information, the diversity of content, the use of hashtags and links. Another important factor will be the influence of the twitterer, i.e. whether the content posted is also retweeted and the account is recommended by other twitterers via Follow Friday. Regularity of posting will count as well.

Nominees can vote for their own site once, but after that, it will down to their fans to carry them past the finish line. The results of The Top Language Lovers competition will be announced on 31st May and published on the Lexiophiles blog. The Top 100 and the Top 25 will be published, and prizes will be awarded to the winners. Bab.la will support the Education Program of Unicef in the name of the Top 3 overall winners of each category.

We will post another update on the blog once voting opens, and we hope you will support us in our race to be voted the best language blog in the Language Professionals category.