The BAG, Alan Chin And The Koufax Awards

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Although BAGnewsNotes has been around since May of ’03, it wasn’t until about a year-and-a-half ago (during Kerry-Bush) that it discovered its niche.

As I’ve steadily developed this craft of analyzing political images, I’ve been fortunate to have received a good deal of critical recognition and other honors. Within the past few months, I’ve been especially proud to have been nominated for the Koufax Award, the most prestigious (and grassroot) liberal blogging award.

The BAG has been nominated in three Koufax categories, Best New Blog; Blog Most Deserving of Wider Recognition; and Best Post.

Of the three, I am most proud of the third. If you follow this site, you know there are few blogs as respectful and observant of contemporary photojournalism. As part of my allegiance to this art, I have developed a special relationship with Alan Chin. An artist as much as a photojournalist, Alan spent time last year in Iraq, then was in New Orleans right after Hurricane Katrina. Although a couple of Alan’s incredible documentary images were featured in Newsweek, he made his entire Katrina archive available to BAGnewsNotes. (See: Katrina Aftermath: And Then I Saw These). Not only are these powerful and brutally honest images a contribution to humanity, they vividly demonstrate the kind of impact the blogging medium can have.

There are a lot of incredible blogs in the liberal blogosphere, many quite a bit more popular than this one (at least, so far). However, if you’re a fan of The BAG, you might want to visit Wampum (the Koufax sponsor, and a great blog in its own right) and give a nod to BAGnewsNotes. Above all, I urge you to cast a vote for Alan’s incredible images in the “Best Post” thread.

Blog Most Deserving of Wider Recognition category here.

Best New Blog category here.

Best Post (BagNewsNotes: “Katrina Aftermath: And Then I Saw These”) here.