Judging any content whether creative or scientific is not an easy task. The judges have a task to pick a blog to the best of their ability without bias. Being a judge requires one to be just and follow all the guidelines required in choosing the best among a number of submissions or applications.
At the annually held BAKE Awards, judges have a responsibility to follow a certain criteria in selecting the 5 nominees from among the many selected submissions. Time and patience are essential during the judging phase. Judges chosen have experience in blogging and media.
Top qualities required to pick the best blogs are:
First impression of the blog
How is the structure, layout or design of the blog at a first glance? The blog should be able to attract any reader. It should be user-friendly having a professionalism in appearance and very outstanding. The design should not be vague but display openness and simplicity especially with the type of content the blogs relays. It should also be easy to navigate the blog through a well-defined menu.
All blogs submitted to the awards need to have a working domain. If the domain URL does not work or open, this disqualifies it immediately. The blog should also take less time to open. If the blog has a logo, the logo should be attractive, visible and have a meaningful representation in relation to the blog. The font type used needs to be of a readable size with well-defined post titles, sidebar titles and post body content.
For video blogs, the first impression is the first few seconds of the vlog during the introduction period. The video blog should be able to introduce us to the main topic of the video of the day, have a good logo or name of the vlog representation, display visual clarity and be audible.
Content
The content of a blog should be relevant or appropriate and understandable with the blog name and/or design. The content should be useful and link with the purpose or niche of the blog. It should also be relatable to the target audience.
Consistency is key in the type of content produced regularly both for blogs and video blogs. The blog should be clearly written, concise, easy to read, properly structured, organised and presentable to the users. The paragraph widths need to be the same for the content area of the blog.
For images displayed on the blog, they should all have of a common width and be relevant to the content on the blog. The blog should also be easily accessed from all platforms whether on phone and on a laptop or desktop computer using all the browsers available.
A blog or video blog should also display ethical practices and use of content avoiding plagiarism.
Writing style
The blog content should display good sentence structure where the arrangement of words, phrases, and clauses in a sentence are comprehensible. The paragraph length should display one point about the idea per paragraph, enough to make the point in one paragraph, and continue in the following paragraphs. The vocabulary used should be understood to the users or target audience.
Video Style Presentation
This is how they have used YouTube as a branding platform. From their own logo which is designed to interest the viewer, and encourage them to click on it. They may use specific music on each video which reminds the viewer of the video.
Use of Enhancement
A blog should be able to display images, videos or have audio that is relevant to the blog post.
Marketing and involvement in the online community
Blog or video blog needs to be able to leverage the use of Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn for sharing of content to facilitate reach. The blog or vlog needs to have reader’s engagement through comments and/or shares. The blog should also have a contact form or relatable social media contacts where they can be reached.
Authenticity
The blog should be unique, exploring original ideas that are relevant to the users or target audience.
For video blogs, it’s about a channel having a different perspective. A video blog should be properly branded to reflect the content and the personality of the owner/s.
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