Morocco: Whose blog is the BOMB?

The Best Of Morocco Blog Awards, or the BOMBies, are the latest of Moroccan blogging annual contests. It is centered primarily on English language Moroccan blogs. Voting for nominees, who were assigned to five different categories, closed on February 21, 2010. MoroccoBlogs.com, which is hosting the awards, has recently announced the complete list of nominees and winners.

The acclaimed collaborative blog The View From Fez , topped the Best Overall Morocco Blog and the Best Morocco News Blog categories. The View From Fez interviewed Vago Damitio, the man behind MoroccoBlogs.com and the BOMBies. Some interesting thoughts came out of the dialogue, such as this excerpt:

[Vago Damitio:] It's my belief that the future of Morocco doesn't lie with tourism but with the internet. Moroccans have an aptitude for both language and technology. Morocco sits as a bridge between the East and the West and I think that as the internet reaches adulthood, Morocco has the chance to be the next India in terms of technology. I can't think of a more worthy goal than MoroccoBlogs.com and the Bombies helping to make that future a reality.

The blog Près du puits came first as the Best Personal blog. Culture Vultures Fez won the Best Morocco Culture Blog award, while The Elephant Cloud topped the Best Morocco Travel Blog category.

Evelyn in Morocco who came second as the Best Overall blog, shares her thoughts as she was eagerly awaiting the final results:

I feel like I've won because my colleagues, my friends, my regular readers of this post and especially my students have been so supportive of me and my blog. Because of this contest, more and more people who I live and work with have taken the time to read my blog and have encouraged me to continue to write. Now that's a prize. In fact, it's a priceless prize and I am grateful.

Next up is a Blog Camp, which MoroccoBlogs.com has ambitions to hold sometime next May in the city of Fez.  It will be the first of its kind in Morocco, as Vago Damitio explains to The View From Fez:

This will be a chance for bloggers from all over Morocco to come together in Fez for workshops, community, and fun. […] There has been a lot of interest in Blog Camp since I first mentioned it and even some interest from a few of the top bloggers in the world! It's conceivable Blog Camp could actually become an event that rivals The Festival of Sacred Music in terms of the number of people it could bring to Morocco.

Watch this space!