Nominations for this year’s Edublog Awards are now open. I think the whole process is a great way to learn about exceptional resources that are out there, so I’m an enthusiastic supporter!

I’m only going to offer nominations for a few categories this year, but I’m making up for that by nominating more than one in some areas:

Best Individual Blog

I’m listing two blogs — The Shanker Blog and This Week In Education. Matthew Di Carlo at The Albert Shanker Institute provides the most accessible, even-handed, and savvy analysis of education research around — he makes that blog a “must-read.” And Alexander Russo’s scouring of mainstream and social media for the most informative news and analysis of today’s education policy issues (plus the thoughtful pieces from John Thompson, his regular contributor) ensure that he’s on the top of my RSS Reader everyday.

Best Group Blog

I have to nominate three blogs for this category: Transform Ed, Powerful Learning Practice, and InterAct. Transform Ed is comprised of posts from many educators connected to the Center For Teaching Quality (I’m a member of the Center’s Teacher Leaders Network, but don’t blog at Transform Ed). Many talented educators also blog at Powerful Learning Practice, led by Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Will Richardson. InterAct is the blog of Accomplished California Teachers, though its posts have national significance. David B. Cohen, Martha Infante, and Kelly Kovacic are the primary three bloggers there (I’m a member of ACT, but don’t post at its blog).

Most Influential Blog Post

The Relationship Status of Teachers and Educational Technology: It’s Complicated by Roxanna Elden is hands-down the wittiest, and certainly one of the most insightful, pieces I’ve read about the use of ed tech.

Best Teacher Blog

David Deubelbeiss’ blog, EFL 2.0 – Teacher Talk is my nominee in this category. David gives and gives and gives, and then gives some more.

Best School Administrator Blog

The Wejr Board by Chris Wejr consistently posts thoughtful commentary on issues like parent engagement and rewards, awards and incentives.

Best Free Web Tool

I’m going to nominate the top two web tools on my The Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education In 2011 list:

GeoTrio lets you create a virtual tour of just about anyplace on a map. You type in addresses or locations and easily create multiple “stops” that show the Google Street View snapshots of the area. You can also upload your own images. But that’s not all. What really makes GeoTrio stand out is the ability to easily make an audio recording for each stop on the map.

Corkboard Me is sort of a  Wallwisher-clone that is even simpler to use but has fewer features. You just paste virtual sticky-notes on a virtual bulletin board. One nice feature it has is by pasting the url address of an image link, the image will show up on the sticky note. No registration is necessary.

Best Educational Use Of A Social Network

EFL Classroom 2.0 provides a huge service to ESL/EFL/ELL teachers around the world. It’s a treasure trove of resources and relationships.

Lifetime Achievement

I would be shocked if there is anyone who has helped more educators in the social media world than Sue Waters. I nominate her for this category every year, and every year she is not considered because she’s an employee of Edublogs. “Conflict of interest” or not, she deserves the award!

Best Ed Tech/Resource Sharing Blog

I was a subscriber to John Norton’s Middleweb email newsletter long before he turned it into a blog which is now regularly filled with great resources. It’s getting better and better all the time!

Good luck to my nominees, and to everyone else who gets nominated. I can’t wait to see the entire list and spend a lot of time exploring and learning from them!