You might have heard the news already, but I am pleased to confirm it: The Best of Technology Writing 2009 collection is out, and it includes the article I wrote for Wired last year on griefer culture (“Mutilated Furries, Flying Phalluses”). This makes the third year in a row I’ve had an article in the series, and I’m more dazzled than ever by the illustrious company I’ve been put in. There are terrific pieces here by Clay Shirky, Nicholas Carr, Dana Goodyear, danah boyd, and yadda yadda, not to mention a meaty, thoughtful introduction by this year’s presiding editor, Mr. Illustrious himself, Steven Johnson.
Now, here is where traditionally I announce that I’ll be giving away one free copy of the collection to each of the first three readers who email me in response. But first, I have a bigger announcement I want to make: I am officially out of the running for inclusion in next year’s Best of Technology Writing because — ta-da! — I’m going to be its editor. This entails, on the one hand, the honor and challenge of filling the god-size shoes of my predecessors (Clive Thompson, Stevens Levy and Johnson), and on the other, the pain in the ass of winnowing this year’s metric crap-tonne of technology writing down to its very finest crap-milliliter. Care to help?
I’m serious. The nominations page is now open for submissions. And to kickstart the crowdsourcing, I hereby announce a slight modification to the rules of my traditional free-book offer: This year the freebies go to the first four of you who send a nomination straight to me (at julian@juliandibbell.com). It has to be a nomination no other first responder has already sent in (so including multiple nominations in your message will improve your chances), but otherwise the only restrictions are the guidelines given on the submissions page:
Both readers and writers are welcome to nominate pieces, and self-nominations are encouraged. Profiles, policy, and Big Think pieces; blog posts, features, and investigative reporting; human interest, humor, business and gadgetry are all welcome. But the ideal submissions will:
* be engagingly written for a mass audience;
* be no longer than 5,000 words;
* have been published between January 1 and December 31, 2009.
Got it? Right then: Start your browsers aaaaaaand go!
UPDATE (11/10/2009): We have a winner: Anne Trubek of Cleveland, Ohio, has submitted a nomination and claimed her very own copy of The Best of Technology Writing 2009. But hold on, I’ve still got two more copies to give away. No, tell you what, make that three more copies. Yes: I’m going to give away a grand total of FOUR FREE COPIES of this year’s Best of Tech Writing collection. And hell, I’ll make it EVEN EASIER for you to win one: Yes, I am hereby loosening the contest rules and taking any valid nomination as a winner, even if it’s already been submitted. So go ahead: Give me one nomination, give me twenty, your chances of WINNING are just as SPECTACULAR either way. Are the implications sinking in here? Yes? THEN WHAT IN THE NAME OF SWEET BABY JESUS ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Send. Me. Your nomination(s). NOW.