Read a profile of Yokley here.
Finalists
Occasional Planet — www.occasionalplanet.org
St. Louis Activist Hub — www.stlactivisthub.blogspot.com
Beacon Backroom — www.stlbeacon.org/content/blogcategory/213/314
St. Louis Tea Party — www.dev.stlouisteaparty.com/blog
Jennifer Silverberg
Related Content
More About
Best Food Blog
Every Little Thing
www.everylittlethingblog.com
The Judges Say: What's not to like about this blog? With its incredible photos, wealth of intriguing recipes and — best of all — its relaxed and unassuming writing style, Stacy Anderson does a stellar job of introducing readers to new food ideas and following up with them in the comments section of her blog and via social media. Disclaimer: Stacy Anderson is an occasional freelancer for Riverfront Times' food blog, Gut Check.
Read more about Every Little Thing here.
Finalists
Off the Eaten Path — www.offtheeatenpathstl.com
Cupcake Project — www.cupcakeproject.com
Rhubarb and Honey — www.rhubarbandhoney.com
Iron Stef — www.chairmanstef.blogspot.com
Best Architecture Blog
St. Louis Patina
www.stlouispatina.blogspot.com
The Judges Say: St. Louis Patina is a field trip to the hidden corners of St. Louis that many of us have never visited or noticed even though they're right in our own back yard. Updated almost daily with great photos and researched articles on forgotten landmarks, St. Louis Patina is a love letter to the dwellings, structures and architecture that define our city.
For more on Naffziger and St. Louis Patina, go here.
Finalists
NextSTL — www.nextstl.com
Built St. Louis — www.builtstlouis.net
Preservation Research Office — www.preservationresearch.com
B.E.L.T. — www.beltstl.com
Best Photostream/Flickr
Encor.es
www.encor.es
The Judges Say: It takes more than a fancy lens to be a photographer, and it takes more than a good eye for composition to be a music photographer. What separates Jason Stoff, who runs the website Encor.es, is his enthusiasm for his subjects, which you can see in the way his concert photos find bands in telling moments. In addition to highlight frames, the site includes Stoff's notes on the shoots and snippets of whatever grabbed his attention as a music fan. Disclaimer: Jason Stoff is a contributing photographer for Riverfront Times.
Finalists
Nate Burrell – www.beforetheblink.com
Elaine Marschik — www.flickr.com/photos/marschik
Corey Woodruff — www.coreywoodruff.com
Todd Owyoung — www.ishootshows.com
Mark Scott Abeln — www.romeofthewest.com
Darren Snow — www.flickr.com/photos/darrensnow
Best Use of Twitter to Promote a Business or Organization
Milagro
@MilagroModMex
The Judges Say: It's the only Twitter account that will get us to change our plans of where to eat while driving to another restaurant. The tweets are personable and often include links to images of Milagro's amazing food and come at a steady pace. Bonus: Milagro will even take reservations via Twitter.
Finalists
@Schlafly
@MissOhioVintage
@websteru
@RobustWineBar
@YoungFreeSTL (Vantage Credit Union)
Best Use of Twitter to Promote a Personal Brand
Erica Smith
@ericasmith
The Judges Say: Sure, she's a professional social-media maven, tweeting for the Post-Dispatch as @WeatherBird. But it's Erica Smith's personal Twitter account where she shines brightest. Smith is one of those rare, obsessive tweeters who doesn't get on you nerves with her prolific posts. Always quick with a joke, a thanks or a quick response, Smith has positioned herself as St. Louis' Twitter sweetheart.
Finalists
@EvanBenn
@STLwinegirl
@rizzotees
@NickGilham
Best Use of Video
Show Me Shows
www.facebook.com/ShowMeShows
The Judges Say: Jarred Gastreich's Show Me Shows are worth watching even if you aren't a St. Louis music fan. The clips feature local bands in conversation and playing unreleased songs in carefully selected settings around the city (an abandoned warehouse, the World's Fair Pavilion in Forest Park and a highway underpass have all made appearances). The shot selection and editing make them a pleasure to watch whether you started out caring about the band or not. R&R Music Labs' sound editing ensures that you don't get a garbled mix, and Gastreich's accompanying photos are gorgeous.
Finalists
Feast Magazine — www.feaststl.com/multimedia/videos
Joe Sports Fan — www.vimeo.com/joesportsfan
St. Louisan — www.stlouisan.com/st-louis-arts-channel
Best Use of Social Media for a Civic Campaign
Save Pratzel's
www.falkharrison.com/work/save-pratzels
The Judges Say: From the Arab Spring in the Middle East to the Occupy Movement in the United States, this was the year that social media morphed from a million little vanity projects into a cohesive front for change, or — in St. Louis' case — for keeping things the same. Last summer thousands of Facebook users rallied to help save the Del Taco "saucer" building in Midtown. But it was the smaller "Save Pratzel's" campaign that exemplified the true power of social media. Alerted that the cherished Pratzel's Bakery was closing shop after after 98 years, the brand communication firm Falk Harrison sprang to action with a tweet and a blog post announcing its plans to provide a new owner for the bakery a year's worth of social media if they kept it in business. Soon other local companies (24 in total) would offer similar volunteer services to anyone willing to purchase the kosher bakery. Meanwhile, the social-media fury (hashtag "savepratzels") spawned dozens of local news stories that brought further attention to the cause. And the result? Within a few weeks that buyer — Jon Mills — emerged, inspired by the outpouring of social-media support for the old bakery.
