Arte y Pico Award

Our buddy Bunk over at Tacky Raccoons selected Rockhoppers Daily Grind to receive the prestigious Arte y Pico award! Arte y Pico roughly translates as "Pinnacle of Art", so it's a nice award to get -- we try hard to have a nice-looking blog with interesting content.

Here's the official rules for the award: If you receive this prestigious award, upon acceptance, you are required to post these original rules: 1) You must pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award, based upon creativity, design, interesting material, and that also contribute to the blogger community, no matter what language. 2) Each award must have the name of the author with a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone. 3) Award-winners must show the award and put the name and link to the blog that awarded it. 4) Award-winners and the one who has given the prize must show the link to the Arte y Pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award. 5) These rules must be included in your post.

So, we get to bestow the award on 5 blogs we read. I can see this simple award going around the blogging world for a while at that rate -- like a chain letter. :) Since this is a group blog, I'll pick two, Rene will pick two, and Mary will pick one winner.

For my picks, I have to first acknowledge one of the guys who got me started in this blogging game: the anonymous Magazine Man, over at Somewhere on the Masthead. The Magazine Man's posts are personal, deeply moving, and humorous. What more can one ask? Here is the story of how he helped me start blogging. Second, I'll pick my what I consider one of the most interesting blogs in any language: Fogonazos. Written in Spanish, Fogonazos consistently produces excellent articles on amazing subjects. English translations are often, but not always, available, so I frequently view Fogonazos through Yahoo's Babelfish translation tool. Author Antonio Martinez Rum lives and works in Spain.

Rene's picks are: First, a great blog devoted to history, Dr. History, by an anonymous history professor at some southern college. Rene's a history major, and loves reading about history. Her other choice is, unsurprisingly, an art blog. In Handmade Nation, director Faythe Levine covers the new age of art, craft, and design.

Mary's choice is I Spy... by web designer Christian Gehrke. Devoted to gadgets, inspiration, photos, and movies, I Spy has a variety of interesting content.

Congratulations everyone on producing consistently interesting and informative blogs!

Awards on Whidbey Island.