I was away in Austin when the awards took place so I just want to extend a huge thanks to Damien Mulley and all those listed here for all that the Irish Blog Awards has brought all those nominated, shortlisted, judged attended or won. It won’t be the same without Damien and Rick if it keeps going next year.

Also, a humble thank you and “you really shouldn’t have” to the judges who deemed my blog the Best Irish Music Blog for the fifth year in a row. Aoife gratefully accepted the award in Belfast on the night and I thank her for her work on the podcast (new one coming this week). Also, special shoutout to all the other winners (particularly Dylan Haskins as I built his site for him) plus my fellow blog nominees: Harmless Noise, 2UIBestow, Stuart Bailie, State (not a blog really) and every other passionate Irish music blog out there. We’re lucky we have a lot and they’re pretty much all listed in the Links on the sidebar. I like to think that we all impact other’s taste in our own way.

Next year, if there is one, I’ll hopefully sponsor this category and take myself out of the running – I don’t want to win another one NOT because I think I’m better than everyone else. Five in a row is amazing and pretty incredulous, and although nine in a row is tempting, I think I’ve won enough. Cheers!