ShaunOakes up for a bloggie award?

I am somewhat confuzzled and bemused.Let me start by saying congratulations to ShaunOakes.com for his nomination in the 2008 bloggies. As well as Tertia and Gladtobeagirl. Great work for SA and the SA bloggers!! I have asked all my SA Rocks readers to get over to the bloggies page and vote!!Now I have read shaunoakes.com before. Once or twice. Nothing more. Maybe I am stuck in a little SA blogosphere bubble but I tend to think of myself as well read and on the pulse of the sphere. In this case I missed out.Can someone explain to me how shaunoakes.com has been nominated as best African weblog of the year for the bloggies 2008? The key here is AFRICAN. I could maybe just understand or grasp the nomination if it were purely South African. But are you telling me that his blog is the best of what Africa has to offer? If so, let me know why and I'll change my mind, but I'm lost.I am not saying any of this to imply that I am any better, cause I'm not. At all in fact. I just want to understand the situation. Were the nominations not well received in general? Were the numbers low? Did Shaun's readers pull through and are they deceivingly high? That can't be the case because his blog is ranked below mine on Amatomu.com and I know that I am not doing particularly well in the whole participatory readership category. Or in the general readership for that matter!!I am also not saying that readership defines blog quality or how deserved a blog is for an award at all. It just interests me to know how Shaun managed to get nominated, what was the process, who voted, who said, who, who, who?Have a look:Below you see Tertia whipping my butt and shaun's butt. She has the readers to get the nominations.Then you can see Tertia whipping everyone's ass:Shaun's blog is friendly and arrogant to a degree (which I like). He strings together posts that are mixed, mismatched and a motley combination of funny, serious, satirical and other things. But I honestly cannot believe that this blog is up there with the best in Africa?Tertia I can understand. A long standing successful blog with proven potential and achievement. Great readership, participation and a focus throughout the entire blog, she is merciless with her blogging and rigorously sticks to a schedule. Understandable nomination.Shaun - if you have a tip for me, please let me know, cause I am interested to know how to get my readers to participate more in what I ask!Either way, whether I am blind, dumb or just plain biased I think it's great that there are a three SA blogs up for awards and I will be the very first person to email Shaun personally and congratulate him if he wins in the category.http://2008.bloggies.com/