4 April 2006
The first literary prize for bloggers turned authors has been awarded to a "blook" about an American cook's attempt to master the art of French cooking.
It marks the growing popularity of online journals, with writing or reading blogs taking up an increasing proportion of people's time online.
Julie Powell's blook entitled Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen scooped both the overall prize and the best non-fiction work.
Also running in the competition was a guide to the UK's greasy spoon cafes and Cherie Priest's fictional work Four and Twenty Blackbirds.
Speaking about her success, blogger and author Julie Powell said her writing benefited from being expressed as a blog as the whole writing process was done under public scrutiny.
"The community aspect of blogging and the interaction with others kept me honest, kept me writing," she said.
Cory Doctorow, one of the members of the judging panel also spoke of the merits of blogging.
"Those who dismiss blogging as mere confessional writing and complaining about one's day job fail to appreciate just how engrossing those genres can be when handled by a talented writer like Julie Powell," he explained.
The awards were organised and sponsored by the self-publishing site called Lulu.
There are an estimated 60 million blogs in existence online, with the number soaring everyday.
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