Recognition out there for bloggers!

It seems at last that the literary world is starting to recognise the erudite contributions from the world's 60 million or so bloggers.

The first short list for bloggers turned authors has been announced - 89 entries have been whittled down to 16, and the winners will be announced on the 3rd of April.

Bob Young, founder of the self-publishing site Lulu, which sponsors the award, said that books from blogs are now becoming hugely popular.

Any blog book, or 'blook', published anywhere in the world before January 2006 was eligible for entry in one of three categories - fiction, non-fiction, and comics. The prize fund is $4,000 - the overall winner to receive $2,000, and the other two category winners will each pocket $1,000.

The majority of entries are from the US, but two of the strongest UK contenders are Belle De Jour, whose blog tells about life as a prostitute, and Russell Davies, whose eggbaconchipsandbeans blog is a guide to the best greasy spoons in the UK.

Interestingly enough, considering this marks a synthesis of e-medial (is that a word?) and more traditional publishing (paper) materials, the prize marks the 450th anniversary of Gutenberg's invention of moveable type.