In conjunction with the AHA annual meeting in Chicago, here are the seventh annual Cliopatria Awards for History Blogging, including our inaugural awards for Best Twitter Feed and Best Podcast Episode. Thanks to the judges this year: Manan Ahmed, Kelly Baker, Jonathan Dresner, Mary Dudziak, Katrina Gulliver, Andrew Hartman, Brett Holman, Sharon Howard, Shane Landrum, Randall Stephens, Karen Tani, and David Weinfeld. They have done a fine job, making difficult decisions to choose the best work from strong fields. Here are the winners and brief explanations of the judges' rationale for their decisions:

Best Individual Blog:
The Chirurgeon's Apprentice The Chirurgeon's Apprentice is "dedicated to the horrors of pre-anaesthetic surgery," but this creative and impeccably crafted blog accomplishes much more. Medical historian Lindsey Fitzharris brings the corporeal body into history. Drawing on a range of sources, from seventeenth-century medical treatises to Shakespeare, she illuminates the physical dimensions of the history of sickness, death and dying. The blog brings medical history to a broader audience, with intriguing posts that, for example, set modern practices like blood transfusions and organ transplantation in the context of a history of belief in the body as an instrument of healing, which included cannibalistic practices. Fitzharris' posts are illustrated with striking photographs of historic medical specimens, such as the preserved left ventricle of a woman's heart from 1765, showing the damage caused by myocardial infarction, posted, appropriately enough, on Valentine's Day.
http://thechirurgeonsapprentice.com/

Best Group Blog:
Wonders and Marvels This blog is impressive for the large number of contributors and the level of research that clearly goes into each post. It manages to be both generally accessible and academically relevant. It features excellent illustrations and is a great looking blog.
http://www.wondersandmarvels.com/

Best New Blog:
Demography and the Imperial Public Sphere Before Victoria
Melodee Beals generously shares her work in progress using this research-focused blog. Her experimentation with different techniques (often digital) gives readers a welcome perspective on the challenges of historical study. This is an engaging example of an individual historian making the most of social media (Ms Beals also has a blog related to her teaching). http://mhbeals.blogspot.com/

More: http://hnn.us/blogs/cliopatria-awards-2011