Looking through the list of finalists for the 2005 WebLog Awards, I see a lot of blogs that are amongst my daily reads. And I see a lot of new blogs to check out, to include some very good blogs in my category.

Here are some of my picks and recommendations for this year’s WebLog Awards:

• Best Blog — Michelle Malkin — the first blog I check everyday (and then check again at lunch, and usually a time or two more before the end of the day). The blog that I link back and tip my hat to most often. Michelle is constantly breaking and making stories, not just reporting on them.
• Best Humor/Comics Blog — IowaHawk — this is my favorite category, and I read almost all of these blogs on a mostly-regular basis. I love Day by Day enough to host it on my own blog. But the comic genius of IowaHawk is a step above the rest.
• Best Media/Journalist Blog — Michael Yon — hands-down the best blog of 2005. Not only should Yon win any and all blog awards for his reporting from Iraq, but some of his work has been Pulitzer-worthy.
• Best Sports Blog — Burnt Orange Nation — I live in Austin. I’m an over-the-top Longhorns fan (yes, part of our recent car purchase choice was dictated by models that came in burnt orange). While Sports Frog is my favorite sports blog, they didn’t make the list. So the nod goes to my second favorite.
• Best Military Blog — BlackFive — my next favorite blog category. While I think Michael Yon should have been nominated for and won this category as well, I’d be happy if the Paratrooper of Love won too.
• Best Blog Design — Shape of Days — Jeff just redesigned his blog. While it looks great, that’s not why I read Jeff’s blog. Jeff is one of the wittiest and smartest guys blogging. And he’s from Texas.
• Best Video Blog — RocketBoom — I wrote about Amanda Congdon earlier this year. This women should be a regular cast memeber on Saturday Night Live. She’s that talented and funny. You can subscribe to Rocketboom via ITunes Music store, too.
• Best Law Blog — Stop the ACLU — Because stopping the ACLU is high on my agenda too.
• Best Canadian Blog — The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns — I didn’t even know she was Canadian.
• Best of the Top 1751 – 2500 — Cam Edwards — I’ve started to read Cam regularly after he advised me to “point and laugh at Barbara Streisand”.
• Best of the Top 6751 – 8750 — UrbanGrounds — kind of a no-brainer on this one.