The Friends of Iraq Blogger Challenge is officially ovah! (cue Iron Chef music...). While the totals don't show it yet, Winds of Change.NET and Team Pajamahdeen - Operation Viral Freedom finished 3rd with $5,755.56 raised for SoA Project Viral Freedom (Arabic Blogging).
Time for the overall totals, and a few thank-yous:
Spirit of America ended up raising $90,492.29 total from the challenge; $31,213.73 from all blogging teams and $59,278.56 from a larger group of individual blogs.
- Minnesota's Northern Alliance of Blogs finished in first among the teams, raising $12,135.00 for the unrestricted fund.
- A late surge, or a very large donation, catapulted Iraq the Model past Little Green Footballs to win the individual blog title with $17,140.00.
As one might expect from our team's diverse political makeup, multilateral diplomacy played a significant role in Team Pajamahdeen's strong finish (indeed, it almost resulted in a win). Thanks are due to many people, particularly:
- All donors.
- Chez Nadezha and Pejman
- Jeff Jarvis, who got the ball rolling by leading Team Buzzmachine to our side, creating one umbrella group for the Arabic blogging project.
Team Pajamahdeen - Operation Viral Freedom would then go on to add:
- Michele Catalano of A Small Victory, from independent fund-raiser to team member. This also resulted in an unofficial Command Post endorsement.
- Team Leatherneck, led by Grim's Hall.
- Team HSPIG, led by Ron Wright of HSPIG.
"Citizens Media" is going to be an ongoing focus of our blog, and you can bet we'll keep covering Spirit of America's Arabic Blogging tool project as it progresses. Just remember this snippet from Tim Oren, as he blogs his meeting with Mohammed of Iraq the Model:
The Arabic blogging project has already been much discussed - a new detail is the hope to have enough bloggers and tools in place by the Iraqi elections at the end of January to live blog them nationwide. With the MSM reporters mostly hiding in Baghdad, this would be a guaranteed scoop for the Iraqi blogosphere. (And yes, there is something you can do to help out.) More important than bypassing the MSM will be the effects within Iraq. As Mohammed put it (from my notes):
"I am Iraqi. I can express myself - I can tell my own story. It's hard for people to be alone. If you can see others that share the same thoughts and dreams, you are stronger."
We hope all of this comes to pass. If it does, remember that you played a role in making it so. Thank-you.