The winners of the 2020 Canadian Law Blog Awards (known as the Clawbies) were announced right before the New Year.

The Clawbies exist to reward the best and most innovative Canadian blogs, podcasts, videos, legal newsletters, and other forms of online commentary.

The 2020 Fodden Award for the very best in Canadian legal commentary went to the National Self-Represented Litigants Project (NSRLP):

Since its inception in 2013, the NSRLP has won several Clawbies for specific streams of content: their blog, their podcast and self-help resources; this year, we are awarding the NSRLP’s collective body of work with the Fodden Award. The organization’s effort in amplifying the stories and voices of stakeholders involved in the Canadian self-represented litigant phenomenon–from litigants to A2J groups to judges to lawyers–is well deserving of this recognition.

Nominations praised the NSRLP for:

• “their continued effort in making the legal system more accessible to SRLs. Their recent primer is an essential tool for SRLs to be better prepared”
• “maintaining a current list of court changes nationwide due to COVID-19 ever since shutdowns started!”
• “promoting dialogue between self-reps and members of the legal profession.  Understanding the ‘other’ side’s experiences and concerns is a very necessary part of resolving the current A2J crisis” 

There are awards in many categories, including one for Best Law Library Resources. The winners in that group are:

@greatlibrary Twitter Account
Only on Twitter since March of 2020, the Law Society of Ontario’s Law Library “leads the way with its engaging, effective, and entertaining Twitter account.” This feed shares useful and interesting information, uses photos to great effect, and runs weekly fun facts, legal research tips and more."

Great LEXpectations
The Law Society of Manitoba’s Great Library blog is a one-stop shop for court notices & practice directions, library news & resources, substantive law updates, legislation, legal research tips and local legal community blog posts. An invaluable current awareness tool for Manitoba legal professionals."

Library Boy
For an incredible 15 years now, SCC librarian Michel-Adrien Sheppard has been steadfastly sharing the things well-rounded and well-informed law library folks need to know (aka “law library blogaliciousness”). From conferences to research, statistics to court news, Library Boy captures an astonishingly wide variety of citations related to the library and legal worlds."

The other categories are:

• Best Blogs & Commentary
  
• Best Bloggers on a Platform or Group Blog
  
• Best Podcasts
  
• Best Twitter Accounts
  
• Best Innovative Projects
  
• Best Student Projects
  
• Best Multi-Platform Presence
  
• Law & Laughter Awards
  
• 2020 Clawbies Hall of Fame Inductees

The Clawbies are organized by Stem Legal, a B.C.-based strategy firm.