Open Post: What's happening in your world?

This week the Mamamia Office has been caught by two kinds of fever: Royal Baby and Political Blogger Idol.

We’ve been on royal baby watch for almost three weeks now, so there was a lot of whooping and excitement when we heard the news that Kate Middleton was on her way to the hospital.

The new Prince is completely adorable and we loved mum Kate’s nod to the late Lady Diana with her spotted dress and how adept Wills was at fastening a baby car seat. Impressive.

It’s been a pretty bleak few months of the news cycle, with sadness and cynicism dominating the media. So this news is all the more welcome, as the world can pause for a moment and celebrate something happy.

Political Blogger Idol may not be the topic of dinner table conversation the world over, but it’s dominated discussions here at Mamamia HQ.

We were overwhelmed by the huge number of applicants and the quality of the writing. We’re excited to see who our readers will chose to be the newest member of the Mamamia Team during the election campaign. It’s certainly a novel style of recruitment!

If you haven’t yet voted in Political Blogger Idol, there is a summary of the five finalists below and links to their exceptional political posts.

Now over to you, what’s been happening in your world?

Bonnie Campbell: A Bridget Jones’ Diary reference and we’re in. Bonnie uses clever pop culture references to pull some serious policy punches when it comes to the Government’s new asylum seeker policy. The judges liked that she pulled together strong opinion, backed up with solid research – while keeping the post interesting and engaging to a less politically interested reader. We all remember Kevin on Sunrise, right?

Click HERE to read Bonnie Campbell’s post Come on Kevin, where is the love?‘

Amy Stockwell: The judges loved the easy-to-understand manner in which Amy explained an incredibly complex set of policy issues. She avoids Canberra ‘in-speak’ and uses humour to convey her message to great effect. If you’re confused about the difference between a carbon tax and an emissions trading scheme and want to understand which party is promising what when it comes to environmental action – then this post is for you.

Click HERE to read Amy Stockwell’s post Carbon Tax versus ETS (in less than 5 minutes).

Scott Limbrick: Quality political satire is much harder to come by than it should be in Australia. And that’s exactly why the judges really enjoyed Scott’s piece, which is a great blend of wry political humour with a strong opinion about the use of Government advertising in the lead up to an election campaign. Scott skillfully takes on the voices of several politicians and political commentators in this post and his insights are hilarious.

Click HERE to read Scott Limbrick’s post ‘“We used capital letters to really make the message hit home”.

3Girls, One Capital: This anonymous three blogger team from Canberra chose to look back over the political debate that has been, considering the treatment of former Prime Minister Julia Gillard. They quote British feminist and comedian Caitlin Moran and bring a number of examples together to make their case that media coverage of Ms Gillard’s time in office was sexist. They also mount a pretty serious case against the Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

Click HERE to read 3Girls, One Capital’s post Ask yourself: Would we ever have treated a man like this?

Luke Cooper: Luke’s submission stood out because it is, quite simply, excellent factual news coverage. Luke offers up a clear and thorough explanation of a significant shift in Government policy that occurred last week. He presents the facts, not with sweeping statements and outraged exclamations, but instead relying on his research to make his position clear. Luke’s thorough and well constructed post is compelling writing.

Click HERE to read Luke Cooper’s post Is this really the be-all and end-all of asylum seeker policy?

Voting has now closed.