Congratulations to Bec from Running Ponies, Australia’s best science blogger!

The winner of Australia’s National Science Week Big Blog Theory science blogging competition was announced yesterday, and the prize, via popular vote, went to Bec Crew from the wonderful blog Save Your Breath For Running Ponies.

SYBFRP (pronounced: s-eye-b f-er-p – it’s much easier than saying “Running Ponies”, trust me) is a consistently funny and excellently-written blog about zoology. I’ve only been reading it for a little while, but I can easily say that it deserved to be named Australia’s best science blog and, by extension, Bec Australia’s best science blogger.

Some of the Science Week press release:

Ms Crew, who is based in Sydney and has been blogging for about 10 months on fascinating, left-field animal discoveries, takes out The Big Blog Theory national title for the best blogger contributing to the communication and understanding of science online.

Ms Crew, 26, was chosen as one of 10 national finalists by a panel of four judges. Running Ponies then attracted the most online votes of the finalist’s blogs.

“I’m so excited and more than a little stunned that my little blog could win this competition. I look up to all of the other finalists as exceptional science communicators and I’m happy just to be considered in the same league as them,’’ Ms Crew said today.

Inspired to write about bizarre animal, insect and dinosaur discoveries, Ms Crew was determined to show the public that it was important to challenge themselves with science and have fun with it.

“It’s become a sort of Running Ponies mission to get people excited about the fascinating, often left-field discoveries that are being made every day, and to perhaps send a message that science doesn’t always have to be about climate change, oil spills and outbreaks,’’ she said.

“It’s also about Tyrannosaurus with feathers, vegetarian spiders, and newts using their rib bones as weapons.’’

Here are some of my hand-picked selections to start you on your way to loving SYBFRP:

- That’s Just Gross, Leviathan melvillei
- Trust Me When I Say You’re Going to Need a Blow Torch and Some Rope, Amaurobius ferox Spiderlings
- You Should Probably Just Move Oceans, Male Gulf Pipefish

Congratulations are also in order for Corri Baker (@cbsquared_), the winner of the microblogging category in the Big Blog Theory competition. If you have a Twitter account, and you love science (which I hope you do, if you’re reading this blog), then you should definitely follow her.