Was Machen Die Da? German Blogger of the Year 2014

I'm terribly proud to announce that my friend and colleague Isabel Bogdan and her friend Maximilian Buddenbohm have gone and won the "Goldene Blogger" award for best German blog of the year - for their gorgeous site Was machen die da.

Isabel and Maximilian go out and talk to people about their passions or their jobs, mostly in and around Hamburg. They take amazing photos and then they put it all together and tell the person's story in the first person. It's pretty much always fascinating, like this week's piece on Susanne Dirkwinkel, who sells nautical charts. But here's one about a literary translator, Ulrike Schimming. And here's one about the writer Saša Stanišić.

There's something very special indeed about this blog. It has a fixed concept and is professionally designed, and the people who put it together are very much in the background. But it's their skill and dedication and the time and effort they devote to it that make it a success. All out of a desire to share people's passions. Congratulations, Isabel and Maximilian, on this well-deserved recognition!