Each year, The Academy holds our annual Academy Awards. The nomination process, the lobbying, the voting and the ceremony itself are all designed for one reason: to help counteract the burnout and compassion fatigue that can be an unfortunate, but real part of dog training as a career. The Academy Awards give us the opportunity to laugh, share our love of all things dogs and celebrate the accomplishments of students and grads. One of the most gratifying aspects is acknowledging the contributions our members make to the industry through their blogs.

This year, 10 blogs were nominated and though only one can be the winner, each deserves its own celebration.

• Weasel Speak in Dog Training and Dog Rescues -Tim Steele, Behavior Matters Academy
• One Delight of Rewards Based Training- Joan Forry, The Dog Abides LLC
  
• Making a Living in the World: Anthropology, the Evolution of Behavior and Training Dogs- Kristi Benson, Companion Animal Psychology
  
• To Promote Positive Reinforcement Dog Training, Teach, Engage and Amplify- Zazie Todd, Companion Animal Psychology
  
• I Tried It and It Didn’t Work!- Jackie Johnston, Believe in your Dog
  
• Operation No Grumpy Gus- Jessica Ring, My Fantastic Friend
  
• How Plain Vanilla Dog Training Gives Power to the People- Sylvie Martin, Crosspaws
  
• Why Education Matters- Glenna Cupp, Practical Pup
  
• Lessons in Pet Grief: Finding Humanity and Hope in the Dark- Beth Sautins, Doggy Geeks
  
• In Defense of Puppy Socialization- Kelly Lee of Dogkind LLC for The Academy for Dog Trainers Blog
  

This year’s winner was In Defense of Puppy Socialization by Kelly Lee, one of the most popular posts here on the Academy blog, and for good reason. In an industry often rife with opinion stated without evidence, Kelly’s blog stands out and shines with its straightforward approach and many citations.

Congratulations to Kelly and to all nominees, who are changing the world for dogs, one blog at a time!