Before we get to the heart of the matter, let’s just put it out there: SocImages’ annual Christmas Roundup is ready and ripe for the readin’! Get it!

Now, rather than our usual Roundup, it’s time to announce this year’s fully unscientific, but fully entertaining TSP Awards! Hopefully these excellent pieces from our original content, our blogs, and beyond will keep you in reading material in the days of travel and food comas ahead. We wish you a wonderful New Year full of health, productivity, and ridiculousness, because every good year is a little ridiculous.

MVB: Most Valuable Blogger

Lisa Wade! Who else but the proprietor of the most influential, mind-bending, argument-starting, intrigue-raising, and hell-raising look at society you can find on the web? The indefatigable Dr. Wade is a powerhouse, bringing the sociological imagination to the public with humor and gusto while also managing to teach, publish, comment, and dance.

Rookies of the Year:

Girl W/ Pen. A veteran team, Girl W/ Pen joined our Community Pages this year and immediately started hitting ’em out of the park. They’ve added a fresh, diverse set of voices to our Pages and we couldn’t be happier.

Comeback Kid:

Graphic Sociology’s “Who Is the Millennial Generation?” The post that can’t be kept down, Laura Noren’s piece is a go-to resource that hovers in our sitewide Top 20 posts at nearly any given time. Informative, succinct, and, of course, with a great graphic, this post is a perennial winner.

Best of…

Some favorites from across the site as chosen by our graduate editorial board:

• ThickCulture. “Understanding the Conservative Movement,” by Andrew Lindner.
• Sociological Images. “The Balancing Act of Being Female; Or, Why We Have So Many Clothes,” by Lisa Wade.
• Girl W/ Pen. “Bro-Porn: Heterosexualizing Straight Men’s Anti-Homophobia,” by Tristan Bridges and C.J. Pascoe.
• Cyborgology. “The Coolest Thing about Online Dating Sites,” by Jenny Davis.
• Public Criminology. “We Are the 1 in 100… Fall 2013,” by Michelle Inderbitzen.
• Dispatches from a New Dean. “The Social Sciences Kaleidoscope,” by Walt Jacobs.
• The Color Line. “The Homogenization of Asian ‘Beauty,‘” by C.N. Le.
• Sociology Lens. “Holiday Giving: The Role of Charity in Capitalism,” by Brian Schaefer.
• Graphic Sociology. “Can an Outer Space Graphic Inform Small Group Network Graphs?” by Laura Noren.
• Backstage Sociologist. “You Can Go Home Again… But Sometimes It’s a Long Odyssey,” by Monte Bute.

Best Online by a Sociologist (Non-TSP!)

1. Kieran Healy, “Using Metadata to Find Paul Revere,” KieranHealy.org, cross-posted elsewhere.
2. Phillip Cohen, “Continuing the Fight Against the ‘Pay Gap’,” MSNBC appearance.
3. Dalton Conley, “A Girl Named North?” Vogue.

Best Online Using Sociology:

1. “What’s Killing Poor White Women?” by Monica Potts, The American Prospect. (See also our “Why Are Poor White Women Dying Younger than Their Moms?“)
2. “The Sippy Cup 1%,” by Adam Davidson, NYTimes Magazine. (See also our “Economics, Sentimentality, and the Safe Baby.”)
3. “Pot and Jackpots,” by Ross Douthat, NYTimes op-ed. (See also our “Slots, Pot, and the Culture Wars.”)

And now… DRUMROLL! The hottest of the hot on The Society Pages this year!

White Papers:

“Creating a “Latino” Race,” by Wendy Roth.

Special Features:

“White Trash: The Social Origins of a Stigmatype,” by Matt Wray.

Roundtable:

“International Criminal Justice, with Susanne Karstedt, Wenona Reymond-Richmond, Naomi Roht-Arriaza, and Kathryn Sikkink,” by Shannon Golden and Hollie Nyseth Brehm.

Office Hours:

“Gabriella Coleman on Anonymous,” with Kyle Green.

Citings & Sightings:

“Why Are Poor White Women Dying Before Their Moms?” by Erin Hoekstra.

There’s Research on That!

“Oprah Wonders about Atheism,” by Evan Stewart.

Reading List:

“The Whiteness of Warcraft,” by Jacqui Frost.