Yesterday I had the honor of introducing the winner of the second annual Blogger of the Year Award. This year’s award went to Ace of Spades, who was chosen for his unique combination of wit and wisdom.

As an anonymous blogger, it was hard to know how Ace would react to the award. He caught many in the crowd by surprise during his acceptance speech. His fellow bloggers at CPAC had nothing but praise. Check out the coverage from the Weekly Standard, Right Wing News, NOVA Townhall, NewsBusters, Little Miss Attila, The American Mind, and last year’s winner, N.Z. Bear.

There’s video of my introduction and Ace’s speech on Townhall.

The other big winner at CPAC 2008 was Mark Tapscott, my predecessor at Heritage and a current visiting fellow who teaches our Computer-Assisted Research & Reporting class. Mark won the Conservative Journalism Award for his outstanding work at the Washington Examiner. More coverage from the Examiner, Captain’s Quarters and Power Line.

Congratulations to both of them.