As a former college newspaper editor, I often wonder what life would have been like had blogs been as popular 10 years ago as they are today. Student journalists at The Ithacan regularly blog in addition to reporting on campus news. I was an advocate for online journalism during my stint as editor, and I’m sure I’d just as passionate were at Ithaca College now.

That’s one reason it gives me great pleasure to judge the America’s Future Foundation College Blogger Contest. This year I was one of seven judges,  including Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online, Jonathan Adler of The Volokh Conspiracy, Radley Balko of The Agitator, Megan McArdle of The Atlantic, Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit, and Jennifer Rubin of Commentary’s Contentions.

For the second year in a row, I was delighted to see such good work being done by college students on conservative and libertarian blogs. It was hard for me to narrow my selections to the top three, so I ultimately picked five that were worthy.

One blog in particular, however, stood out above the rest. The Arizona Desert Lamp, written by Evan Lisull and Connor Mendenhall, took first place in this year’s competition. It’s a well-deserved honor. The blog is a must-read for University of Arizona students, mixing solid reporting with hard-hitting commentary. It is updated frequently (multiple times on some days) and must rival the student newspaper for the depth of information. I don’t know how Evan and Connor find the time for classes.

Coming in a close second was the well-known Oregon Commentator, which also scored a second-place finish last year. Third place went to Ivy Sneakers, written by Max Rosett, a great writer who offers both humor with intelligent analysis of things happening at Yale and around the globe.

It would be a shame not to mention a few of the other finalists. Vandy Right, The New Republicans, The Claremont Conservative, and UNR Students for Liberty were near the top, according to the judges’ voting. I was particularly impressed with Charles Johnson’s work covering the Claremont Colleges. And Mike Warren and Katherine Miller do an admirable job covering both national politics and local news at Vanderbilt.

If every college had a blog as useful as the finalists in AFF’s competition, our country would be much better off. Conservative and libertarian students need these outlets to consume local coverage and provocative opinions — and provide their authors with an place to make their mark.