The HealthCentral Network, Inc. (THCN) has announced their First Annual 2007 Top Site Awards for small Web sites and individual blogs focusing on diabetes. Winners were picked for their dedication and support for diabetes education and individuals living with diabetes, as well as fostering a web-based diabetes community.

THCN gathered an in-house team of experts to choose this year's top diabetes sites. Recipients of the award share THCN's mission to highlight patient voices in health information.

Now for the drumroll ... here are the First Annual 2007 HealthCentral.com Top Diabetes Sites:

Diabetes Mine, Six Until Me, Diabetes Monitor, Daily Diabetic, David Mendosa, Diabetes Update, Close Concerns, Diabetes Self-Management, Diabetes Notes and Scott's Web Log.

In the short time I've been blogging on diabetes, I have learned immense amounts of information, and felt the care and concern these talented writers share with the on-line diabetes community. Through the back and forth dialogue capability of blogging, readers and writers share supportive and opposing viewpoints, and continue to learn from each other with a raw honesty peppered with compassion, personal experience and intelligent insights.

To the winners, hats off to you! Kick back and enjoy the accolades. So many are grateful for your mentorship. But please, do get back to work soon -- we need you.