I'm no PZ Myers, but I've always wanted to try my hand at stuffing a ballot box, and now I have an opportunity. The science and culture blog 3 Quarks Daily has officially begun the voting for its 2009 Science Prize, and I'm pleased to announce that two posts from Daylight Atheism are in the running!

Here are my two entries:

• The Age of Wonder
• Bands of Iron

The voting began today and closes in one week, on June 8. I'm up against some tough competition, including Carl Zimmer, Phil Plait of Bad Astronomy, and the physics bloggers from Cosmic Variance. I have no illusions that I'm going to win this vote outright - but I don't need to. Either (or both) of my posts only has to be among the top twenty vote-getters; out of those twenty, the site's editors will select six finalists, and the first, second and third-place winners will be chosen from those six by a celebrity judge, Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker. If I can make it even as far as the final round, I'll consider it a great honor.

So, you know what to do. If you like either of the posts I've linked above and consider them worthy contenders, please go to the voting page now and cast your ballot. (Right now DA is erroneously listed as "Daily Atheism" - I'll see if I can get that corrected —fixed - thanks, Abbas!). Let's see if we can put Daylight Atheism on the map!

UPDATE: Both of my nominated posts have made the semifinals. Thanks to everyone who voted!