From blog to book: US soldier blogger wins prize

Iraq veteran wins blog prize as US military cuts web access

Ed Pilkington in New York
Tuesday May 15, 2007

· Literary award for former soldier's online dispatches
· Critics brand Pentagon's new rules 'self-defeating'



The timing of the award is almost as striking as the writing which it honours. A former American machine gunner's memoir of a year's tour of duty in Iraq based on his blog has just won a major accolade at precisely the moment when the US military high command is clamping down on blogs among the rank and file.
Colby Buzzell was awarded the £5,000 Lulu Blooker prize for My War: Killing Time in Iraq, which was voted the best book of the year based on a blog. It triumphed over 110 entries from 15 countries.

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