We announced the finalists for the second annual SEMMY Awards on Wednesday morning, and that means public voting is now open in all 17 categories.

To make it this far, an article had to be noticed and nominated for inclusion by one of eight search marketers on the nominating committee, then had to be chosen as a finalist by the category judges. So, these are some pretty good articles that are still alive.

I’m super-thrilled that two of my own articles are in the running for an award:

• Why Reputation Management Matters for Small Businesses is nominated in the REPUTATION MANAGEMENT category, along with articles by Andy Beal and Brett Borders. Here are all three finalists.
• A Small Business Marketing Success Story: John Tuggle, Guitar Teacher, an article I wrote for Search Engine Land, is a finalist in the SMALL BUSINESS category, along with terrific articles by Michael Dorausch, David Mihm, Bill Slawski, and Danny Sullivan. Here are the finalists.

I’d be honored by your votes if you think my articles deserve it. I wasn’t eligible in last year’s SEMMY Awards because I was the sole nominator and decided it wouldn’t be right to nominate myself. But, with eight people nominating articles this time, everyone was eligible.

Whether you vote for my articles or not, there’s a really great collection of search marketing knowledge in the nominees. Please vote in as many categories as you can!