The Week announced their 3rd annual Opinion Award nominees today (to be presented at the April 4 awards ceremony):

The finalists are:

Columnist of the Year: David Brooks, The New York Times, Jonathan Chait, The New Republic, Charles Krauthammer, The Washington Post, Nicholas D. Kristof, The New York Times, Kathleen Parker, Orlando Sentinel, Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post, Debra J. Saunders, San Francisco Chronicle

Editorial Cartoonist of the Year: Chip Bok, Akron Beacon Journal, Creators Syndicate, David Horsey, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Tribune Media Services, Steve Kelley, Times-Picayune, Creators Syndicate, Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Creators Syndicate, Jack Ohman, The Oregonian, Tribune Media Services

Blogger of the Year: John Aravosis (http://americablog.blogspot.com/), Arianna Huffington (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/), Brendan Loy (http://irishtrojan.com/), Michelle Malkin (http://michellemalkin.com/), Ed Morrissey (http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/)

Last year's winners: Peter Beinart of The New Republic for Columnist of the Year, Tom Toles of The Washington Post as Editorial Cartoonist of the Year, and PowerLine as Blogger of the Year.

The event will feature keynote speaker, Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn), and a panel discussion - "Covering the Presidency: Are White House Correspondents Real Journalists?" with George Stephanopoulos, Jake Tapper, Mike McCurry and more.

We can think of plenty reporters at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue who are praying that the answer to the question posed by the discussion is "yes." There's nothing more sad than the sight of a White House Correspondents who thinks that it's all for naught.