It is now just a day until the Football Blogging Awards takes place at the Alexandra Palace in London, in an event set to be broadcast on Sky Sports and across their digital channels.

On Thursday evening (17th May) the best online football content creators will come together to celebrate the work of their peers and congratulate the authors of the best efforts in each of the categories.

It’s an evening imbued with prestige: winners in each category will be crowned thanks to a fan vote and a panel of judges including Bianca Westwood of Sky and Vaishali Bhardwaj of the London Evening Standard as well as Digital Sport Insider podcast guests Paul Rayner of SportBible and Rich Clarke.

The winners, then, will have been elected by those who consume their work on a regular basis as well as some of the most trusted names in the industry who know a thing or two about online content creation.

As well as the award for Best Overall Content Creator – for which everyone nominated in each of the categories will be entered – some of the most sought-after categories will see some stiff competition.

Best Football Video Content Creator

Copa90 are perhaps the favourites in this category after the airing of their documentary series on football’s most intense rivalries around the world, but they will have to overcome some very strong competitors to win the award.

Some of the other big names in this category showcase the full landscape of the internet’s football video creators: Copa with their recent documentaries and interviews with the likes of Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, 442oons and their irreverent and humorous take on the world of football, and TheRedmenTV and their comment and reaction to their beloved Liverpool FC.

Final preparations are underway for @TheFBAs tomorrow night!

???? 17th May
⏲️ 6.30pm
???? @Yourallypally
???? @SkySports

Get ready! ⚽????https://t.co/thMmcXGsQm

— Snack Media (@snackmedia) May 16, 2018

Best Football Influencer

Another category with big names is the Best Football Influencer category. It’s also an award with a nominees’ list filled with massive names and very different appeals.

From Robbie Lyle of Arsenal Fan TV to Hashtag United, the F2 Freestylers and Gary Lineker via Gary Neville and Calfreezy, this is perhaps the most hotly contested award, and the engagement to almost everything any of these people post on social media is huge.

Best Social Football Account

But the appeal of social media isn’t just about the personalities – it’s also about the publishers who shed a spotlight on stats and lesser-spotted events during the game.

This category sees Goal and Squawka go head to head with the likes of SportBible in what is set to be another hotly contested category of heavyweights in the space.

The Digital Sport Best Football Podcast

This is where Digital Sport comes in.

The @ArsenalVPodcast has made the final 10 in the football blog awards. Thanks to everyone who nominated.

It would be great if you could vote one last time by tweeting the following >

"I am voting in @theFBAs for @ArsenalVPodcast to win the #FBApodcast category #FBAs" pic.twitter.com/aTC7wkw0Zk

— Arsenal Vision Pod (@ArsenalVPodcast) April 25, 2018

To celebrate the work of the online creators who are a thriving part of the digital sports ecosystem, DS is sponsoring one of the awards – the Best Football Podcast category.

Away from the big boys, the likes of the Totally Football Show and Guardian Football Weekly, the football podcast space is booming like never before. The fact that anyone can pick up a recording device (even their phone) and create a podcast that people get great joy out of is fantastic, and this year the nominees include plenty of independent pods who have done a great job of keeping their listeners entertained this year.

Nominees include the Nii Lamptey Show, a Coventry City podcast for supporters of a long-suffering club who could be going to Wembley with a play-off victory on Friday night, the Sofa Sports Pod taking a look at football around Europe, and the Arsenal Vision podcast, who have been covering a special final few weeks for the Gunners with the departure of Arsene Wenger.