Once again it is the time of year for me to start thinking about our annual dating site awards. Last year's Dating Sites Reviews Choice Awards saw increased visitor participation and some energizing debates and comments. With the growth the site has experienced this year, I would hope to see over 1000 votes for the Single's Choice Award. Our main goal with the 2009 Dating Sites Reviews Choice Awards is to recognize the best dating sites of 2009. This selection process is done not only by us at DatingSitesReviews.com with our Editor's Top Picks Awards but by you the public as well, with the Single's Choice Award.

As requested, one of the improvements you will notice this year with the DSR Awards is, there will now be 2 Single's Choice Awards, One for paid dating services and one for free dating sites. This also means that there will be 2 parts to our poll. The first poll question relates to paid dating sites and allows to select from the 10 most popular. Of these, the top 3 dating services with the most votes will receive a Single's Choice Bronze, Silver or Gold Award. The second poll question allows you to choose from 6 of the most popular free dating sites. The top voted free dating site will receive the Single's Choice Award for a free dating site and recognition will be given for the runner up as well. We decided against having 3 placements here since there are only a limited number of free dating sites contending. Not all of the free dating sites up for an award have a review at the moment but we hope to rectify this soon. Here is the poll for the Single's Choice Award, please cast your votes:

Our review of BlackPeopleMeet.com (BPM) is finally up. I had originally planned to have this review ready a couple of months ago but things kept getting in the way of me finishing it up (my subscription even ran out). With the recent purchase of People Media (the owners of BPM) by IAC (owners of Match.com), I thought it would be a good time to finish up the review (see Story). Expect to see more reviews coming soon of some other People Media dating sites, including SeniorPeopleMeet.com and SingleParentMeet.com.

If you are interested in meeting African-American singles, check out the full BlackPeopleMeet.com Review now.

Are you a member of BlackPeopleMeet.com? If so, why don't you post your own review.

BlackPeopleMeet.com User Review

This weekend it is Chemistry's fourth free communication promotion. All Chemistry members will be able to use the site for free starting Friday July 17th, 2009 until the end of Sunday July 19, 2009.

For those of you who haven't heard of Chemistry before. They are a dating site which performs the matchmaking for you. You fill out the detailed profile (about 30 minutes) and based on your answers Chemistry will send you your best matches that are not only compatible with your personality and lifestyle, but also fit within your own preferences as well.

The last Chemistry.com Flirtathon happened in the middle of May, two months ago (see Story). For more information on this matchmaking service, read our review of Chemistry.

We are expanding!

DatingSitesReviews.com would like to welcome our new blog writer, E. Foley. Every week E. will contribute a number of posts to our new Advice topic, giving her own perspective on dating and relationships. She will offer insight, tips and advice on everything from profile writing to her own online dating experiences.

For more on E. you can read her Bio. You may also send her mail from this page to offer comments or suggest any dating topics you would like to see her cover.

Welcome aboard E.

Tom

Not as much warning this time around, but we knew it was coming. It is official, eHarmony in Canada and the US are having a free communication weekend starting today, Thursday July 2nd, until Sunday, July 5th, 2009.

For those of you who haven't heard of eHarmony's free weekends, it means most features of the dating site are free to use for new and existing members. This includes not only getting to review your matches, you can communicate with them as well. The one thing not included is, Fast Tracking the communication process.

This is Free Communication Weekend number 18 for eHarmony. The last one was held on the Memorial Day weekend in May.

Read our review of eHarmony for more information on this popular online matchmaking service.

I'm late on a few stories but I thought I should get this one out. Lavalife is now offering Speed Dating and it is currently free to try until June 24th, 2009 (2 days left)!

Online Speed Dates at Lavalife starts 8 pm each night (local time), and you get the chance to meet 10 singles in your area and all in 30 minutes. The events are arranged by location and age group. The age groups span 10 years (i.e. 30 to 40). Your current Lavalife profile will have to be completed and you will need to fill out an additional speed dating profile. This includes a picture, (the one from your Lavalife profile can be used), 'Ask me About' phrases which includes 3 topics you enter that your speed date may want to ask you about, and your email contact information.

Once your profile is complete you click 'Sign up now' below the event of your choice and you'll be presented with a confirmation screen. Once the event is about to start you log into Lavalife and click on the speed dates tab to enter your event. Make sure you show up on time as you cannot join in once the event starts. Each speed date allows you to text chat with the other person in real time. You get 3 minutes on each speed date and at the end, you get 30 seconds to decide if you clicked with the person. At the end of the 30 to 35 minute event you will receive your click list. This list provides you with the email addresses of the members you clicked with and who have clicked you.

Once this free offer is over, speed dating events will go on sale for $4.99 each. You may also purchase 3 event passes for $3.99 each and a package of 5 events cost $2.99 each. Passes only expire if your Lavalife account has been inactive 180 consecutive days (6 months).

For more information on this dating site, read our Lavalife review.