Voting is now open for the Ninth Annual Sprudgie Awards, a very special awards honorific procedure meant to provide distinction, recognition, cachet and kudos to coffee professionals across a dozen categories. Voting ends December 31st, 2017 at 11:59 PM. In the run-up to the awards we’ll be highlighting nominees from select categories, kicking things off yesterday with a feature on Best New Cafe. Today’s feature highlights our noms for the Best Coffee Instagram or Twitter account.

What’s in a Tweet? And if a ‘Gram is geotagged in a forest, will there be anyone around to fave? This year’s nominees for Best Coffee Instagram or Twitter made us 😂 and 🤔 in equal measure, delighting and astounding us with their dazzling array of artful photography, memetic chicanery, and evocative use of hashtags. In this, our first year of awarding a Sprudgie for Best Coffee Instagram or Twitter, we celebrate those who make social media at least marginally less awful on a daily basis. [Please note there is no award for Best Coffee Facebook, because nothing good happens there.]

Let’s meet this year’s nominees!

3000 Thieves [Twitter & Instagram]

As far as iconic duo's go.. water and coffee is up there 😍☕️ 📸 @bench_melbourne
A post shared by Three Thousand Thieves Coffee (@3000thieves) on Dec 6, 2017 at 6:54pm PST

Micro lots and sustainable cups ♻️ @zest_coffee vibes 📸
A post shared by Three Thousand Thieves Coffee (@3000thieves) on Dec 1, 2017 at 4:11pm PST

The perfect coffee in this weather ☀️☀️☀️Uraga Ethiopia by @zest_coffee ☕️ flavour shot by @diana.brumen 📸 for @3000thieves
A post shared by Three Thousand Thieves Coffee (@3000thieves) on Nov 29, 2017 at 4:31pm PST

LetsBrew.Coffee [Twitter & Instagram]

Saturday #25cupsofchristmas espresso with @barefootcoffee’s washed Ethiopia Guji – my first spin with them via my @mistoboxcoffee subscription – tasting like a sweet chocolate orange and tart raspberries.
A post shared by Bryan Schiele (@letsbrew.coffee) on Dec 2, 2017 at 10:34am PST

Party on w/ @talorjorgen’s Watermelon & Sherbet natural Ethiopia 1931 Geisha on espresso and filter before work. Also gotta give it up for any coffee order that comes with its own Instagram props! 🎉
A post shared by Bryan Schiele (@letsbrew.coffee) on Nov 21, 2017 at 6:51am PST

Hello Coffee! Pulling @coffeewithkyle’s competition Costa Coast today, a washed Costa Rican and natural Ethiopian blend with a sweet chocolate and berry-packed punch. Shout out to @theroasthouse for always nailin’ those tasty fruit seeds!

A post shared by Bryan Schiele (@letsbrew.coffee) on Oct 24, 2017 at 7:45am PDT

Michelle Johnson [Twitter & Instagram]

My Tinder profile already says "your barista's favorite Twitter account"
— Michelle Johnson (@meeshal) December 12, 2017

Don’t worry, I got what I wanted pic.twitter.com/0GKCgG9ZTB
— Michelle Johnson (@meeshal) November 18, 2017

"Michelle, what the hell do you do?" "Well…." Answering that question is always weird and funny because it's many things. Yesterday, it was a photo shoot coordinator, stylist, and second photographer. Today, I'm a barista. Tomorrow, I'm probs gonna be asleep. The best answer is that I do shit I believe in, and it's the best job I've ever had. 📸 @cwgalli
A post shared by Michelle R. Johnson (@meeshalrj) on Mar 26, 2017 at 12:04pm PDT

Matt Perger [Twitter & Instagram]

#judgementday #robotstookyourjobnotimmigrants
A post shared by Matt Perger (@mattperger) on Jul 21, 2017 at 1:00am PDT

Can't stop won't stop.
A post shared by Matt Perger (@mattperger) on Jun 6, 2017 at 2:53am PDT

Baristas be like
A post shared by Matt Perger (@mattperger) on May 6, 2017 at 10:57pm PDT

Jenn Chen [Twitter & Instagram]

Hi @specialtycoffeeassociation board, Of all the decisions to make regarding Dubai, your announcement yesterday was probably the worst. You might as well have said, “Oh, we sort of hear you about issues, but we’ve put so much money into the venue, our values of membership inclusivity and safety don’t really matter, and also you should out yourselves to us if you’re a competitor.” . Based on what was written in the announcement, it is obvious to me that you did not do what you said you did (listen to the membership). We weren’t asking for competitors to be considered, we were asking for anyone who would potentially attend the event. . I don’t know who was at the vote. The board is 20 people. Of that, 5 are women. This unequal board is so out of touch with the membership that I can not believe it’s capable of listening to members or making decisions in line with the organizations’ values. . I am still mulling over which would be a better form of protest for me- 1) Working from the “inside” and enacting change within a structure. i.e. slowly flipping the board. Or 2) Throwing hands up in the air and focusing efforts on fostering the local coffee community.
A post shared by Jenn Chen (@thejennchen) on Nov 10, 2017 at 12:54pm PST

Earlier this year, after @thecoffeewoman panel at Expo, someone emailed me about the hiring bias tools I had mentioned. I googled & compiled some links for them (on my fb page /jennchen3). They emailed me back with the below. . "To give you some feedback, I recently concluded a job search for an new field service technician. Traditionally, the applicants we get for this position have been 95% male. To help remedy this, I used the tools you forwarded me, and integrated some of the commentary from the panel at Coffee Expo. This time around, the posting yielded a 60/40 male/female split. While not perfect, it is a vast improvement." . This post is not meant for you to request additional emotional labor from me or anyone else on panel. It’s meant to show how a few tools can change a business.
A post shared by Jenn Chen (@thejennchen) on Oct 26, 2017 at 12:07pm PDT

My phone auto-corrects the capitalization of Coffee but not god, so now you know where I stand on religion.
— Jenn Chen (@thejennchen) November 27, 2017