• GOP3.com, a conservative blog run by Marquette students and an alumnus, has been chosen as a finalist in a blogging competition
• The winner of the competition will be chosen in April and receive a grand prize of $10,000
• GOP3.com was started in response to the Adopt-a-Sniper scandal at Marquette.
• The blog now gets thousands of visitors each month

Whether you love its politics or hate them, GOP3.com, a conservative blog run by six Marquette students and an alumnus, has proved to be one of the "best of the best."

GOP3.com has been chosen as one of the top 10 conservative or libertarian blogs in the country in America's Future Foundation's College Blogger Contest 2008.

According to AFF Executive Director David Kirby, GOP3 was chosen from dozens of entries. Most of the student finalists are "from very prestigious schools," including Dartmouth, Notre Dame and the University of California-Berkeley, Kirby said.

"Our goal is to hopefully introduce these bloggers to the world of professional journalism," Kirby said.

Kirby said the AFF is constantly searching for the next generation of leaders for the conservative and libertarian movement.

According to Brian Collar, one of the three original bloggers at GOP3 and a Marquette graduate student, the blog began in spring 2005 in response to the "Adopt a Sniper scandal" at Marquette.

The controversy emerged after university officials revoked approval for a College Republicans fundraiser that was being held to help marines buy artillery equipment. The university chose to remove the table advertising the fundraiser because they felt it wasn't consistent with Marquette's Jesuit mission, according to Tribune reports from Feb. 10, 2005.

"The blog essentially began because students wanted a way to communicate with the media other than press releases," Collar said, referring to the national news attention that resulted from the Adopt a Sniper controversy. "We wanted a way to anticipate how we could facilitate information to the media in a cost-effective and simple way."

Although Collar said he thinks GOP3 is a good outlet to talk about what happens at Marquette, he was not optimistic about Brandon Henak, a fellow blogger, submitting an application for the competition.

"I honestly didn't think we had much of a chance, so I originally wasn't very enthusiastic," Collar said. "It was definitely a nice surprise when we got into the top 10."

But Henak, a Marquette alumnus, said he thought the AFF competition was a natural fit for the GOP3 blog.

"They want blogs that use commentary that leads to change, and we've seen that (with GOP3)," Henak said.

Henak said this is GOP3's first entry in a blogging contest. He said the site's page hits have increased since the list of finalists was released publicly.

"Anytime we get an increase in readership, it's a great thing for us," Henak said.

The site receives 7,000 to 8,000 visitors each month and has had more than 300,000 visitors since its inception, Henak said.

"We've been pleased at our success with gaining readers, getting links from other blogs and showing up in national media," Henak said.

The winning blog, which will be awarded $10,000, is to be chosen in the first week of April, after a judging panel of "celebrity bloggers" has had the chance to observe and monitor the finalists, Kirby said.

He said the winning blog should not only be intellectual, but also have the ability to influence its college campus and break news stories.