Web diarists, online journalers, and personal bloggers have until Monday to register for the fifth annual JournalCon conference at the lowest rate.

Escribitionists of all stripes will converge on Washington, D.C. in August for JournalCon 2004. Held in the nation's capitol in an election year, this year's gathering promises to be the most memorable yet. Early-bird registration, which ends May 31, is $50. The cost goes up $10 to $60 in June, and to $70 in July. Late registrations and walk-ins will be $80.

The conference will be held at the Hotel Helix from August 20-22. For more information on this incredible event, visit the official site and interact with other delegates in the message forum.

Past JournalCons have been held in Pittsburgh, Chicago, San Francisco, and Austin.

The open nominations period for the first-quarter 2004 round of The Diarist Awards has begun, and runs through U.S. "tax day": April 15. This round marks the start of the award program's sixth year.

Both individual entry and full-site nominees are sought in categories ranging from Best Design to Best Rant. A panel of diarists will then narrow the field down to three per category, with the finalist slate put up to a public vote.

Volunteers are always needed to serve on the finalist selection panel. Interested escribitionists are invited to apply online.

When Diary-X founder Stephen Deken decided he wanted to propose to his girlfriend Michelle, he wanted to share it with the world.

But in lieu of renting a billboard along the interstate, he decided to post it on the web  and redirected tens of thousands of users and visitors of his web journal service to it. Strangers around the world were reading the news at the same moment Stephen was down on bended knee, proposing in a St. Louis Starbucks.

Both Stephen and Michelle breathlessly recounted the moment in their respective web journals.

"While we were sitting in Starbucks, I started saying essentially the same things I said in the open letter, and then I got down on one knee, presented the ring, and asked her to marry me," he wrote. "And she said yes. And I am the happiest man on the planet."

"He took my hand and slipped a ring on my finger... and I threw my arms around his neck," she wrote. "At this point he told me about the Diary-X 'time bomb' that he'd set up earlier in the day. For a web nerd, this was the most romantic thing I'd ever heard of."

Of course, making such a public proclamation of love brought a variety of responses.

"It’s amusing to watch such people conjecture about the probable success of my marriage based on the limited information they have about me and my fiancée," Stephen wrote the next day. "I’ve read posts in blogs from people I’ve never heard of criticising me for doing things I didn’t even do."

"But what really makes me smile is the number of people who have written with tidings of well-wishes," he added.

The pair met last year in Austin at the fourth-annual JournalCon, a gathering of online journalers, personal bloggers, and other web writers. The next gathering will be held in Washington, D.C. this August.

The winners of the latest round of the Diarist Awards were announced today, a week later than originally planned. The awards covered the fourth quarter of 2003.

Escribitionists voted to give Ohio diarist April's site, "Some Kind of Somebody," the Best Writing award. The Legacy Award went to Scott "Chrome" Maddox, author of "Chrome Magnum Man," who passed away in September.

Be sure to see the full list of site award and entry award winners.

The fifth-annual JournalCon  the longest-running confab for online journalers, web diarists, and personal webloggers  will take place August 20-22 in Washington, D.C. The JournalCon 2004 website will offer additional details, and also hosts the official discussion forum for the conference.

JournalCon first descended upon Pittsburgh, Penn. in the year 2000, and has since been held in Chicago, San Francisco, and Austin.