Bugs

Voting is now open for the New Zealand Bug of the Year competition, which is an activity of the Entomological Society of New Zealand. As far as I can tell, this is the world's only BotY event, and you don't need to be in or from New Zealand to vote.

The linguistic relevance, aside from the WotY resonance, is their choice of the word "bug" rather than "insect" in the event's name. The first of their FAQs explains it this way:

Most entomologists will correct you if you try to substitute the term “bug” when describing an insect or spider. In fact, a “bug” is technically only one type of insect (insects in the Order Hemiptera have the common name of “true bugs”. They include plant bugs, stink bugs, aphids, cicadas… a few of these are nominated for 2023 NZ Bug of the Year!).

So why did we call this “Bug” of the Year instead of “Insect” of the Year? We had two reasons. (1) We wanted to use an inclusive term so that spiders, worms, and other invertebrates could be nominated for this honorable distinction. (2) “Bug of the Year” just rolls off the tongue in a way that “Insect of the Year” or “Invertebrate of the Year” never could. We assure you – those of us on the 2023 Bug Of The Year committee spent hours discussing and arguing about this, but at the end of the day, “Insect of The Year” would have satisfied the Entomologists and excluded the Arachnologists, while “Bug of the Year” just *bugs* (pun intended) the Entomologists, satisfies the Arachnologists, and the non-invertebrate specialists just learned that “bug” is a technical term that causes debate among scientists.

And the list of 2025 BotY nominees, appropriately, includes plenty of spiders, flies, worms, molluscs, and other critters not in the order Hemiptera. The nominations for the 2026 competition are also open — and I wonder whether nominations of bacteria would be allowed, since they're colloquially called "bugs"? The organizers seem to thrive on controversy, so probably the answer is "yes".

For appropriate musical background, here's Jesse Welles' song "Bugs":

The words, as rendered on the YouTube page (the performance is a bit different in spots):

well have a reason and know why don’t do it jus so they’ll die if yer gonna kill a bug don’t do it jus because

I like bugs and i’ll tell ya why they’re alive and so am i bugs

i like grass hoppers cus frogs eat em i like bees cus flowers need em i like spiders i like slugs i like caterpillars i like bugs i hate crowds i love people i aint down with the plague but im cool with beatles and bugs

whoa bugs r pretty cute bugs r pretty fun there’s a couple of bugs i try n stay away frum mosquitos ticks business flies bugs in suits bugs in ties and i get bit and it makes me itch ya aint ever gonna hear me complain cus they never rlly kill me i jus get bit, itch, and keepa goin my way

bzz bzz bzzz bz bz bzzzzz bz bz bz bz bz bzzz look out there’s a bird bz bz bz bz bzzz bzz alright ya made it bz bz bz bz bz bz bz bz bz bz bzzzz

tenacious dung beetles pushin their gains lil water beatles ridin a wave butterflies are beautiful and moths are mysterious we study fruit flys fer genetics if ya wanna talk serious by and large bugs are okay they’re jus goin along livin their bug day uh huh

and i dont know what the mantis is prayin for but he’s prolly jus thankin the lord that he dont live in a home and he dont have a phone and he dont sit around all angry and bored he’s jussa bug

let’s hear it for the bugs bz bz bz bz bz bzzzz bz bz bz bz bz bzzz buzz on bz bz bz bz bz bz bzzzz

For lagniappe, the song's metrics are interesting as well as skillful.

And in the unlikely event that you haven't already seen and heard it, there's Jesse Welles' more recent song "United Health".