I doubt any major publications are choosing the year's best Japanese learning tool for iOS.

Ok, I edited the title! Though the hostname already makes it clear that it's from a blog.

I don't know what more prestigious annual Japanese learning tools awards you might be confusing this with?

I did also get a recommendation from Tofugu / WaniKani's Japanese learning resources blog which was pretty popular at the time, but they've stopped that series. It would be great to see other annual Japanese tool awards. I’m not aware of any.