As some of you may know, my company organises the MAD Blog Awards for UK parent blogs.
It’s an increasingly big and complicated business – this year we received more than 60,000 nominations in three weeks for thousands of UK parent blogs, writing about everything from food to technology, politics and parenting.
But my favourite thing about this year’s awards is the new award we’ve launched celebrating outstanding members of the blogging community.
MAD Blog Awards Outstanding Contribution Award
This award recognises those bloggers who might not be the most popular, or the most commercial, or the most technically-savvy. They might not be top of any charts, or securing book deals.
But they’re special because of what they give to our community.
One of the truly amazing things about parent bloggers isn’t what they get – it’s what they give.
In five years of parent blogging I’ve consistently been amazed by how generous bloggers can be with their time, advice, support, humour and patience. The MAD Blog Award for Outstanding Blogger of the Year will see ten deserving bloggers recognised for what they give to our community. Ten finalists will be selected by our judging panel, and all of our finalists will deserve some very special (and thoroughly well-deserved) treats in recognition of their sterling work.
I’m glad I’m not judging and I know the judges have a tough job ahead of them, but I do urge you to take the time to head over to the MAD Blog Awards site and nominate some special bloggers for this award.
Wondering who to nominate?
- How about someone who’s helped you get your blog up and running when you were TOTALLY stuck?
- How about the person who took the time to send you a text when they knew you were having a rotten day, just to say hello?
- How about someone who inspired you to support a cause, charity or campaign that you didn’t know about before they took the time to share it with you?
- Is there someone who took the time to help you settle in at a blogging event, and introduce you to new friends?
- Perhaps you know a blogger who has gone out of their way to celebrate and raise the profile of parent bloggers apart from themselves?
You don’t have to nominate just one person – we’re inviting you to nominate up to THREE outstanding bloggers and give them the public congratulations they deserve for being – frankly – completely awesome and amazing and making our blogging community a better place just by sticking around.
Have you nominated yet?
My own personal “outstanding bloggers who have been amazingly helpful to me lately” list is WAY too long and exhaustive to list in full here, but I know there are bloggers who have been incredibly generous with technical support and advice who deserve a nomination, along with those who have pitched in and lent a hand at blogging events during the past year. I am hugely inspired by bloggers who promote important, good causes and stick to their principles even when it isn’t the easy, or popular thing to do. There are bloggers who impress me with their kindness, and who are always quick with a kind Tweet or email when they know someone is having a tough day. And there are so many bloggers who take time out of their day to offer support to someone else they might never have met, whether it’s advising them on a parenting dilemma, or offering a friendly virtual shoulder to someone in need.
Parent bloggers sometimes get a lot of bad press – there are spats and disagreements galore, just as there are in any community – but this award is about celebrating the other stuff that is far more prevalent, and far more worthwhile.
Inspired to nominate the bloggers on your list of awesomeness? You’ll find the form on the MAD Blog Awards site here…
