Last year, I had this brilliant idea. I had this idea to make my life and blogging so much easier of the holidays. I would create my very own blogging awards!!!
It was brilliant because I would get peer nominations for some of the best posts from 2011 and I would post little excerpts and be done. Essentially, a little cut and paste and everyone comes to my blog (hello, traffic) and I can kind of take it easy between Christmas and New Year’s.
NOT SO, MY FRIENDS.
Blogmas 2011 was so successful that I had eighty submissions. Eighty posts submitted from so many different people and so many different blogs. And I felt obligated to read every single one. I read them all. I truly laughed and cried and sometimes scratched my head a little.
And the whole point was not to be exclusionary. So I ended up giving out eighty Blogmas awards. I made it a Top 80 list.
I tried broad categories: funny, touching, heartwarming, tearjerking (is that a word?), and then a massive compilation of what I called “The Rest of the Best” which was a nice term for miscellaneous.
But the not-so-brilliant plan ended up being a lot of work. I read and quoted eighty posts from many authors and blogs. I wrote and scheduled and it frankly took a lot of time. There were many many positives, though.
- I was introduced to many blogs I had never heard of and came across some really good posts.
- I finally read some of the blogs of my Twitter friends, whose blogs I don’t always get to.
- I actually had a chance to make people feel recognized, valued, and just generally good about their writing.
That last one, right there, sealed the deal for me at the end of last year. I knew I had to do it again this year. But this year, I really am limiting it to the top eighty posts. Because eighty is a lot to read, yo.
If you don’t believe me, they’re all still online in all their categorized glory. Start on the first day where I glorify my own writing, move to the second day where I focused on the funny, the third day where we bawled our eyes out, the fourth day where we put our thinking caps on, and the fifth day where I finally formed the miscellaneous category and put the awards to bed.
So THIS year will be much like last year, except I’ll clarify a few rules because not everyone got them. (Yes, even silly little subjective blogging awards gotta have rules).
Presenting the 2012 Blogmas Awards…
In the same spirit of last year, I’ve made a fancy little graphic and I’m also giving myself all the judging credit. Which is totally a poke at me because it’s not like my opinion means anything more than anyone else’s.
Here are the rules in all their glory.
1. Pick your favorite post from this year.
It can be written on any date ending in 2012. This can be your post (self-promotion highly encouraged) or someone else’s post (but please make sure they care enough because I surely don’t want to be snubbed).
Don’t be shy here. If you secretly stalk a blogger because you think they are superamazing, this would be a nice way to let them know that. If you think you are superamazing but for some reason nobody else does, it’s your chance to let us know that. Seriously. Nominate yourself.
Also, I love vlogs. So if you can bring it on camera, then bring it to Blogmas.
2. Create the category in which you think this post should win.
This is the part where people lost points last year. I’ll have broad categories like: Funny, Smart, Tear-jerker, Ridiculous but I want YOUR creativity for the actual nomination. I gave some examples last year of the types of categories but people thought those were the categories.
No. Please don’t make me do all the work. Get creative. Here are a few EXAMPLES:
I nominate this post as: “The best post I’ve ever read by someone who’s not me.”
I nominate this post as:Â “The reason why I’ll never make it onto Babble’s Top 100 list.”
I nominate this post as:Â “The one that made me wonder if I should run away and join the circus.”
Please say you get it now. Right? You get it?
Okay, then. That about wraps up the rules. You enter. I read. I pick the winners. Because no blogger is too small to make my list.
BLOG SUBMISSIONS ARE CLOSED. Thanks for playing along!
P.S. Here’s the kicker. I originally started this as a way to once again not feel so small and unimportant because I wasn’t named to some top mom blogging list arbitrarily decided by some people. And then today I got this.
But I only made it as high as #75 so as far as I’m concerned, I still have a long way to go before I achieve Dooce-like status.
Now let’s go have some fun with Blogmas!
22 comments
I was thrilled to see you among the new bloggers to the list! Congrats!
Thank you, Kim! I’m excited but feel all self-conscious being excited.
Congrats Fadra, you so deserve it! And yay for bringing this back! 🙂
Thanks! Can’t wait to read this year!
This is great! I need to find some posts from friends to nominate too…
And congrats to you, how exciting! 🙂
Thanks! And yes – promote you, promote your friends, promote your dog, etc.
Fadra that is an amazing accomplishment! I’m so happy for you!
Thanks so much!
Wow! Well deserved Fadra! Congratulations. Now to promote myself on your blog — I’ll pick something clean. 🙂
Clean not necessary. And thank you 🙂
First…congrats on Top 100 Mom Blog. Way to go! Second…there is no second. Just congrats on being awesome
THANK YOU!!!
[…] random blogger’s posts. I just want to know the best of the best this year as part of the 2012 Blogmas Awards. So spread the word, […]
This is an AWESOME idea!! I can’t wait to read your pick of the top 80 posts!! (and yeah, good luck to me. It will be an HONOR to be awarded this if you see it as awesome enough)
There always seems to be enough room for everyone during Blogmas!
More importantly, I have to know… what does BLOGMAS stand for. I does mean something, right? <- Type A
It’s an acronym for “Best List Of Great Monkey Ass Scripting.” Or a combination of “blogging” and “Christmas.”
Congrats on being in the top 100! You deserve it. I loved last years BLOGMAS and will definitely take part this year. You sure know how to make a blogger feel special 🙂
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