“There’s nothing better than being embraced by your peers. People who know what it takes to do that, who said, ‘We think that you deserve to be nominated.’ I mean, it doesn’t get better than that’.” That’s what Oprah Winfrey said this week when she learned of her Screen Actors Guild supporting-actress nomination for The Butler.
I didn’t think such noble thoughts when I found out that my blog was nominated for a Canadian Weblog Award. I thought, ‘Wow, I got nominated!”
The Canadian Weblog Awards are judged by a volunteer jury that rates blogs according to:
- Usability and accessibility
- Functionality
- Interactivity
- Aesthetics
- Originality
- Intelligibility and clarity
- Currency (is the content timely)
- Transparency and authenticity
- Attention to detail
- Engagingness
Making Change was nominated in the Business & Career category that had twenty-one nominations. The competition was steep.
I didn’t make the top five shortlist. This didn’t discourage me; it ignited a challenge for next year. Throughout my Change with Confidence journey, I have learned that trying something for the first time is about learning how it works. Taking action on these learnings is how you succeed.
Here is what I will do to prepare for next year’s competition:
- Review the winning blogs – what can I learn from their layout, content and style?
- Learn about the jurors – this a dedicated group of volunteers – are they bloggers?
- Speak with the creator of the Weblog Awards, Elan Morgan – he is a fountain of knowledge on the awards and past winners
- Investigate other blog awards – what does good look like?
- Study statistics on my blog – what posts are most popular, who reads them, etc.?
- Survey my readers – what do people like and what could be improved?
Until then, congratulations to the shortlisted and top-three winners of each Weblog category. I am look forward to reading their blogs.
Phil
