And along with a new site… a new idea, inspired by the main idea behind this site. When I began blogging, I just wanted a way to convince myself to make a record of the day-to-day doings of my sweet family. I wanted a venue for self-expression, and a place to sort out the patterns and happenings of a very average life, to find some more meaning behind the humdrum.
What I found was so much more. I found a community of amazing women who are living and sharing their own beautiful lives. I found that I was fascinated by their worlds, and by how those worlds connected to my own. I found a forum for discussion, even debate sometimes. I discovered that blogging allows one woman’s world to become larger and to reach further than ever before.
So, in the spirit of glorifying a simple, average life, and letting it shine out a little farther than it has before, I would like to announce the first annual One Woman’s World Share the Love Blog Awards!
February being the month of love, it seemed like a good time to launch something I’ve been meaning to start for sometime. It seemed like a good time to encourage the sharing of the blog love, and the recognition of greatness even in our small circle of less-well-known blogs.
I’ve followed some of the larger blog competitions out there this year, and I’ve been saddened that some amazing women bloggers go unrecognized because their readership hasn’t grown large enough. It stood to reason that if a small blog with a small–but amazing– readership hosted awards, that some of the "little lights" out there would get a chance to shine.
Enough of the WHY, and on to the HOW!
We are low-tech here at One Woman’s World, and so we are trying to keep things simple
There are only two requirements to nominate a blog:
1. The blogger must be a woman.
2. She must have a blog.
3. She must not be me! 
Categories:
1. Best Humor
2. Makes Me Want To Have Kids - This one is baffling people. I guess I mean the most Optimistic Mother. The kind that encourages other people to feel great about being moms!
3. Happiest Blog
4. Best Writing
5. Best Site Design
6. Most Inspiring
7. Most Meetable, In Real Life
8. Most Thought-Provoking
9. Best Discussion
10.Learn Something New Every Day
11. Best Commenter
Nominations:
*will be accepted from today, February 7, 2006 by email at onewomansworld(at)gmail.com.
*All nominees will be announced formally on Valentine’s Day, and will be given the option to post a banner on their sites indicating their nomination.
Voting Stage 1:
*We will have one week of voting on those nominees to determine five finalists in each category. *Votes will be emailed directly to me at onewomansworld at gmail dot com.
*You may only vote once in each category.
*You are encouraged to vote in every category.
*Voting will be closed at midnight on February 20, 2006
Voting Stage 2:
Finalist will be announced on the February 21, 2006.
Final voting will then go from the 21st until the 27th. Voting will be closed at midnight on the 27th.
Winners and runners up will be announced on February 28, 2006.
Awards:
*Nominees, Finalists, Winners, and Runners-up will all receive banners which they can post on their sites if they so desire.
*Winners will be decided based upon straight voting. I love you all, and don’t want any personal responsibility for making such a tough decision. (Although I reserve the right to vote once in each category.)
*In order to spread the love around, winners may only place in one category. If they are in several categories, they will be asked which award they would most like to win, and the second runner-up will then win in that category.
In answer to your question: Yes. I realize that I have only a small potatoes blog with minimal readership. In answer to your follow-up question: No, I don’t care at all.
Being a blogger gives you the right to do whatever you want to within the context of your own blog, and I want to share the love with my fellow women bloggers. To thank them for enriching this woman’s world.
Happy nominating!
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Addendum #1
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Blog Awards News!
1. The code is here! If you have been notified that you are a nominee for the Share the Love Blog Awards, then you can place the icon on your site.
Also, here’s the nominee code. It seems that something in my blog software inserts spaces in the code before it publishes. These make it not work. When pasting this code into your blog template, remove all spaces except the one in "a href" and "Nominee Banner" If you’re still having trouble, email me at onewomansworld (at) gmail.com
<a href="http://onewomansworld.blogsome.com"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/32/97694314_c401889909_o.jpg"alt="Nominee Banner"/></a>
2. This has been really fun, so far, kids. I’ve received a ton of emails from people I didn’t know before. All the participation has been friendly and fun. Let’s make sure and keep it that way. No comments cutting down any nominees or participants in any way. If you have comments for me on how the awards are being run, send me an email, and we’ll handle it that way.
3. Happy nominating. Let’s keep those nominations coming to onewomansworld (at) gmail.com
4. As I never specified any guidelines stating that blogs to be nominated must contain 100% G-rated material–not wanting to be personally responsible for censoring the internet–some of the blogs nominated may not conform to everyone’s reading preferences.
This blog competition is designed to encourage the widening of our reading world, and the fostering of community among women bloggers. If you are offended or bothered by the content of the site of one of our nominees, I’d encourage you to pass by the site, not vote for them, and move on. We’re not here to cause any scandals or offense. The competition is about sharing the love, and honoring excellence. I, for one, am really excited about a lot of new reads I’m finding!
