I received a form email today saying that because of space limitations at the awards only two finalists in each category had been invited, and that if no invitation had been received, that meant that you were not a finalist
Sigh.
So. THANK YOU to those of you who voted, thank you thank you to those of you who voted often, according to the ridiculous Vote Every 24 Hours dictum that I and Mine so roundly criticized. To any of you who found this blog via the Awards, I hope you visit again and look forward to hearing from you. To those of you who found South Africa through posts on this blog, that is the best reward. Really.
I am sorry we didn't make it despite your efforts, but am not very surprised, given the early gaffs we experienced and our subsequent questioning of the process (which never received a response), and appreciate your support more than I can say.
In the end, I am not sure what criteria are employed to select winning blogs as the Awards propaganda said that judges would use their 'discretion', and not choose the winners purely on votes received. Which is all a bit odd, given the Vote Every 24 Hours thing (purely a gimmick to drive traffic), implying that votes simply don't count? It's troubling.
I trust that the Awards will sort themselves out in years to come and hopefully be more transparent, with independent auditing if they ever do become big.
My best wishes go out to CookSister! (a competitor with 66 Square Feet in the Overseas as well as in the Food category, and a past winner), and to Sprig, a gardening blog based out of Durban, competing in the Green category.
9/30/10: Here's an open letter to SA Blog awards organisers, by Cook Sister!
You totally deserved it, though!
ReplyDeleteI voted, but only once :-) It is troubling, the whole voting thing - but sigh, only too familiar in the SA context. You deserved to win!!
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear Marie, the whole blog awards system seems very murky (as you said). Hopefully you will win when the process is transparent! I know that many of the bloggers in the food category criticized the process, and it was also tricky to have a mixture of home cooking blogs and restaurant blogs - two different categories in my opinion. Nonetheless, you have a beautiful blog which I follow daily, award or not. Thank you :)
ReplyDeleteThis voting by internet etc thing sounds like a great way to assess the public sentiment, but in my opinion, it is worse than leaving the voting entirely up to a panel of judges. Anyway, being "not in first place" puts you in good company - e.g. Susan Boyle, Jackie Evancho, and in the cat world, d'Artagnan Rumblepurr in the New Zealand Top Cat Model contest (all second place).
ReplyDeleteSorry for your frustrations. Your blog is certainly MY favorite blog of a South African overseas!
harrumph! sorry that i did not vote more often, but it sounds like maybe it wouldn't have helped much anyhow. Harrumph! It would have been a nice feather in your cap to have won, but in my 'umble opinion, your blog is great and one of the few i manage to (almost) keep up with daily.
ReplyDeleteWell, through the SA Blog Awards I discovered your beautiful blog so I definitely feel as though I've won somthing! I voted for you often but agree - it's a rather rediculous system!
ReplyDelete~ As a Canadian living in Cape Town, I'm borrowing your amazing homeland and I see you have connections to mine! ~
You can imagine how I feel. I lost fingerprints voting. All for naught?
ReplyDelete"Naught" really. Got to visit your blog even more than ever.
You're our favorite blog on any continent:)
Hello Marie.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link and the good luck message - it seemed to have worked! And I agree, the 24hr vote process is confusing for most and open to abuse.
Anyway, your blog looks great. I am interested in growing food in small space so will grab your RSS feed and follow your posts.