Award Updates | The Homeschool Blog Awards

Archive for the ‘Award Updates’ Category

And the WINNERS ARE:

Written by Sprittibee on December 17, 2007 – 12:33 am -

It isn’t Winner Wednesday, but I’m announcing the winners anyway. Below is a list of the “people’s choice” for each category. The same thing happened this year as last year (we had a couple of winners that won multiple categories). That’s OK this year, but for fairness to the rest of the nominees, next year we are going to limit winning to one category. Not sure exactly what the rule will be yet (we’ll hash that over later). We’ll announce it next fall.

Before I list the winners, let me say that the Homeschool Blog Awards website will go on as usual. Be sure to check in with us here for:

Memo Monday (updates/curriculum reviews/etc.)
Tuesday Tour (highlights on the homeschool blogosphere)
Winner Wednesday (interviews of winners and award updates)
Thursday Thoughts (devotionals and quotes)
Foto or Funny Friday (humor and smiles)
Saturday Swap/Scripture/Literature/Better Blogging

We post 6 days a week here with our team of 9 or 10. We hope you’ll hang around after the awards have come and gone.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THIS YEAR’S 2007 HOMESCHOOL BLOG AWARD WINNERS!

Best Homeschool Mom Blog

Preschoolers and Peace

Best Homeschool Dad Blog

The Mango Times

Best Blog Design

Training Hearts

Best Artistic Content Blog

A Bowl of Moss and Pebbles

Best Crafts, Plans & Projects Blog

By Sun and Candlelight

Best Family or Group Blog

The Common Room

Best Encourager Blog

Everyday Me

Best “Live What You Believe” Homeschool Blog

Holy Experience

Best Unschooling or Eclectic Homeschooling Blog

Eclectic Education

Best Geographical Blog

One Child Policy Homeschool

Best Current Events, Opinions, or Politics Blog

Principled Discovery

Best Homemaking or Recipes Blog

Welcome to Keeping the Home

Best Teen Guy Blog

The Voice of Experience

Best Teen Gal Blog

01 Charger

Best Teen Group Blog

The Rebelution

Funniest Homeschool Blog

It Coulda’ Been Worse

Best Cyber-Buddy Blog

Dewey’s Treehouse

Best Curriculum or Business Blog

Home Where They Belong

Best Thrifty Homeschooler Blog

Biblical Womanhood

Best Super-Homeschooler

Heart of Wisdom Blog

Best Nitty-Gritty Homeschool Blog

It Coulda’ Been Worse

Best Variety Blog

The Common Room

Best NEW Homeschool Blog

Mama Archer’s Blog

If you are one of these lucky bloggers, be sure to email us at the HSBA website so we can get you a winner button for your sidebar and get info from you for your prizes.

Everyone else, be sure to continue to stop in at all the wonderful blogs that were nominated for the awards. While we only have a few winners, the bloggers represented in the nominee lists are top notch. Thanks for helping to make this a fun and wonderful 2007 awards season. We’ll see you tomorrow - back on a regular posting schedule!

Merry Christmas and have a super week from the HSBA team.

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Site Updates

Written by Dawn on December 12, 2007 – 10:41 pm -

Only 3 days of voting remain, and over 7000 votes have already been cast! There have been some questions regarding multiple voting. The voting page states “You may only vote ONCE per category per person in your home. No more than 5 votes per network/IP.” Although this is what’s allowed, it may or may not work for you. Here are some observations based on personal experience and feedback from others:

To vote more than once, use another computer in your home; once you have voted in a particular category, you will most likely see only the results and not the option to vote again while using the same computer.
The ability to vote more than once from the same IP address appears to be greatly influenced by your computer and network.
When I voted on my desktop computer first, I was able to cast a second vote in the same category from my laptop (wireless connection to the same modem). When I voted first from my laptop, I was not able to vote in that category from my desktop.

When the December Swap post was first published, it said the swap was already closed. OOPS! There were comments from people who were interested in participating, but thought it was too late. The swap is actually still open until this Thursday; leave a comment on the swap post if you would like to join the fun.

If you leave a comment on the site that needs to be answered by the HSBA team, use a valid email address. You can email us directly at Hsbawards @ Gmail . com (remove extra spaces).

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Let the voting begin!

Written by Dawn on December 3, 2007 – 12:25 am -

The polls are up and ready. Please remember these things:

Read the terms and conditions before you vote, please (sorry!) - see post from last night!
Votes are based on IP and cookies.
You may only vote ONCE per category per person in your home. No more than 5 votes per network/IP. (You will probably need to use another computer in your home; once you have voted in a particular category, you most likely only see the results and not the option to vote again while using the same computer. The ability to vote more than once from the same IP address appears to be greatly influenced by your computer and network.)
You don’t have to vote on everything at once. You can vote for one category and come back later for the rest.
If you click on the DOT, it will vote. If you click on the BLOG NAME, you can go to the site.
Email us at Hsbawards @ Gmail . com (remove extra spaces) if you have any questions or problems!
Spread the word!

With the number of categories and nominees involved, there is a definite possibility of human error in the creation of the polls, and I take full responsibility for them. Please let me know if any of the links don’t work, etc. so that I can take care of it as quickly as possible.

Don’t see all the nominees? Two nominees were removed because their blogs had been deleted and one because it isn’t a homeschool blog. Also, to remove any appearance of impropriety, the current team members have been removed from the polls and nominations list.

And now for the voting Links:

Voting ends December 15, midnight, Pacific Standard Time.

Also, here is a graphic to put on your blog if you are a nominee! Be sure to SAVE IT on your own PC and upload it to your own graphics hosting site or blog. You can use it in your posts or put it in your sidebar.

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Legal Update

Written by bunnytrails on December 2, 2007 – 11:25 am -

We recently received the following comment:

I want to be helpful, and due to some discussions on my blog, I wanted to pass on some comments/thoughts to you. Have you considered that you are running an unregistered contest/raffle in each of the states? Have you discussed your legal ramifications with a lawyer if you and any of your ‘helpers’ should win? That’s illegal as far as I know, but I’m not a lawyer.

We had not really thought about the legalities of running the Homeschool Blog Awards. Our goal is simply to encourage the homeschool blog community. We don’t want to do anything that would bring shame to the awards, the vendors who graciously donate prizes, or the nominees. For that reason, we have researched the potential legal issues, talked with attorneys, and compiled what we hope is a thorough legal policy.

We did not initially exclude the HSBA contributors from being nominated for the awards. Since there are prizes to be won, and we don’t want to give the perception of impropriety, the volunteer contributors have removed themselves from the list of nominees. There are also some contributors who’ve stepped down from the team, so they’re sitll eligible to participate in the awards. Our legal counsel didn’t believe that there was anything illegal about our participation, but we prefer to take the high road in this matter.

If you plan to participate in any way with this site (commenting, voting, or potentially winning a prize), you are in effect agreeing with our rules and regulations for this awards contest and the site in general. We hate to make everyone read a bunch of legalese, but in the interest of protecting all parties involved, we must insist that everyone who pariticipates with the HSBA be in agreement with the Policy.

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2007 HSBA Nominees

Written by bunnytrails on November 21, 2007 – 1:00 am -

While voting for the 2007 Homeschool Blog Awards doesn’t officially start until December 3rd, we wanted to give you a chance to browse the many nominees (you’ll need the extra time, trust us). Congratulations to all of the nominees! Be sure you grab the button for your sidebar! Without further ado, here they are:

2007 Homeschool Blog Award Nominees

2007 Nominees

Written by Amy on November 18, 2007 – 9:22 pm -

Thanks so much for your participation in the 2007 Homeschool Blog Awards so far! We had a great turn-out for nominations and a grand total of 964 blogs were nominated! Of those blogs…285 had enough nominations in their particular categories to make it to the finals.

Be sure to come back in the next day or two to see the final nominations list … where we’ll give you a sneak peek at what the polls will be saying on December 3rd.

Posted in Award Updates | 6 Comments »

Updated Rules on the Nominations Page…

Written by Sprittibee on November 10, 2007 – 11:35 pm -

We have added some wording to the nominations page (in red) to make it clear that only blogs who are owned by homeschoolers that were actively homeschooling for at least part of 2007 will be considered. If you have been doing preschool all the way through 12th grade with your kids at any point during 2007, you meet this requirement. Of course if you are a homeschool vendor (curriculum/business) who supplies products for the homeschooling community, this would not apply to your blog. If you are a homeschool father, it also doesn’t mean that YOU yourself have to be the one who has been homeschooling… but that your kids are (and you mention the homeschooling process or lifestyle on your blog). In other words, the blog awards are for current homeschoolers or those who are currently providing advice, curriculum or services to homeschooling families.The Family Friendly rules also still apply (meaning your blog doesn’t contain objectionable content that is not appropriate for most audiences). This has been a particularly debated topic on the blogosphere lately in case you hadn’t heard about it… and it seems that critics of this rule believe that it leaves too much room for subjection. So, to make it as clear as I can, I have quoted Lauren from the Family Friendly Blogroll:

“I don’t care what you write about, your religious affiliation, or whether you are male or female. The sites I will not accept are ones that are simply advertising or spam, and ones that could not be read out loud to my Grandmother, while her preschool age great-grandchildren gather around her feet, without her throwing a shoe at your head. Get the picture? No foul language or posts that would obviously offend in mixed company. If it isn’t obvious, I guess I’ll have final say.”

Someone will not be scouring your blog with a fine-tooth comb looking to disqualify you (in case anyone was worried). We will most likely just go to your front page to make sure things check out as we set up our final nominations list for everyone to see. Most all of the blogs nominated are personal blogs to some extent and we are aware that everyone is a human and is not perfect. ALL genders, races, and religious/non-religous types are welcome. If you happen to win a prize that is religious in nature and you don’t want that prize, just let us know and we’ll pass it on to the runner up for your category… and you can keep the winner badge on your blog… cuz …you won it.

I know this is sounding like a legal document (and I shouldn’t be blogging after midnight because I ramble and have a hard time forming complete sentences), but we want to make this clear so that everyone understands the rules entirely. Thanks for listening!

There’s only one week left for nominations… so hurry and get your nominations in! We hope that you can each have a nomination badge for your sidebar soon! See you at the ‘polls’ in December!

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2007 Nomination Rules

Written by Sprittibee on November 5, 2007 – 4:56 pm -

The nominations page and categories page have been updated. Be sure to READ them before you begin sending nominations in. There have been rule changes and slight category description changes… and we have added two new categories this year. There are 23 categories in all. You can only nominate one blog per category this year. You won’t be able to see the results of nominations until after the nomination period ends. If you have any questions, you can email us at hsbawards@gmail.com or send them in on the nomination form.

A COUPLE OF RULES UP FRONT:

Family friendly (G-rated) blogs only. Do not nominate a blog that has cussing (no potty mouth), photographic nudity (I’m not talking about one image of some sculpture from the 1500’s in an art post), sexual content, or hostility toward other bloggers.

Do not nominate a blog that has nothing to do with homeschooling - nor a blog that is hostile towards homeschooling.

I know these rules seem pretty elementary, but we have to state them for the record. Thanks for playing by the rules!

The rest of the info you need can be found here:

2007 Homeschool Blog Award Categories

2007 Homeschool Blog Award NOMINATIONS

On your mark, set, …. NOMINATE!

Love in Him,

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2007 Blog Award Update!!!

Written by Sprittibee on October 31, 2007 – 12:26 pm -

It’s that time of year again! Time for the Homeschool Blog Awards! This year, we not only have nominations, voting and awards coming up…. but we have a full-blown Homeschool Blog Awards site that is updated daily and has a crew of 15 wonderfully talented ladies who are working non-stop to keep the site bustling with activity, advice, and top-notch blogging.

We hope to have all our donation information in from our sponsors by the end of this week. Be checking in on the prize page to see as we add new items! If you are interested in giving, please be sure to get your info back to me quickly! Someone with the HSBA will make sure that you are added promptly to the vendor list in our sidebar and our prize page.

This year’s winning categories:
1. Best Homeschool Mom Blog
2. Best Homeschool Dad Blog
3. Best Blog Design
4. Best Artistic Content Blog
5. Best Crafts, Plans & Projects Blog
6. Best Family or Group Blog
7. Best Encourager
8. Best ‘Live-What-You-Believe’ Homeschool Blog
9. Best Unschooling or Eclectic Homeschooling Blog
10. Best Geographical Blog
11. Best Current Events, Opinions or Politics Blog
12. Best Homemaking or Recipes Blog
13. Best Teen Girl Blog
14. Best Teen Guy Blog
15. Best Teen Group Blog
16. Funniest Homeschool Blog
17. Best Cyber-Buddy Blogger
18. Best Curriculum or Business Blog
19. Best Variety
20. Best Thrifty Homeschooler
21. Best SUPER-HOMESCHOOLER
22. Best Nitty-Gritty Homeschool Blog
23. Best NEW Homeschool Blog

We changed up the teen categories, but the rest are mostly the same. Be taking notes as you surf the web of all your favorite bloggers and be ready to start nominating them next week. BEFORE you nominate, please read the detailed descriptions of the categories from last year. We had some questions about photo blogs and where they would fit in. I feel that they would fit neatly in the “Artistic Content” category - go read the description for yourself and see what you think. That category isn’t just for photos, though. Anyone who spends time making beautiful looking posts would qualify.

What we need from Prize Donation Vendors:
Your Company Name
Your company link
Your Email Address
A Contact Person’s Name
Your Phone Number
The prize title
The prize description
The category you wish to donate it to
A Link to the graphic for the prize

2007 Homeschool Blog Awards Schedule:

Prize & Vendor information ASAP
Prize & Vendor information up on website - as they come in!
Nominations begin November 5-17th
Thanksgiving Holiday….
Voting Begins December 3-15
Winners Announced December 17
Christmas Holiday…
Prizes Shipped early January

Thanks so much for joining us for the Homeschool Blog Awards! We appreciate you and hope to serve to the homeschool blogging community in general!

Love in Him,

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Prize Awarders

Written by Amy on October 27, 2007 – 6:07 pm -

We have some awesome prizes in store for this year’s winners. Please check out our new page that showcases the prizes and the generous awarders. Lots more pictures and details will be added as we receive them.

2007 Homeschool Blog Awards Prizes

If you or someone that you know would like to be added to our list of prize awarders, please contact us at hsbawards@gmail.com. You can choose to donate to just one or as many winners as you’d like.

To help us advertise this year’s awards please take our new button to place on your blog.

Posted in Award Updates, Sponsors | 4 Comments »

Archive for the ‘Award Updates’ Category

2007 Homeschool Blog Award Nominees

Best Homeschool Mom Blog

Best Homeschool Dad Blog

Best Blog Design

Best Artistic Content Blog

Best Crafts, Plans & Projects Blog

Best Family or Group Blog

Best Encourager Blog

Best “Live What You Believe” Homeschool Blog

Best Unschooling or Eclectic Homeschooling Blog

Best Geographical Blog

Best Current Events, Opinions, or Politics Blog

Best Homemaking or Recipes Blog

Best Teen Guy Blog

Best Teen Gal Blog

Best Teen Group Blog

Funniest Homeschool Blog

Best Cyber-Buddy Blog

Best Curriculum or Business Blog

Best Variety Blog

Best Thrifty Homeschooler Blog

Best Super-Homeschooler

Best Nitty-Gritty Homeschool Blog

Best NEW Homeschool Blog

Meet the Team!

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2007 Winners

2007 Prize Awarders