I was considering just leaving this post with the title, however I thought it might need a little explanation… So let’s go!

Blogging Awards are, as they are, are pointless.

The BiBs (Brilliance in Blogging) Awards 2017 were announced last week. People were happy, people were sad – but ultimately, nomination or not, award or not – it’s irrelevant. The thing is, the best blogs might not even be seen by the judges, because it’s not about writing at the first hurdle – it’s about popularity.

All the blogs now up for awards aren’t the best blogs, they are the ones with the most nominations. If you’re a blogger with a large following and pestered enough people, you’re in. You might have been a bit cheekier (read cuntier) and set up a private DM group / WhatsApp Group begging people to vote – do that successfully, again, you’re in. Or if you’re being REALLY cheeky (cunty) you might have just nominated yourself over, and over. Again, you’re in.

However, no part of this actually means you’re a good writer, or worthy of the award. Having a large following doesn’t equate to you creating great content.

In fact, some of the biggest bloggers don’t actually create good content.

Sure, there’s some passable stuff hidden in the myriad of competitions and sponsored posts and bullshit. Is any of it ‘award winning’? – no, probably not. However a mindless comper will happily vote for you if it gives them more entries in a Rafflecopter. If you shout enough on your Facebook page, or do a cute (cunty) picture of your child holding a ‘Vote for my Mummy’ sign, some of the thousands of followers will give you a nomination just to make you shut the fuck up.

Some of the best writers don’t have large followings, they just bash some words out, in the hope that someone reads. They don’t have a pod, or a WhatsApp group of other bloggers, endlessly liking and commenting for the same back. They don’t have a social media strategy – ‘Dusting off old’ posts or ‘You might have missed this’ post. They just tweet and share as they feel, with how they feel at that moment.

They just have smaller, more engaged readers, who appreciate the words, the honesty – and not a diatribe of sponsored this, and collaborative that.

If you’ve not been nominated, it doesn’t mean you’re rubbish, or don’t deserve it – it means some twat has played the nomination game better than you.

A lot would argue that there is no better way of doing it.

There is – and it’s super simple.

Don’t have nominations based on popularity – have them based on writing skill. Get a small team of impartial judges to scour the internet for blogs, and read the posts on them. Get a feel for the writing, the content – if they are good – they are in, if not – move on. Perhaps have a rule that you can’t be nominated two years in a row, keep it all fresh. Then get a judge to pick a winner from the 8 or so nominated ones. There’s no popularity involved, and everyone can have a shot.

See – simple?

It won’t happen though, because the BiBs, and the MADS don’t want their ‘Vote for me’ badges on ‘little’ blogs. They want them on the popular ones, the ones with higher domain authority of course! It’s almost like they do it for their own benefit – ALMOST.

So – don’t beat yourself up if you’re not in the running. Just carry on doing what you do, and write stuff for you. You don’t need an award to be a good blogger. Blogging awards, as they are, are pointless.

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