THIS IS from Saturday's photomeet at the Irish Blog Awards, I've still to catch up on posting about it, which I will do, but for now, I'm just catching up with my 365 pic from Saturday. Taken just before I murdered my lens with my handbag, seriously, I had to go and get a new one today, a lot of jobs this week.
Anyway I'll catch up here in the next day or two.
THIS isn't my blog awards round up, not tonight anyway. I am just too tired. Needless to say it was a brilliant weekend, I didn't pick up a gong for Best Photoblog, that honour went to Glassey Alley and is well deserved.
I did represent Dublin Blog when picking up our gong for Best Group Blog which was fantastic and I know I speak for everyone when I say a massive thank you and we are thrilled.
But I will post about the weekend, and catch up on my 365 but not tonight. Too. Tired. To. Think.
In the meantime Made In Hollywood gave us great props for all sorts of fun.
The Godfather - or the level of debauchery has increased massively at the blog awards
WELL we have been in Cork since early this afternoon and are now in the hotel room taking it easy for an hour before heading downstairs to meet those who are here tonight as well. Of course we were not the only bloggers on the plane, Phil and Sinead were on our flight also and we met in the Hotel with Sharon and Andy (there were others but I don't know if they have blogs). So things are shaping up well.
So here's today's 365, well more than one. I had one of those journeys where someone was hauling at the seat the whole way, then I saw the hand, then I photographed the hand (by pointing the camera the wrong way round), then I realised I had also captured the man himself, oops.
(Yesterday's 365 - morning bus portrait)
And thanks to everybody for the nomination and for the votes that have brought me into the shortlist for Best Photoblog at the Irish Blog Awards. Once again I am in fantastic and strong company do check the others out, most of whom are planning to come to Saturday's photowalk during Irish Blogs week. Fancy popping along? You can find out all the details here.
Best Photo Blog - Sponsored by Pix.ie
EDIT: February 18th @10:50am:
Meeting place: Oak Pub, Oliver Plunkett Street and Caroline Street (map). (Thanks Donncha)
Time: noon in Cork City and 11.30am for those of us staying in the hotel to head into town
WE'VE done a bit of talking on Twitter about the photo meet before the Irish Blog Awards in Cork next weekend, February 21st and seeing as how the Ladies Tea Party begins at 4pm and some of the photowalkers are booked in for that, I would suggest that we finish up by 3ish so the lady lunchers can make it back to the Cork Airport Hotel.
So far we haven't settled on what to do, but I believe there is a general consensus that we will make our way into Cork City and follow our noses. I imagine to give us a good shot at the afternoon that we should meet in Cork City at noon. For those of us staying in the Cork Airport Hotel, I'd say we should get taxis from 11.30ish into town.
I know a good gang have already said they are up for the photowalk so what about you? Any thoughts on what we should do, where we should go, what we absolutely cannot miss? Oh yeah where should we meet in town. As things are firmed up, I'll update this post so do check back.
As always this event is open to absolutely anyone. If you cannot make the noon start, drop me an email with your mobile number and we can keep in touch over the afternoon.
You can find out about the other blog awards events on the awards blog. And thanks to Sabrina who made the photo walk graphic last year, hopefully she won't mind that I recycled it.
If you have any thoughts let us know in the comments.
I AM delighted to have made it through to the first cull in the Irish Blog Awards into the long lists and in three categories, Best Personal Blog, Best Photoblog and Best Blog Post. There's also the group blog nomination for Dublin Blog which I am proud to be part of. I am chuffed to bits, so thanks for the nominations and for my getting this far.
Do take some time to check out all the other blogs nominated, you will find many crackers. The sponsors of all the categories also deserve credit for supporting the awards, so do check out the people responsible for the categories I'm in and they are Pixie, Bubble Hits, Microsoft Ireland's Developer and Platform Group and Dine to Meet. (You can find all the others on the Irish Blog Awards website.
The awards week/end are coming up fast, and like others we are planning the weekend in Cork, can't wait it should be mighty craic.
NOMINATIONS have opened for the 2009 Irish Blog Awards and will close at 6pm on January 14th, so don't forget to nominate your favourite blogs, you can find the nomination form on the awards website.
Damien has been hard at it working away organising this year's awards which for the first time are moving to Ireland's third capital city, Cork. Hey I am a nordie, Belfast is the number 2 city ;)
But back to the weekend, personally I can't wait, we have a full posse going, Young Wan, Nanny, as well as some pals and we are heading down for the whole weekend. It should be mighty craic. It is hard to believe it is already a year since the last awards.
Over the last couple of photomeets and other bloggy events we have talked about having a photomeet in Cork on the Saturday afternoon. Hopefully if you are interested in meeting up with a gang of photobloggers you'll be about on Saturday afternoon. What do people think?
EDIT: I should have said, not that you don't already know, but the 2009 Irish Blog Awards take place on Saturday February 21st 2009, at the Cork International Airport Hotel
WHAT a weekend. This post has been two days in the writing all the fun and frolics of Saturday's Blog Awards saw me take to my sick bed/sofa for most of Sunday so a little was written then and then rewritten today.
Maman Poulet organising the registration
Maman Poulet, Ellybabes highfiving and Mrs Chicken
My weekend kicked off lunchtime on Saturday with the photo meet where nine of us met up at the Spire, headed to Trinity, then up Grafton Street before retiring at O'Donoghues. Rymus, Mcawilliams, 73man, Gingerpixel, Ellybabes, Phil, Andy and Keith were all present and snapping away. Hopefully this can become a regular thing, there are great meet-ups but it would also be great to meet up with other photobloggers more.
A wistful moment on Grafton Street
WWMD? in Trinity
Mcawilliams and Rymus
One thing that was really cool about the photo meet is that there were four nominees from the Best Photoblog category including the eventual winner and we didn’t scrap once.
At the end of the afternoon we had a competition to guess how many images we collectively shot, everyone put in a fiver before guessing the total amount. Then we reported on how many we actually took and it amounted to nearly 900 shots, not bad for an hour and a half's shooting. It is a bad show when the proposer of the competition wins so eh sorry about that everyone.
Scores on the doors/ brown envelopes
At least I bought a round with my winnings before Elly, Gingerpixel and I headed back to my place and then hitting the Ladies tea held in the Market Bar. I couldn't even begin to list them all here, even without my brain being mashed following the weekend madness. And wow what a yummy spread and so many women bloggers I didn't know before but I did meet Debs (sorry Debs I had to duck out of Sunday's bunch but I was rendered completely useless), Sabrina (we met once before though the first time was brief) and Sinead. I met Aoife and Una which was excellent as well as taking a pic suggested by Mary Rose of all the women from above, thanks for that Mary Rose.
Then it was time for the awards and we gasped at the size of the room, the decorations looked great and the video announcements before each category was really cool; the awards have really come a long way since 2006. I brought Nanny and the Young Wan and we all had a really great night.
I was delighted to meet up with so many new faces/blogs as well as catching up on others whom I read regularly and haven’t had the opportunity to meet before now people like Curly K, Darragh, Grandad and Granny lost the plot and of course Granny Mar and I was raging to have missed out on meeting Flirty and many others. It was lovely to chat with one of the girls from Beaut.ie, then there was Caitriona and Ken . I nearly met Conor O'Neill who came hooting down the room before standing in front of me with a manic grin and jazz hands before moving/running/hooting on but I did meet his wife Catherine who like everyone else was really lovely.
There were also a few funny/embarrassing/shameful moments such as my giving out for not being salsaed, my ahem joy at winning one of Fustar’s manky toys, Maureen the barbie, only for a stewards inquiry to be called by Elly who wrestled me to the ground for Maureen or when I heckled Rick O’Shea as he thanked the Young Wan for her beautifully executed trophy handing over – eh sorry about that, I’m just a proud Mammy.
Ellybabes and Maureen
We had a great crowd around us and we were all absolutely delighted when the lovely and fellow Nordie Sharon from the Family Voyage lifted the Best Specialist Blog, I got a great cheer during the photoblog category (thanks family) and was delighted for Claire when she took the honours in the category for her beautiful images. We claimed to have been robbed in the Group Blog category wearing my Dublin Blog hat but hey Beaut.ie are a huge force to be reckoned with, and as clichéd as it sounds we were really delighted to make the shortlist.
Sharon, Grannymar and Grandad
I had hoped to rob my print from the wall, but in the blurriness of alcohol we staggered out without it. Or maybe we weren’t allowed to do that… I also forgot my Twenty book for signing so I must get that sorted.
Checking out my pic
Towards the end of the evening I kept a beady eye on one of the Kilkenny musicos who was chatting away to my beautiful Young Wan just in case there were any ideas there.
I know I will have missed a load of people in this post and I apologise for that, I met so many people and unless I noted them down there is no way my memory + alcohol would hold onto everything. So if I have missed you out after bending your ear I am really sorry.
Rick O'Shea and Damien
So finally thanks to Damien for another cracking night/weekend and thanks to all of you who helped create the incredible buzz in the hotel. So here’s to all this year’s winners and to 2009 :)
Oh and Thats Ireland (someone else I wanted to meet and didn't bump into) has a brilliant box list of all 400 blog nominees, pre shortlist, head over there and do a pot luck on any number of wonderful blogs, you never know what you'll find.
So keep uploading those images and tagging them irishblogawards!
A POST on the Irish Blog Awards is coming soon. Too. tired. Now. To. Do. Anything. ZZzzzzzz. But here are a few taster pics, I have a post in progress which I'll upload post when I feel more human again and am sure I haven't written complete and utter rubbish.
Just to keep you reminded about this weekend's photowalking tour. In order to facilitate as many people as possible bearing in mind all the different events that are taking place on Saturday, I am suggesting that we meet at noon at the Spire and we can take things from there.
We'll make our way to the docklands area and see what we can see/snap. Things will then be wrapped up around 3pm giving people time to get to the other pre-awards events.
If you think you might be late for the noon start drop me an email and we can arrange for you to catch up with us somewhere along the way. If you can think of any photo games we can play, feel free to shout them out and Elly may or may not have something for us to do too.
There is a Facebook event which you can use to invite anyone you think might be interested and it has been mentioned in a couple of the different Irish Flickr groups.
Okay I think thats everything, drop a comment if you think of something else; so to wrap up:
What: Photowalking tour
Where: Meet at the Spire, then walk to the docklands
When: Saturday, March 1st, 12noon - 3pm
Who: Anyone from camera phones to mega-feck off cameras, you just should want to take photographs.
See you then :)
THE shortlists are out for the 2008 Irish Blog Awards following the first judging phase and I made it into two categories, Best Blog and Best Photoblog. Looking at the competition this is probably as far as I go. But thanks to everyone who nominated me and for the judges who put me through this far :)
Well done to everyone and congrats to everyone else who has made it to this stage, I will be getting lost in a lot of blogs over the next wee while.
WOW I am only bleedin delighted with my nominations in round one of the Irish Blog Awards. I have found myself in amazing company in five categories, six if you count Dublin Blog's group blog nomination! I think the rules will see me out of some of them but it is still heartening, not to mention flattering, to have been nominated in the various categories in the first place, so thanks a million. I am almost apprehensive about listing the categories here in case I have gotten it wrong. There are so many blogs on the lists I could have jumped the gun ;) But it appears to be Best Blog, Best Blog Post, Best Personal Blog, Best Photoblog and Best Blog from a journalist.
The hugely increased number of entries on last year is fantastic and should make for another great night. So over the next while I will be using the lists scattered around the blogosphere to check out new places and I would urge you to do the same.
THERE seems to be a great level of interest in the photowalking tour being held the weekend of the blog awards. I was thinking then 'okay what will we do?' and I thought about themes and projects and decided against them all thinking if we are to attract newbie and oldie people at all levels of photography it was best to keep it simple.
So I thought it best that we meet somewhere like O'Connell Street around lunchtime and take it from there. One place I was thinking of which was mentioned to me also by Simon is to make our way along the docks, there are lots of things of interest there for us.
Again what do people think?
PS: Thanks to Sabrina for the excellent graphic :)
ONCE again it is that time of year and nominations have been open for a while now for the third annual blog awards. If you feel like nominating me for anything I would be delighted and don't forget all the many great blogs out there. Nominations close on Friday at 9pm, Jan 18th.
IT IS getting closer and closer to the third annual Irish Blog Awards and Mr Mulley has another great brain wave for events over the Irish Blog Awards, a photo-meet. It is about time we organised something like this around the weekend of March 1st.
After all there have been events for techies, pre-award cocktails so considering the amount of cameras and photobloggers present at the awards, maybe they would be interested in a photo-meet the afternoon before the awards.
We can finalise where, when and what closer to the time, but a show of hands would be great; let me know in the comments if you are interested. I’ll also put a thread up on a number of Flickr groups about it to try and interest some of the Flickr people who may not be aware of the Irish Blog Awards and create an event on Facebook.
So whatdayathink?
OH what a night. Like last year I have been incapable of doing anything today. And I am delighted and over the moon with my award in the Best Personal Blog category and even more chuffed considering the quality of the other blogs I was up against. Thanks again for the nominations and the votes and now the award, it's made my year :)
The Young Wan herself was there though as I said in my non-prepared acceptance words she had nipped out for some food and missed it. In addition I think I am the only person not to mention Damien, Jaysus Bernie even gave him an award. But I went blank when Red Mum was called out. So thank you Damien for a wonderful night, it was even bigger, much more so, and better than last year. Well done :) And the heartiest congrats to everyone else who picked up an award. I should also thank That Girl, last year's winner in the Personal Blog category who was the sponsor this year.
I met loads and loads of people and missed meeting loads and loads of people. I did want to say hello to the Swearing Lady (I really thought she'd pick up something but I expect that will rectified next year) and didn't get a chance BUT I did meet Twenty so does that kinda balance things out? Not really but still. Along with Ask Direct and others we were among the last there, till the bitter end thats what I like to see. I met the girls at Beaut who presented me with a goodie bag of lovely things including a beaut mousemat, a lovely and unexpected touch. If Twenty swept the boards last year, it was Beaut's night last night.
It was also good to see Colm, the lads at Slugger and I was delighted for Cian with his Irish Election sweep of the boards. I met Tom Raferty and embarrassingly called him by the wrong name, nerves I guess but it was nice to meet you Tom. By the way there is a pic of you throwing shapes on the dancefloor already on Flickr, courtesy of MacAWilliams, do check out his site for his amazing shot of last night's lunar eclipse. I was also delighted to catch up with Ellie and meeting her mum.
Sinead kindly lent me her copy of Irish women writers following conversations on my Great Irish Women series, so thanks for the research and it will certainly be used in the series and well done on the award. While Caitriona, whom I didn't get to meet last year, lent me in her Holga camera to have a go for a wee while. Though she did threaten me if I didn't get it back to her, don't let that smile fool you, she's a tough nut :) I got a great pic of herself and her hubbie which you can see later in the post. Thanks again for the loan of your camera and I can't to try it out Caitriona.
I can't continue with this post without apologising for my pal who made off with an outrageous amount of goodie bags which were left at the entrance for people at the end of the night. Jeez you can't bring her anywhere. I won't tell you about the sea of white paper bags littering my living room floor at about 3am this morning.
The first pic was when she made poor Decs hold some of the loot, I love the expression on his face and the second speaks for itself.
I would not be able to list all of who I met or who I wanted to but didn't, I can barely type let alone add links and stuff. We came back to my place and partied till 6am hence the bad typing. The champagne was wonderful and probably should have remained unopened, but while we tore into half in the wee hours, we had the other half with lunch as mimosas.
I brought the camera but fully intended not to take so many pics, but to enjoy the night in full vision, not through a lens, which I did to a degree but I did take some snaps, some where just calling to be taken. You can see them on Flickr, and I also added them to the Irish Blog Awards group which others might want to do too so we have them all in one handy place.
Anyway here's a selection and here's to next year!
Saying cheese for Rymus
mmm
Snapping the eclipse
The Daily Mirror (English) has a number of blogs for it's journalists which I discovered by chancing by here at Open. I am surprised I haven't seen the Mirror blogs before considering the amount of news sites I trail. Under one banner the site has loads of different bloggers in different sections. It even has a 'new to blogging' link explaining what it's all about.
"Welcome to the Mirror.co.uk blogs! This exciting new area of our site will allow you to read and comment on the things we’re all talking about. Many of our award winning journalists will be keeping a blog and this is just the beginning. In 2007, we'll be giving you the opportunity to become a Mirror.co.uk "citizen journalist" where your thoughts on topical events will be posted right alongside ours!"
I can't see any archives but if you go into read, for example, the editor's blog, there's a handy tag cloud of the articles and one of the top tags is Bee Gees!
It'll be interesting to see how this develops and whether or not it would catch on here, after all there are a number of journalists and columnists blogging. I'll be interested to see the comments, and how they are handled.
Anyway I'm off to tidy this house so I can relax and enjoy tonight without tidying with a hangover in the morning... Thats the plan anyway.
So I did, well some of you anyway.
Before I go on, I should explain that when I went to the Blog Awards last year and signed in, the lovely woman signing me in said exactly that when she saw I was me, Red Mum.
It's a quare statement and one that stopped me in my tracks! And later I was given a router by herself which has, unfortunately, sat idle, the lack of broadband until Jan being one massive hinderence.
Here I am saying it too. And I was delighted to be asked to judge some categories in then Irish Blog Awards and it wasn't easy.
I looked at Best Blog Post, Best Designed Blog, Best Arts and Culture Blog and Best Videocast. I was hoping for Best Photoblog and Best Personal Blog :) But thems the breaks:)
I know others seemed to tie themselves up in knots with all sorts of criteria, but I decided that I would go through them, considering some of the points highlighted by Damien as well as how they spoke to me and I gave them points accordingly.
Accepting being a judge was one thing, awarding points was another, but I was objective and I am really looking forward to tomorrow, it should be great craic altogether.
I should say the news coverage around the whole evening has been great and is certainly helping to build up the excitement of the night. I should also say to those bloggers who are in the vicinity who are maybe apprehensive about going, I felt the same myself last year, but what I lost in anonymity (which in my case was being lost anyway - another blog for another day) I gained in lots of other ways so do try and make it there. Can't wait see youse all!
THE Echo carried a piece on my reaching the Irish Blog Award's shortlist. Here's a (bad) rendition of the article which was entitled ' Echo's Red Mum goes for gold in blog awards.
Sorry I can't seem to make these readable, you can read them here and here on Flickr.
Technorati tags: redmum Irishblogs Irish Blog Awards blog awards
