A few days ago I was stricken with guilt at not yet having fulfilled the criteria for various blog awards I’d been nominated for by some extremely kind nominators. And then I was stricken with anxiety that I had forgotten who nominated me for what. And then I was stricken with exhaustion, searching back through past comments to try and find out. And then I was stricken with confusion about what I was supposed to actually do.
And then I went out and fed the birds.
The result is that I have invented a new award called ‘The Hot Potato Award.’ For recipients of this award, you don’t have to do anything except accept it and copy/past it to your blog’s main page. I thank Lisa Boice for helping me get the words into the picture! Lisa can be found at:
www.accidentalbirder.wordpress.com
and
www.babyaspirinyears.wordpress.com
My own resistance to awards is borne of a reluctance to accept accolades. I realize this seems ungracious and I apologize. I do, however, recognize the value in these awards in the sense that it is a wonderful way of acknowledging other blogs/bloggers, but I think this is possible without the complications of award nomination criteria.
The Hot Potato Award has very few rules:
- You either accept it or you don’t (you don’t have to fulfil any criteria)
- If you are nominated for a blog award that you already have, you now have the option of giving your nominator The Hot Potato Award
Now, I am quite sure I have forgotten something important here but I don’t know what. Tomorrow, I will send some Hot Potato Awards to those who have been kind enough to nominate me for other awards.
Any suggestions appreciated, before the hot potato turns into a chip!
jmgoyder 
I like this idea. As much as I felt honoured to be nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award, I had to do an awful lot of work with it. I like the idea of the Hot Potato award where you do nothing but smile and receive. Ahhhhh….yessss!!!
I know! I have been nominated a few times and baulk at the hard work of it – hehe!
I will be sending you your HPA soon!
Hi,
A good idea not having to respond, it will be interesting to see how many people come looking at this post, that are not really looking to see potatoes if you know what I mean. 😀
hahaha yes it will!
I know what you mean – I think I have received an award recently – I was nominated which made me think I had not won, but upon reading the instructions it seems nominated means you have won–I am confused. Can you enlighten me?
I can’t enlighten you because I find it very complicated too – hence the HPA!
so many of my stressful times end with…”and then I went out to feed the birds” (:
Brilliant Julie… I spent an entire evening assembling my awards post (and I cheated by lumping all of them in one post after having held out a long time before accepting any:) This sounds like a good plan to me!! I always loved that game as a kid!! xo
You are toooo funny. Thank you my little french fry for such a sweet potato of an award.
this is a great idea. not having to think of new things to say or figuring out who i have or have not nominated lately!
Exactly!
Sound thinking. Blogger awards that require you to nominate other people are the Ponzi scheme of the internet.
And I will never be nominated again – haha!
What the hell is this? I was looking for potato porn!
You say potato, I say french fry.
You are a funny guy!
Fantastic idea!!! I’m so honored when I receive a nomination for an award, but they can, indeed, be quite time-consuming, and the most difficult part for me is that I cannot really, fairly choose 7 or 15 other bloggers who are most deserving–because there is so much talent here!!! Love your idea, Jules! ♥♥
I expected to receive some flak for this idea but instead I have discovered that there are a lot of bloggers out there who find these awards difficult and chain-letterish.
I think this is a fabulous idea!
I think so too!
I have to be very honest & say I’m not a great fan of these awards. While flattering to receive, they take more work than my energy envelope has room for, so I am delighted to hear you have invented an award that doesn’t require any work or criteria – there should be more of your kind of awards out there for us chronic pain & fatigue sufferers.
I do hope people will use the HPA. It will save a lot of work but also be a way of being gracious I hope!
I knew you would do this the moment you first voiced it! And I am so glad you did. How awesome. I especially appreciate that there are no requirements to fullfill. Also not to come across ungracious I have a hard enough time just keeping up with email and my two blogs.
I also like your suggestion and generosisty to use the HPA for when receiving a second time award. This is perfect.
As always Jules you so wonderfully share your creative nature with us. Thank you.
And now you have you put the HPA on your blog – hehehehehe! I will be looking for it tomorrow!
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Wonderful! I never did understood the concept of gifting a fellow blogger with an award that demanded something in return. A gift isn’t really a gift if it comes with an IOU attached.
Sounds great! No work involved…
Yes, I think it’s a brilliant concept if I do say so myself – haha!
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