I have read enough posts lately to know that I am not alone in my award anxiety/aversion. Despite the gratitude I feel towards other bloggers who have nominated me for various awards, most of the awards themselves, though well-intentioned by their inventors, entail hard work, resemble chain letter pressure and I keep losing the plot with what award? who nominated me? what do I have to do?
Today I decided to trace back to those culprits who nominated me so that I can punish them with the Hot Potato Award that I invented ages ago as a kind of award-shield.
Here is a list of the beautiful culprits. Their blogs are worth following because of the honest heartiness in each person’s words.
http://writingmusings.wordpress.com/
http://terry1954.wordpress.com/
http://perfectingmotherhood.wordpress.com/
http://magnoliabeginnings.org/
To each of these people I want to say three things:
1. Copy/paste the Hot Potato award to your blogsite. There are no rules – the award is yours.
2. If you nominate me again I will send you a cold potato!
3. I love your blog!
Now, here is a little story to explain my apparent ungraciousness and my award anxiety/aversion:
A few years ago, the university decided to introduce a teaching award. If you were nominated you had to give a 5-minute speech about why you loved teaching. So I was nominated and gave a flustered speech. I was competing with a few other lecturers, but I won the vote and was given the award. The nominations and votes were anonymous of course. I was congratulated and I felt quite chuffed to be recognized.
A few weeks later I was having a coffee with a colleague who also happened to be a student in one of my classes (this often happens on small campuses) and she mentioned the award.
“Yes,” I said, “It was a bit of a surprise because I am the least professional of all the lecturers here but that seemed to go down well – my down-to-earthness or something!”
She looked at me strangely and said, grinning, “I nominated you.”
I was shocked. “Why?”
“Just for a laugh,” she said, cackling.
That’s why I don’t like awards.
jmgoyder 
Oh my gosh, I have never read anyone else who has award anxiety / aversion besides me 🙂
Oh there are many of us!
Forgot to add, I* haven’t had an award for my chcken blog of course but I have had a couple on my other blog (gluten free blog 🙂
ha
This is very VERY funny, Julie – & honest!
I remember when I started blogging August ’11, in a month or two I had received some kind of award. I was enormously honoured & told Daniel ‘I’ve got to respond, do the things, & pass it on!” & I remember being very dedicated. Then when they came around “every second week” – yup, that was just too much!
The best time I had, was when I asked the people I intended to nominate, could I read one of their works on video. So I did a whole video award response. I enjoyed it, but then my new year’s resolution I stated as being ‘write more, receive awards less’, so to speak. It is a lot of work, & yes, very chain letter. But I think your Hot Potato Award is CHOICE 🙂
Oh you are definitely a Hot Potato Award winner – hehe! You can always pass it on ….
Arrrgh!
Well hell’s bells Jules…with friends like that…
I cannot promise to never nominate you again, and quite frankly, you don’t scare me ’cause I happen to like cold potato!
I love you blog too, that’s why I nominated you in the first place.
thanks
xo
R
I know I know but … oh, you know!
I know what you mean! you know? 😉
here here I too have award aversion and anxiety–I did not understand the whole blog award system until you explained it and i too have opted out, though I would accept a hot potato
It is yours for the taking!
What an awful person that colleague was 😦
I like your hot potato and I’ll be checking out all the blogs of these nominees 😀
Oh I am so glad you are checking out the blogs I mentioned because that’s what I wanted this post to point to.
The colleague didn’t mean any harm I guess.
I went to the bother of making a bold, as I thought, logo for my blog stating that it is ‘Award Free’, but still they come!!!
I know! I saw that post. The price of popularity? Onya Rosemary!
Love this post. I have, lurking in my computer, a list of awards as long as my arm. I feel very honoured that people want to give them to me, but every time I add another one, I think, “I really must do an awards post.” It hangs like the ‘sword of Damocles’ over my head. 😆 I feel so guilty, and one day, I guess I will just have to confess and accept them. 🙂
I think that when something becomes a burden it just isn’t worth it despite the wonderful intentions.
Now that was funny!
When I am nominated for awards, I leave a warm thank you comment on the blogger’s blog and the comment they left on mine, telling me I’ve been nominated…and then never give it another thought.
Don’t stress; just acknowledge it then ignore it.
Now why didn’t I think of that? You are so sensible – thanks Tilly xxx
I suspect none of us really write for blog awards, and if there are forms to be filled out and votes to be casted, I won’t be getting any. LOL And a hot potato sounds great as long as it is smothered in butter and sour cream. I enjoy your blog, and I suspect that is the reward you want and the words you want to hear. — Bill
Wise man!
I love reading your blog…but no worries you won’t be getting an award from me!
Good!
congratulations on your awards Julie!!!!! the one at your work is awesome also, a big congratulations to that! i was one of the odd ones in college. I actually enjoyed giving speeches. It gave me the floor and all were listening to me and my ideas. during speech class I was the one who volunteered to go first……………….i guess i am weird. lol
You have guts kid!
Love this award …. Want to say congratulations to everybody that take it, give it .. nominate it and reject it. Well done.
You are such a special person Viveka!
Julie, so are you – thanks for your kind words .. they landed straight into my software.
I read the list of those you passed the hot potato onto and breathed a sigh of relief I am not amongest them………….luck me or should that be those who get the hot potato award are luck…………no it’s luck me…….sorry to all of you but I am the luck one no hot potato for me………speaking of hot poatoes I am doing nice hot baked potatoes for lunch yes I know nothing to do with the post but thought you would like to know about my hot potatoes which will be yummy not as yummy as my nan’s but still pretty damn good…………..lol
Haha!
I love my Hpt potatoe Award!
I think you are the bravest and most real..Thank you for this Jules. You speak such truths~
Hope I didn’t put my foot in my mouth too much ha!
Brilliant my friend. No foot in no mouth ~~
How I’m with you on this one Julie….
I do hope I didn’t seem ungracious and that my tongue-in-cheek post was seen that way! I don’t want people to get mad at me.
They won’t Julie…. it said a lot in a good way with a good humouristic twist…
Couldn’t agree more – we are probably 18 months behind in thanking and renominating and we’re overwhelmed at the thought of it 😉
phew!
Oh, lord. I tried to avoid the hot potato, but I still hope more readers find your blog. I love it.
Still anonymous. Oh the HPA is yours for the taking haha!