Sunday, October 4, 2009

And the award goes to ...


The Blotanical Awards have been announced and I'm thrilled to find a lot of my favourite blogs winning major awards. Take a look at these excellent blogs.

First there's Frances from Faire Garden who's made an almost clean sweep of just about every award from Blotanist of the Year to Best Photography and a whole lot more. This is one blog I'll never tire of visiting. All those awards just go to show that I'm not alone in thinking so.

And Meems from Hoe And Shovel whose Best Florida Blog is so well deserved and which also explains how she came in as one of the best in the Best US Blog category. What I find particularly interesting in her blog is that we share almost identical gardening conditions despite living at opposite ends of the world, so I can relate so well to her posts.

Victoria at Victoria's Backyard who has a wonderful way with words won the Best UK Blog.
Trudi, from Yesterday Today Tomorrow In my Garden, who is a voice of encouragement to bloggers, both new and advanced, won Best Oceanic Blog. But then, I always knew she would!

And winning the Best South American Blog is my friend, Helen (who goes by the name of islandgal) from My Rustic Bajan Garden, who also found a place among the Best Landscaping Blog finalists. Way to go, Helen!

Bangchik from My Little Vegetable Garden had a dream run too, winning Best Asian Blog and a whole lot of other awards. I love the way he posts almost every day so there's always something new to look forward to.

Of course there were so many more categories and so many more wonderful blogs but somehow these stuck in my mind. If any of my friends who are among the Finalists don't find a mention here, it's not because I don't think highly of their blogs (oh, I do!) but because there are just too many to name.
And some blogs that I was so sure would win, did not. That was a little disappointing but that's the luck of the draw, I guess.

And what about The Urban Gardener? Well, we bagged First Runner-up in the Best Urban Gardening Blog category, which is so fantastic! I still can't believe it. The winner is The Patient Gardener , do go over and take a look.
The winner of Best Gardening for Wildlife Blog (another category that we were nominated for) is deservedly, Shirl's Gardenwatch . Again, do take a look at her blog. I went over and was horrified to read her exposé on what Strimmers do to the small creatures in the garden.

I've loved this whole Blotanical Award event purely because it has been encouraging to find myself unexpectedly among the top-five finalists in three categories, especially because I was placed there by my fellow garden-bloggers. Thank you!
And thank you to all those who voted for me in the finals.
May your tools never rust. And may it rain or shine just as your plants need it. And may your typing fingers dance more on the keyboard with each passing day!

Now, please do go over and check out the winning blogs. Believe me, you're really going to enjoy yourself!

30 comments:

  1. Thanks so much for these encouraging words, Sunita. I voted for you and love your blog. :-)
    Frances

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congratulations :)

    I am not at all surprised, I love your garden and all your wonderful posts!!
    May your tools never rust. And may it rain or shine just as your plants need it. And may your typing fingers dance more on the keyboard with each passing day!

    Love this!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Its nothing but the truth, Frances :)
    Thank you so much for voting for me. And its exhilirating to hear to hear one of my favourite bloggers say that you enjoy my blog. Maybe a double-dose of my garden blessing is due (see the last few lines in my post) :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks, IHM :D
    That blessing applies to homemakers too, you know ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Congratulations on coming first runners-up. The accolade is most deserved.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Congratulations!!
    And thanks, I got to know a whole bunch of blogger friends just because of you...:)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks Thomas!
    BTW, did you know there is an award waiting very patiently for you (scroll down to "One Lovely Award" post).

    Thanks, Urban Green. And you're welcome! :)
    There are plenty of great garden blogs out there and these are some of the best.

    ReplyDelete
  8. A sweet summary of Blotanical Awards Sunita.. haha, you are quick and observant enough to point the fact that I post everyday... yea, something I keep doing ever since I started blogging in Mac this year. I don't think it is going to stay that way forever.. hmmm.

    Most blogs are good. Different concepts, different style of writing, different focus, but good to visit and read. I like the differences...that's the way we are... being different and stay as friends..

    Your blog is good too!!

    ~bangchik

    ReplyDelete
  9. While people who don't know any better decry it, I really am happy with the explosion in personal blogs over the last few years. It's given observant and talented sriters and photographers like yourself an opportunity to share with the world. Awards like this show that the effort doesn't go appreciated. It also helps spread the word about the many worthy blogs out there. I'll never have time to keep up with them all like I wish I could, but I appreciate having more to check out! Congratulations, Sunita!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sunita I am hunbled to be amongst such great bloggers. Many of their blogs are brilliantly written including yours. You are a very talented writer and poet. Thank you and may the wind always be, beneath your wings.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Dear Sunita,
    What a fine job of summarizing the awards and mentioning the winners. You are kind to include me and I am so happy for you as well. Like you, not all my first choices won but many of them did.

    There are so many wonderful blogs out there that it makes the competition stiffer each year... adding to the fun right?
    Happy gardening today,
    Meems @ Hoe and Shovel

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sunita, congratulations on the achievements of The Urban Gardener. I love your blog and I have voted for you. You are a great writer and I have learnt a lot from you. I am an avid follower of your blog. Do keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Bangchik, I second what you said : "I like the differences...that's the way we are... being different and stay as friends.. "
    That's one of the nicest things about blogging, especially in the realm of garden blogging. Everybody is so nice! Does that go with being a gardener, I wonder.
    I hope you'll continue to post every day. I really enjoy looking forward to your new posts each day.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thank you, Shady C!
    I wonder why those people don't like all these lovely blogs on the Net. Maybe they tried writing one and nobody visited? ;)
    Personally, I feel that blogging has made this world a much smaller place where you just have to log in and you can 'touch' someone at the other end of the world. Amazing!
    Plus I have found many like-minded friends who share the same interests as I do and who have such interesting viewpoints that sometimes I can't wait for them to write a new post.
    I hope you find the time to check out the blogs here. I'm sure you'll find that it's time well-spent :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh Helen, you know there is no need to feel humbled. Your blog is as good as any I've read. And in some areas it's even better. I've yet to read anyone who's got such a lively, bubbly tone and you always manage to say the perfect things to bring a smile to my face. So get out there and say proudly, "I'm the Queen Bee of South America ... so there!" :D

    ReplyDelete
  16. Meems, you're absolutely right! Compared to last year there are so many more blogs which were competing this year. Almost 1500+ I understand. Phew! That must've been a huge task for Stuart to pull off and he's done it admirably. But for us it was great fun, I think. At least, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thank you so much, Autumn Belle! For the good wishes as well as for voting for me and especially because you like it enough to keep returning to read it :)
    We all learn something from each other, don't we? I'm amazed at how quickly your blog has become so poular. Of course, it's a great blog, but there are so many good ones which are hardly noticed even years later. Very commendable!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Sunita, that's so sweet of you! I voted for your blog too.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I think everyone's a winner, whether they received the votes or not. :)

    ReplyDelete
  20. Thanks, Victoria.
    I just had to mention your blog because I enjoy it so much :)

    You're absolutely right, Grace!
    I know of so many excellent blogs which did not even reach the Finalists level. But then, like you, I believe that just the very act of blogging and reaching out in itself is more than enough to term them winners :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Congratulations, Sunitha!
    You truly deserve it!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Sorry Sunita, didn’t vote because didn’t know where and how to. Hope you didn’t loose the first place for my one vote. Thanks for the links to those fabulous blogs. Congrats though.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Sunita, It was really tough competition specially where you were runner-up. Look at pie and it is really close. We all love your blog and you have done so well not in urban gardening but in wild life gardening as well. There is no other blog i take so much inspiration as yours. The comments of all the fellow bloggers is your award. Cheers and have fun!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Nebu, sorry about that missing link. That's http://www.blotanical.com
    And thanks! :)

    ReplyDelete
  25. Thank you,MK, for that very encouraging comment. Thank you again.
    Quite frankly, like I said, getting the nominations were the golden moment for me. Winning the runner-up place was the icing on the cake :)
    And yes, I truly treasure the comments I get on my blog from discerning fellow garden bloggers:)

    ReplyDelete
  26. You are one of my favorites and there are so many including those listed. It was hard to choose. I did meet new folks because of the awards. Over the past year and a half while being on blotanical, I've learned that we aren't so different--just putting different varieties in the ground.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Beautifully said, Anna!
    Making new friends and finding interesting new blogs are definitely one of the plus points of the awards. I believe there are over 1500+ garden blogs on that list so the nominations and awards helped me to find them faster.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Hi Sunita; congratulations to you! Your style of writing and pictures about your garden and widlife is unique and wonderful.
    Thank you so much for mentioning my blog. Happy gardening and blogging!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Thank you, Trudi.
    Of course, I just had to mention you and your blog ... it's one of my favourites, isn't it? :)

    ReplyDelete

Hi, hope you enjoyed reading this post? Tell me what you think about this post; I love hearing from you.
But please note ... if there's a link in the comment, it will not be approved for publishing (sorry, but I'm getting way too much spam with links).