And the Award Goes To...

This post is an opportunity to combine two things I've been thinking about - which may qualify as multi-tasking. As many of us know the Blogs of Beauty Awards were held recently and Kathryn, a Mormon blogger who blogs at Daring Young Mom, won the award for Best Humor. Without going into the minutae of the process that followed, suffice it to say that Kathryn had beaten the pants off orthodox Christian women bloggers - which is who the awards were intended for. When she realised that she had been nominated in and had won a contest intended for the less funny orthodox Christian women (I didn't even get nominated for Best Humor!) she declined the award. Some awards are intended for particular groups, and although she didn't have to give up the award she chose to as her blog differed from the intended criteria. I am mentioning all this as it would be silly to skip over it.

To sidestep for a moment... Some months ago I thought that I would like to occasionally give awards to weblogs that show a unique feature which I think deserves acknowledgement. I had the name planned and the idea has stayed with me. Since this is the season for awards it's the perfect time to present the first one.

These awards are the Aroha Awards. Aroha is the Maori word for love (the Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand). Maori is a beautiful language, and although it's not my native tongue, I have always liked the word aroha in particular. A note on pronunciation - it's not arrow-ha, but is said more like aror-ha. The Aroha Awards are not religious, political, or geographical awards. They are an award from Allthings2all (moi) to a weblog which has a unique feature which deserves acknowledgement. The Aroha Awards do not mean that the recipient has the same beliefs or views as me, and do not carry a requirement that the recipient should link to me (they can if they want to but I don't automatically expect it). They are a gift to unique blogs.

Cue Daring Young Mom. She has a terrific sense of humour. Indeed - she is also daring. She has ventured onto this blog and suggested that moi may really live in a small unincorporated island that is not part of New Zealand, and thus may not qualify for the Best Australian or New Zealand Blog in the 2005 Weblog Awards. For those who feel the need to know, I am for the duration of the awards hovering over the necessary geographical location in a hot air balloon in New Zealand airspace.

But enough about me. Daring Young Mom has a very humorous weblog. She has a funny way of writing about life which cracks people up and she makes a point at the same time. So it really is not a difficult decision to present the first Aroha Award to Kathryn of Daring Young Mom - for humor. Kathryn, I hope you will accept this Aroha Award - from one woman blogger to another as an acknowledgement of your blog and your writing gift. I would like to give it to you in aroha. And although I'm doing the presenting, my sense is that other people would like to see you acknowledged too.

May I present your Aroha Award:


Well folks, if you haven't yet (I can't think who hasn't), pop in to Daring Young Mom. Recommended reading "I like Your Shirt. I'll Give You 20 Bucks For It". Update: Kathryn has posted her acceptance speech at Daring Young Mom.

By the way, I'm trying out this thing in my sidebar where you can see the most recent comments. I've always wanted to have that.