Was not this one. Luckily I didn’t publicly announce my retirement. This was meant to be my last Blog Awards but a few things didn’t go the way I wanted them to go on the night so the beatings will continue til the morale improves and I’m happy with a Blog Awards. Maybe I’ll get it right the 6th time or the 7th.
Notes like the below make it all worth it though:
Please do blog and email and give thanks to the organisers. It takes considerable effort to run this and year on year less thank you emails are sent while complaint emails go up. It makes a difference between the organisers enjoying doing this or seeing it as a chore.
Thanks to Nathalie for the photo. Thanks to Jim Caroll and Rick O’Shea for positive messages about running events.
If you’re a progressive hotel you’ll be emailing and offering your hotel facilities at a deep discount. 300 good spending bloggers, most will stay in the hotel if it’s of good value and many will take lots of pics of the place too. The Blog Awards is not going to be in Cork, Dublin or Galway next year. So loads of choices.
Well done Damien on organising the awards. My 75 year old in-laws were co-opted into a shift of babysitting so we could go to Galway sans kinder. And when my other half went over to their house to thank them – they got it. We won an award in a field of thousands of bloggers and my mother in law was moved to phone and congratulate me. And since she doesn’t really like me – that was a big deal.
So thankyou, and thanks to all who contributed. it was a hoot! xx
Good times Damien and thanks again……a woo hoo!
Kilkenny next year?
Hopefully I’ll be able to get a babysitter and make it.
It was a blast as always, well done and thanks for the effort Damian and Co. I look forward to many more of them
From the tweets & photos it seems a good time was had by all. Next year: Limerick!
Well done Damien. Seemed like a great night.
Dare I suggest Belfast? Nordies are not that scary…
Thank you for the ceremony Damien. Everything went brilliantly so congratulations to yourself everyone involved
Congrats to all invlolved!! Kilkenny or Waterford for it next year maybe?? Even though Athlone would probably be the best location with it being so central!! If its good enough for the Department of Education…it should be good enough for the Blogging Community!!! If you do decide to have it in Waterford i may well be able to get a substantial discount on the location.
@Rossa McMahon
I agree, CEO of the Strand was very interested in this sort of blogging and social malarky the last time I met him.
Actually think he is involved in the clarion too. we could have the highest blog awards ever.
I think that was Cork, for some.
Who complains? Who? Lemme addem!
A big thank you Damien to you and all the team for the hard work you do to pull this off each year. This was my first year being nominated and going to the Awards and it was a great opportunity to finally put faces to blogs and tweets. I was a finalist who came home empty handed but nevertheless thrilled to have seen my blog up in lights so to speak. It was great way to celebrate my first year of blogging! Well done to all the organisers, the sponsors and of course the winners. Here’s to IBA ’11.
Signed.. a humble newbie.
This was my first time attending and I was just blown away by the community spirt and the (sickening) love of Mulley in evidence. I came away with a whole Twitter list of new friends, a long list of blogs to start reading and a whopper of a hangover.
Well done to the organisers for a terrific job, with special mention due for MC Rick O’Shea and the funny videos.
Stop being so self critical Damien, everyone thought it was a faultless night, so maybe you should quit (just kidding).
In fairness ye don’t get much credit, so well done. I’ve not heard anyone complain about the event itself the last 2 years.
And I’ve said it before… Amsterdam 2011….
As a first-time attendee it was great to put some more faces to names (and avatars). Full credit to you and to everyone involved in making it such a fun evening and a successful event — ceremonies run that smoothly only after a huge amount of effort (and usually hassle).
If Irish blogging is dead, long live Irish blogging…
Go raibh maith agat Damien. Go raibh míle maith agat. Thanks very much for organising the awards. Unfortunately due to a combination of circumstances including moving house and a recent bereavement, I wasn’t able to attend. But I hope to be there next year and if called upon will sing my party piece. I was heartened to see a number of new Irish language bloggers on the shortlist but I hope more will come to the fore next year. Whatever about blogging being dead, blogging in Irish is in its infancy and this recognition is important to get people ‘ag blagáil’ ! Thanks again to Damien for making it all possible. And to all those who helped. And the sponsors – Edgecast Media in the case of the Best Use of the Irish Language in a Blog catergory.
A big thanks to Damien and the entire team for yet another great celebration. It’s obvious that a huge amount of effort went into the whole night. [And since the Radisson is just 5 minutes from my house, I was really happy with the venue…].
Limerick would be a good venue next year! g’wan 🙂
Damien – it was a fantastic night – thanks so much. All the work that goes into it is incredible and it’s alway a blast! x
As a first-timer I am selfishly relieved that this will not be your (or my) last Irish Blog Awards. There were 3 of us in our group and we all had an absolute blast. There is such a tremendous feel-good factor in meeting up with people whose blogs you read and who you follow on Twitter and I had a massive grin on my face for the whole night. I also thought the event was pretty flawless and loved all the little touches that added up to make it such a fun experience: the air guitars, the funeral procession, our own polystyrene headstones. So a huge thank you from me to you and all the organisers and I can’t wait for next year.
Do tell us more about the problems with the hotel, though. Seems immeasurably foolish for them to get on the wrong side of Ireland’s bloggers…!