Do You Have the Best Blog?

RHS Gardening Blogs Competition

The RHS have launched a competition to find the best garden blog for 2013 :)

Sounds interesting, tell me more

All you need to do is select one blog post about gardening you've published between the launch date (Monday 8th July) and the competition's closing date (September 30th). There's no need to offer any more posts, or your entire blog as the judges will only consider the post you've entered.

What are the judges looking for?

Your post can be about any subject as long as it's about gardening in some way. It's the quality of the writing that matters, and it should be unique to your blog, not published elsewhere. Any images used in the post must also be yours. The selected post must be from your own personal blog, not part of a group blog which publishes from a number of authors.

The judges will select a shortlist of 10 finalists, which will then be opened up for a public vote, just like the 'People's Choice' used at the RHS's garden shows.

OK, so what can I win?

All finalists are invited to visit an RHS Flower Show of their choice on press day in 2014. The winner will have the chance to blog on the new RHS website, a visit to an RHS Flower Show on press day in 2014, plus a tour of an RHS Garden with the curator.

How do I enter?

You can notify the RHS of your entry via one of three different ways:

  • Twitter: Tweet a link to your post with the hashtag #RHSGardeningBlogs - you may like to add @The_RHS for good measure
  • Facebook: Post a link to your post on the RHS Facebook page with the text 'RHS Gardening Blogs Competition'
  • Email: Send a link to your post to blogcompetition@rhs.org.uk

 I like your shiny button at the top of your post, can I have one?

Only if you enter! You can grab the code from the RHS's website. The finalists will also get a Finalists button for their blog. And of course, the winner gets an exclusive button just for them.

How do I find out more?

Visit the RHS blog competition page, especially to check out the full Terms and Conditions and to grab your Entrant button :)

Comments

  1. Shirley12 August 2013 at 11:15

    Well done in promoting this, VP :-) I only discovered this competition myself late last night and also plan to blog details at some point soon :-)

    It's great to see the RHS acknowledging the many, many garden related blogs there are (clapping my hands to them) although I do wonder if they realise just how many bloggers are out there ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP12 August 2013 at 13:01

      Hi Shirley - I've known about this for a while, but waited a little before posting because the closing date is so far away.

      It's great isn't it? I do think the RHS have an idea of the number of blogs out there, I hope for their sake that not everyone waits until the last week to enter!

      Delete
  2. Anna12 August 2013 at 12:27

    It's brilliant to see the RHS celebrating blogging VP but I don't think that the words 'best garden blog' are used in the competition details :) There are so many excellent garden related blogs out there and so much difference in content and style that it would be impossible to award such a title especially based on just one post. Still an excellent idea and good luck to the judges - they are going to need it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP12 August 2013 at 12:57

      Hi Anna - my words were chosen very carefully because of the one post entry rule :)

      It would be extremely hard to judge our wonderfully diverse range of gardening blogs, no matter if the whole blog, or the best 3,5,10 etc posts were entered. I'm assuming the one blog post rule means the maximum people can enter, irrespective of whether they're a completely new blogger (after all you can set up a blog from scratch simply to enter this competition), or very experienced. NB the blog itself doesn't have to be a gardening blog, just the post that's entered from it.

      For me, making my selection will be very hard, especially as I think my best post so far this year was posted outside the competition's timeframe ;)

      Do please enter something from yours...

      Delete
  3. Anonymous12 August 2013 at 14:15

    I think that it's extremely poor to select a best garden blog on the basis of one post! Flighty xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP12 August 2013 at 15:37

      Hi Flighty - that's an interesting observation. The thing is 'blog' can be used to refer to both the weblog itself and an individual post within it. By focusing on just one entry, I think this competition is more like the various writing competitions I've seen in magazines and online. It also maximises the number of people eligible to enter.

      I think you should select your very best post and go for it!
      xx

      Delete
  4. Angie12 August 2013 at 17:19

    What a great idea - there are so many great blogs out there, it would be very difficult to choose a winner.
    Personally, I doubt I could pluck up the courage to enter but wish anyone who is going to enter, best of luck!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP13 August 2013 at 20:56

      Hi Angie - yes there are loads of blogs and plenty of people who write well and take excellent photographs. I don't envy the judges at all!

      I judged the Canadian blog awards earlier this year and it was really tough!

      I think you should enter - nothing ventured. nothing gained...

      Delete
  5. Caro15 August 2013 at 18:22

    OooooooOOOOoooo! I didn't know about this! Thanks for flagging it up, I'll be having a go - and luckily plenty of time to choose. There ARE so many good blogs out there, aren't there! I'm always getting distracted by new blog discoveries and, realising that I haven't the time to read them all, find it hard to be selective. Well done RHS for recognising the value of the blogging world! (And good luck, Michelle, with your entry :) )

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP18 August 2013 at 09:19

      Hurray - glad you're going to give it a go Caro :)

      Delete
  6. Anonymous7 October 2013 at 08:24

    Good luck with your entry. I agree that it is tough judging a competition on just one post.

    ReplyDelete

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