Contests and Challenges

Patria ubi bene

This is my all favorite Latin quote. Your homeland is where you’re feeling good, whatever that means for each of us: prosperous, happy, challenged to outrun others, connected to one’s roots, among friends. I always thought I could live anywhere as long there was a reason to do it: a work opportunity, getting an education, trying something new. I believe I can adapt to any place, as long as there are people I can connect with. That is why I’ve always believed I am location independent.

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WoBM Anniversary Group Writing Project Winners

It seems like Tuesdays have been the days for most posts related to the WoBM Anniversary Contest, the Blogging and Relationships – Write about the wonderful people you’ve met Group Writing Project. So it’s no wonder you get to meet the winners on a Tuesday :)

As I’ve kept you waiting for too long, here’s who won and a list of all entries:

The first place and first prize, a copy of IttyBiz’ SEO School, go to Andrew for his wonderful entry Three Special Bloggers.

The second place and prize, a collection of Depeche Mode – The Singles 86-98 in mp3 format, go to Joanna Young for her inspirational piece on microblogging and relationships, Why it’s worth sticking with Twitter.

For the third place, we had a tie. So we’ve decided on having to amazing bloggers awarded: Brad Shorr for the Blogging Relationships are Gold for the Soul post, who will be receiving a copy of Lillie Ammann’s “Dream or Destiny”, and Lillie Ammann with the entry Blogging Friends, but as she cannot win her own book, she will be also receiving the Depeche Mode – The Singles 86-98 in mp3 format collection.

All four of them will also get 2 hours of free PR consulting, but I’ll send all the details about their prizes in an email.

Thank you and congratulations again to everyone who’s been part of this group writing project:

Brad Shorr – Blogging Relationships are Gold for the Soul

Sarah Welstead – 7 Rules for Effective Relationship Blogging

Andrew of Good Honest Dollar – Three Special Bloggers

Joanna Young – Why it’s worth sticking with Twitter

CV Harquail – Tweet yourself like the person you want to be

Jacquelyn – How I started the WParent blog

Lillie Ammann – Blogging Friends

Nithya – Building Strength through Support

Alina Popescu – Investing in relationships has excellent ROI

Important Update

As Brad already has a copy of “Dream or Destiny”, he’s donnated his to a random participant. He’ll be enjoying a Depeche Mode collection instead. We played with some numbers and the lucky winner is CV Harquail – Tweet yourself like the person you want to be. Congratsulations!

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If I were a random artist, I’d definitely ROCK!

Daniel Secareanu has tagged me with a wonderful meme that definitely suits a Sunday evening. A random artist is created using random creativity, and here’s what band I’d be in and the name of our very first album!

Elstree Calling - In the middle of it

Do you want to play? Here’s how to decide on your band name, your album name and the artwork to be used on the cover. If you like it too much, well, you can actually use it and start writing songs :)

  1. Go to Wikipedia. Use the “random” search option or click here. The name of the first article you find will be your band’s name.
  2. Next, go to “Random quotations” or click this link. The last three-four words of the last quote on the page will be your album’s name.
  3. Then, go to Flicker and access the photos posted in the last seven days, or click here. The third photo displayed, no matter what it is, will be your album’s cover. As my friend Loredana noticed, you should also check if there’s any copyright or creative commons for that photo and make sure you can a. use it and b. modify it. You should keep going from one photo to the next till you reach you can use. In my case, it took checking out the entire first page, reloading and then checking a few more. Original photo here.
  4. Lastly, use your preferred photo editing software or online tool to put everything together.

If you read this and you’re inspired to see what your first album would look and sound like, consider yourself tagged!

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WoBM Anniversary Group Writing Project – Jury’s Turn

Yesterday was the last day when contestants could submit entries to the WoBM Anniversary Group Writing Project Blogging and Relationships – Write about the wonderful people you’ve met. Here’s the complete list of submitted entries. The jury will now go behind close doors and deliberate! Not really, but we’ll be back with the three lucky winners as soon as possible!

Brad Shorr – Blogging Relationships are Gold for the Soul

Sarah Welstead – 7 Rules for Effective Relationship Blogging

Andrew of Good Honest Dollar – Three Special Bloggers

Joanna Young – Why it’s worth sticking with Twitter

CV Harquail – Tweet yourself like the person you want to be

Jacquelyn – How I started the WParent blog

Lillie Ammann – Blogging Friends

Nithya – Building Strength through Support

And my own – Investing in relationships has excellent ROI

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WoBM Anniversary Contest – Final Countdown

If you want to join the WoBM Group Writing Project “Blogging and Relationships – Write about the wonderful people you’ve met!“, you should really do it now. There are only 5 days left until the deadline, February 28. Four and a half if you think today’s morning is long gone. In case you’re wondering what your struggling for, other than your reader’s appreciation and lovely comments, here are the prizes:

  1. A copy of IttyBiz’ SEO School
  2. Depeche Mode – The Singles 86-98 in mp3 format (I love them and this particular collection holds all my favorites)
  3. A copy of Lillie Ammann’s “Dream or Destiny”

Plus the 2 hours of free PR counseling from me included in each prize. And our cool jury: Loredana, Alex and myself.

Don’t forget to play by the rules in the announcement post!

And if you’re wondering who you’re competing against, take a look at the already submitted entries:

Brad Shorr – Blogging Relationships are Gold for the Soul

Sarah Welstead – 7 Rules for Effective Relationship Blogging

Andrew of Good Honest Dollar – Three Special Bloggers

Joanna Young – Why it’s worth sticking with Twitter

CV Harquail – Tweet yourself like the person you want to be

Jacquelyn – How I started the WParent blog

And my own – Investing in relationships has excellent ROI

Good luck everyone and don’t forget time is flying by!

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