Okay, so I won the Pettie for Best Cat Blog at BlogPaws West 2010. Does that mean I actually have the best cat blog? Ha, ha — of course not! I do work very hard on my blog to make it as good as it possibly can be, but so do a lot of other cats (and humans who have cat-themed blogs). And some really great cat bloggers that are very popular didn’t get nominated mainly because they didn’t campaign for it. If you are one of those (and you must know who you are!), do go for it next year! It was so much fun to be in the running — and even more fun to win!
The competition for the Best Cat Blog was really, really tough, and even though we are all cat blogs, each blog is very different from the others. I would have had a hard time deciding who to vote for if I had never seen any of our blogs before! I am a fan of the other three blogs that were nominated, so I thought I would tell you a little bit about them, since I know not all of you know them. Here they are, in alphabetical order:
Catladyland: Angie Bailey’s blog is a newer entry into the cat blogging world, and I didn’t even know about it until it was nominated for Best Cat Blog. I went over to check it out and I was instantly enchanted! Angie is definitely a cat lady, but she is not crazy — she is smart and funny and her three cats are real characters. My human met Angie at BlogPaws and interestingly, they seem to have a lot in common besides cats — really odd things, like they are both Mojo Nixon fans and they are both 80s ladies. Once I checked out Angie’s blog, it was obvious why it was nominated. It has humor and heart and yes, it is quite eclectic.
My favorite Catladyland post: Jack and Tyke — actually this post is a little different from Angie’s usual funny point of view, but I had to mention it because it is about author Jack Kerouac and his beloved cat, Tyke, and includes a moving quote from his book, Big Sur. More typical of the blog’s tone is Cat Food — in fact, the whole cat-and-food theme wound up becoming a whole new blog called (logically) Katt Food, which I also highly recommend checking out. You can even submit your own Katt Food photo!
The Conscious Cat: Created by author and Reiki Master Practitioner Ingrid King, this blog is packed with information about how humans and their cats can have joyful, healthy lives. There are blog posts on feline nutrition and health, lessons from pets to humans, and posts about pet loss (Ingrid’s book, Buckley’s Story, is about a very special cat Ingrid loved, and lost too soon). There are also book reviews (in fact, she recently reviewed my new cat-to-cat advice book!). Ingrid is very knowledgeable and intuitive, and yes, she lets her tortie, Allegra, have her say sometimes — she did the same for Amber, the tortie who inspired the blog. Sadly, Amber died earlier this year.
My favorite Conscious Cat post: This was hard to pick, since there is so much gold on this site, but one of the must-read posts is What Not to Say to Someone Who Is Grieving The Loss of a Pet. It is so easy to say the wrong thing, and Ingrid suggests what you can do instead of spouting off an awkward platitude.
My Himalayan Cat Goma: I actually thought Goma and his human, Sachie were going to win — after all, Goma has been on Animal Planet’s show, Cats 101, so he is already a TV star! Plus Goma and Sachie are a great team: Goma adds the floof, the poses and the awesome facial expressions, and Sachie adds the arty-cartoony quotes. The posts usually end with an amusing dialogue between Goma and Sachie. I always look forward to Goma’s adventures — he has a view of the world that is even a little wackier than the usual kitty! Sachie, in case you don’t know, is also a very talented artist, and has included Goma in some of her designs.
My Favorite Goma post: Engagement. This is actually one of my favorite posts ever on any blog — Goma helps Sachie’s then-boyfriend, now-husband propose. It is one of the sweetest things I’ve ever seen.
How exciting! Congratulations!
What a cute Goma story!
Do you think I will still go to spam Sparkle??? Thanks for rescuing me yesterday. I think I once heard that Spam was a good thing to eat but I haven’t ever had any. If I keep going to spam could I get some, do you think?
Well, your comment posted with no problem today, so no spam for you!
What a gracious winner you are to sing the praises of the other nominated cat blogs (we can see why, for sure!!) Thanks for introducing us to some new blogs!!
~Nico, Simon & JayJay 🙂
ps. Congrats again on your award!!
Concats again on your win, Sparkle. You are very generous and gracious – a real class act!
-Pip, Smidgen, Minnie
Goodness. We don’t know any of those other blogs….will have to definately visit them soon!
That was very sweet of you to introduce the other nominees to us Sparkle! We will check them out especially the one with a Tortie!
Sparkle you are gracious as well as wise…we will check out the other nominees and add them to our blogroll!
Thank you for showing me these blogs. I did not know of them
This is such a thoughtful post, Sparkle. Our mom read “What not to say about the loss of a pet”, and although she thought she already knew what not to say (just based on silly things people have said to her!), she found it to be helpful.
P.S. Our mom likes Mojo Nixon too – she still sings “Elvis is Everywhere” (very badly!) around the house.
Such a sweet post=we love Goma too, he’s such a gorgeous mancat!…Happy day, lovely friends…Calle, Halle, Sukki
ConCats on your superb win!!! we LOVE your blog. We also think it’s extremely sweet of you to pay today’s post to the other nominess.
We were amazed at how many cat blogs that didn’t even know about the cat blogosphere! Wow. Now we’ll have to get reading other blogs now too (because you know the Woman has unlimited time to read all of them every day…)
We know Goma but we didn’t know the other nominees. We’re going to go check them out right now!
Sniffie and the Florida Furkids
Oh Sparkle I watched your mom on Blogpaw’s live show!! So nice to see her in person well in camera!!! and congratulations of winning! Sparkle is a international star!! and this blog is just so pawsome! Thank you for such a nice write ups about Goma and me!
The others are pretty cool, but you’re first class all the way Sparkle!
pee ess…my mom is a 70’s lady…hopelessly stuck there. Sigh.
Thanks for the reminder to go spend some time visiting these other amazing cat blogs! We’ll do that and I’m sure it will make us purrrrrr….
That is really nice of you to mention the other nominees and tell us about their blogs.
Congratulations on your win Sparkle. Thank you for posting about the other nominees in the category. xoxo
Sparkle, that was so nice of you to talk about the other cat blogs. I have been to one of them but am going to go visit the other two right now.We are excited that you won and feel like you deserve it.
Have a wonderful day.
Congratulations on your win Sparkle and I will go visit the others because I don’t know them either.
Thanks for sharing information about the other nominees. I’ve been a fan of Goma’s blog since I joined the CB. He is one of my favorite mancats!
Sparkle, what a sweet and gracious winner you are!
Thanks for introducing us to the other nominees, Sparkle! A couple of those we didn’t know but we’ll make sure to add them to our list of blogs to visit!
Congratulations again on your win, Sparkle, and thank you so much for the gracious and generous mention of The Conscious Cat! “It was an honor just to be nominated” sounds like such a trite thing to say, but in this case, it is entirely true, especially considering the amazing company The Conscious Cat was nominated in. I am so delighted to be part of this wonderful community of cat bloggers.
Congratulations! I’m glad you won because I wasn’t familiar with any of the others. You are a very gracious winner and I am off to visit your other top competitors now.
Thank you for mentioning my blog in this post 🙂 As you noted, I was the newest blog nominated and — honestly — felt completely honored and overwhelmed to even be considered among the company of the other three. I look up to all three of you! Sparkle, the award is well-deserved and I can’t wait to see what happens next for you.
I loved hanging out with your human — we were fast friends! Exchanging 80’s stories was a blast and I look forward to continuing our friendship 🙂
Congrats again, you gorgeous, smart girl!!
Angie
Catladyland/Katt Food