Today we are most excited as we launch a really fun (and what we hope will become a "yearly event") called "The Poppies". We thought it would be fun to run a virtual awards ceremony of sorts celebrating the Handmade Community!

We don't wish this to be a competition, however more an appreciation and acknowledgement of the handmade community; a light and fun process to celebrate the Handmade! The nominating will start effective January 7th, with nominations running through to Tuesday, January 12th at 11:59pm. Followed then by voting to ensure a TOTALLY democratic process. The voting of the finalists will commence Thursday January 14th through to January 20th at 11:59pm. The winners will be announced January 22nd, 2010.

The awards are going to be set up in two sections so that our readers can firstly nominate their "favourite handmade or vintage designer and/or shop under specific categories and then secondly the most nominated five finalists from each category will be chosen for a final selection through a reader vote. In addition, we will be inviting a select jury from the blogging community to choose one overall winner, .


CATEGORIES:

Individual Categories (As nominated and voted by Poppytalk readers):

1. Favourite Handmade Accessories
2. Favourite Handmade Affordable Art
3. Favourite Handmade Ceramics
4. Favourite Handmade Crafter (eg. Embroidery/Crochet/Knitting/Quilting)
5. Favourite Handmade Eco
6. Favourite Handmade Housewares
7. Favourite Handmade Jewelry
8. Favourite Handmade Paper goods
9. Favourite Photographer
10. Favourite Handmade Textiles
11. Favourite Vintage Shop
12. Favourite Handmade Artist Blog

and

1. Favourite Overall Artist/Designer/Shop (as chosen by a select jury)

PRIZES:

For each winner of each category (chosen by our readers)

1. A one month's free participation at Poppytalk Handmade
2. A "I won a Poppy" banner/button for your site or blog!
3. A one year's text link from the Poppytalk blog's main page under "The Poppies" category
4. Traffic to you from Poppytalk

Final overall winner (chosen by a jury of select bloggers)

1. A three month participation at Poppytalk Handmade
2. A "I won a Poppy" banner/button for your site or blog!
3. A one year's text link from the Poppytalk blog's main page under "The Poppies" category
4. Traffic to you from Poppytalk

We look forward to this event, and your nominations and votes!

RULES:

Nominations:

One nomination per person. You can nominate yourself if you wish and nominate more than one person. Please nominate under each specific designated nomination title by leaving a comment at the specific category/nomination post. With the nomination please leave the Name of the Artist/Designer or Shop and their website (one website per nomination). No anonymous nominations will be accepted. Nominations will run January 6th, with nominations running for one week ending on Tuesday, January 12th at 11:59pm. The top five nominated people from each category will continue on to become finalists. So nominate and pass on the word to get others to nominate your nomination as well to get the most nominations to become a finalist! - see update here.

Voting:

Select finalist by clicking on the voting button for each category. Five finalist will appear in each category. The voting of the finalists will commence Thursday January 14th through to Wednesday, January 20th at 11:59pm Tuesday, January 19 to Monday January 25th at 11:59pm - see update here.

All winners will be announced Friday, January 22nd.

Good luck everyone and have fun! See the nomination posts listed below this post or click on the links below:

1. Favourite Handmade Accessories
2. Favourite Handmade Affordable Art
3. Favourite Handmade Ceramics
4. Favourite Handmade Crafter (eg. Embroidery/Crochet/Knitting/Quilting)
5. Favourite Handmade Eco
6. Favourite Handmade Housewares
7. Favourite Handmade Jewelry
8. Favourite Handmade Paper goods
9. Favourite Photographer
10. Favourite Handmade Textiles
11. Favourite Vintage Shop
12. Favourite Handmade Artist Blog