Uplift Magazine

Cosmopolitan Blog Awards: The Launch!

By: Sarah Barnes, 01.07.2010 | Comments (1)

It was with great excitement, and more than a couple of tummy-dwelling butterflies, that I attended the launch event for the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards this morning. Sharing my excitement in the pink-ified surroundings of  The Future Gallery were some of the best bloggers you’d ever hope to meet, all dying to find out what Cosmopolitan had up their sleeves for their first ever blog awards. As the various speakers from Cosmo explained that they had gathered us together because they felt we represented a fresh wave of voices, communicating directly and distinctly with women, I felt even more honoured to be invited to be a part of it!

The butterflies I will blame on the fact that, as a blogger who dishes up women’s news and feminist analysis of pop culture, I felt sure I’d be in the minority amongst a sea of style bloggers. This wasn’t entirely true, though, as I got chatting with people and was reminded that the great thing about blogging is that it’s so personal a medium that most blogs will encompass a bit of everything; be it fashion, feminism… or Sylvanian Families! Still, as Emily at Fashion Foie Gras noted on her blog ‘anyone that is anyone in fashion blogging was there’. Even Cosmo themselves couldn’t resist ogling the shoes of all the attendees – there really was some fantastic footwear in that room (something fellow feminist blogger Lori of Rarely Wears Lipstick also noted as we nibbled on strawberries and did a bit of ogling ourselves)!

After getting to know our fellow bloggers and munching on mini pain au chocolat, it was down to business. We were welcomed by Justine Southall, Cosmo’s Publishing Director, who gave us an insight into why the magazine is still going strong after 38 years in the UK; “It speaks to core human needs. It’s empowerment, uplifting, motivating, sexy, glamourous… These are not part of the zeitgeist, they are fundamental things that women will always want.” After a speech from Beth Wont, Managing Director of Aigua Media, we were then introduced to Pat Mcnulty, Acting Web Editor at Cosmopolitan.co.uk, who gave us a little background as to why Cosmo have decided to start awarding us bloggers.

Pat identified that as a “multitude of fresh voices” us bloggers make the internet a very exciting place but, she acknowledged, that the amount of choice can be pretty bewildering for even the most media-savvy women out there. With their new awards, the Cosmo team hope to “weedle out those ‘can’t-get-through-the day-without-clicking’ blogs” and let their readers know about them.

Right now we are only at the stage where you can nominate by voting (just the once!) for the blog you think deserves to be recognised, but later Cosmo will then choose five semi-finalist blogs for each category. The public will then vote for the winners, which will be announced late August!

Of course, I would be over the moon if Uplift were to be nominated as a vital blog stop for women’s news and thoughtful things (hint hint!) but I had such a great morning (and got such a ridiculously amazing goody bag) that right now I’m just so happy I was invited! And, of course, it was great to meet loads of bloggers (Including Angharad at Edible Glitter, Alex from Domestic Sluttery, Kate at Sticky Lips, Kristin aka The Clothes Whisperer and Simon G at The Very Simon G) who I am looking forward to reading up on. Now, who am I going to vote for… ?

Read more about the event and cast your vote here!

L-R: Justine Southall, Beth Wont and Pat Mcnulty. All images from the Cosmo event gallery… and there are more great pictures from the event over on Fashion Foie Gras!