THE BLOGOSPHERE BLOG AWARDS 2017

Last Thursday I attended the first ever Blogosphere magazine Blog Awards ceremony, and well if you caught my Instagram stories, you'll have seen just how excited I was to be there! To be honest, I’d been bubbling over with excitement the moment I saw an email from Blogosphere’s Editor Alice Audley land in my inbox, inviting me along to the inaugural Blog Awards evening.

Blogosphere is a quarterly, independent print publication which launched in October 2013 and  is written by bloggers for bloggers. The magazine was founded by Alice Audley, who'd started a blog herself and quickly fell in love with blogging and all it represented. For me there's nothing else quite like the magazine out there, it's such a great resource for all things blogging and always an inspiring read. Blogsophere and The Simple Things are my favourite magazines and the only ones I really read at the moment, so you can see why I was so excited to be able to attend the blog awards. 

                                                                                                                                                       *Photo credit: Blogosphere magazine

The event was hosted at Iris Studios in Kensington and as we arrived at the awards, a big red carpet awaited us. I have to confess it was the first red carpet I've ever walked down and with the flambos (fire) on the outside and a beautiful flower wall inside, it made everything feel extra special! Inside everything looked lovely; hues of blue and pink and beautiful flower displays along the long trestle tables lined with goodie bags made me feel like we were at a lovely wedding. 

I so many lovely bloggers at the awards and it was great to catch up with some familiar faces too. There was such a positive atmosphere in the room and it was lovely to see bloggers supporting and encouraging each other. So many nominees were cheering each other on and there was a general excitement regardless of whether your blog had been recognised, nominated or voted for or if you were part of the award celebrations. I just loved being in a room full of bloggers, being able to chat away about all things blogging with everyone including the Editor Alice, meet new people and discover so many great blogs. During the evening I really enjoyed chatting away to Heather from Digital Fluidity and Amber from The Mile Long Bookshelf. Both were nominated for an award; Heather for the Community award and Amber for Book Blogger of the year; it was really lovely to meet them both and they really inspired me. Since the awards evening I have been thinking non-stop about my blog and feel so motivated. There are so many ideas swimming around my head and I've just really loved  throwing myself into my blog. 

No awards ceremony would be complete without great food and refreshments and we were treated to lots of delicious food from Social Pantry, who served canapés and a selection of snacks. Amber and I especially loved the tomato and wild garlic pesto tarts. I think I could have eaten a plate full of those little canapes! There were also drinks to suit all tastes from Fentimans, Stassen Cider and Barentsz premium gin.

At 7.30pm Alice kicked off the awards ceremony. The winners of each category were nominated and voted for by the blogging community as well being reviewed by a judging panel made up of the talented likes of Sasha Wilkins from Liberty London Girl and journalist Bryony Gordon. The winners of each category will be featured in issue 14 of the magazine, and the Blogosphere Blogger of the Year winner will be the cover star of the issue. The winners were:

• Fashion Blogger of the Year - Fashion Slave 
• Beauty Blogger of the Year - The Sunday Girl 
• Lifestyle Blogger of the Year - Little Thoughts
• Parenting Blogger of the Year - Someone’s Mum
• Arts & Crafts Blogger of the Year - A Pair And A Spare DIY
• Fitness Blogger of the Year - Imperfect Matter
• Book Blogger of the Year - Little Novelist
• Photography Blogger of the Year - Kyle Galvin
• Food Blogger of the Year - The Little Blog Of Vegan
• Travel Blogger of the Year - Twins That Travel
• Community Award - Just Nadiene
• Blogosphere Blogger of the Year - Hannah Gale

In between the awards, there was live music from Andrea Di Giovanni, who gave such an amazing performance. Definitely go check him out!

I think best winner's speech of the night had to go to Kyle Galvin, winner of the Photography Blogger of the Year award and a Go-Pro from the category sponsor Ice Lolly Holiday. Kyle said he hadn’t prepared a speech, but you would never have known. Kyle delivered a brilliant speech which was full of admiration and praise for bloggers and the industry and very pro-women which got a big smile from me.

                                                                                                                                                                                                               *

I love this photo from the night as it captures one of my favourite bloggers Hannah Gale the moment she was announced as the winner of the Blogosphere Blogger of the Year award! I'm a big fan of Hannah and her blog and I was really pleased she won. Her outfit posts are always on point so go check her out. I went up to Hannah later to congratulate her and of course I totally fangirled, but she was very lovely and it was great to meet her.

We were gifted with an impressive goody bag during the event, which contained many lovely treats from the award sponsors which. A really thoughtful touch and a nice memento of the event. So many things instantly caught my eye such as the primer from Pixi and the blending sponges from Ecotools, both of which I've already starting using. I'll be talking about the great products soon on the blog.

Can we just take a moment to admire issue 13 of blogosphere featuring Louise Pentland, it's beautiful! If you haven't already caught up with the latest issue, don't miss out on all of the gorgeousness. There are so many great pieces, such as the interview with Caroline Hirons (whoop!) and the Louise Pentland feature, the photoshoot alone is stunning!  Definite fashion, makeup and photography goals there.

It was such a lovely night from start to finish and a huge congrats to all the nominees and winners! You know it's going to be a great night when you get to put on a sequinned dress and have your photo taken by a flower wall. I always come away feeling happy after a blogosphere event. Cheesy I know, but it's just great to feel a part of the blogging community in that way. I'll be at the #BlogosphereSummerParty in August and I can't wait. Maybe I'll see some of you there.

Jx

*Photos are from blogosphere magazine courtesy of Kaye Ford (@Fordography). All other photos are my own.