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The Spicy Cauldron Awards 2006
Hell, everyone’s doing it – setting up awards that don’t involve prizes but do involve a probably insignificant but well-intentioned bit of cross-promotion where blogs are concerned. It pays to fertilise (each other’s site traffic, that is!) and so I’ve decided to start a bit of silliness myself with the first-ever Spicy Cauldron Awards. So what do you have to do to win a Spicy? Read on…
Okay, I frequent a lot of blogs. Most every blog listed in my ‘roll with it’ section (below) has had me leave a comment thereon at one time or another. I like blogs covering many different subjects but they’ve all got one thing in common: great writing produced by great people. I’m looking to draw special attention to just five deserving bloggers who submit articles for consideration that are… well, spicy.
What does spicy as a word mean to you? I’m not going into what it means for me. It’s your interpretation that counts. Does spicy mean hot, as in controversial? Daring? Maybe raunchy or simply unafraid to deal with topics such as sex, spirituality or death? Have you written a blog entry that you’re hoping incites passion in your readers? It might be that you’ve chosen to reveal all about your sex life. Or you’ve written a searingly white-hot attack on the Bush or Blair administrations. Perhaps you’ve got a recipe involving chillis and which requires hospitalisation after the main course. Whatever.
I’ve no idea what you’ll come up with but here’s what you have to do. Simply post a comment here, in response to this entry, leaving me the link to the article on your blog you want to be considered. That’s it. Don’t submit more than one entry or the gods of the blogosphere will be invoked. And believe me, they get angry when aroused to action from their Javascript-induced slumber. If you don’t have something already written to submit, then get writing! It can be a new piece or one that’s been lurking in your archives unloved and unappreciated until now. It has to be all your own work. Don’t involve your mother. Or your lover. Or your pet with keyboard talents.
And don’t presume to know what I like. Sure, I love poetry but only good poetry – so take care. And yeah, I’m pagan but that doesn’t mean an article about [[Aleister Crowley]] or [[Dion Fortune]] is necessarily going to curl my toes in pleasure. I’m left-wing but don’t think an attack on Bush is going to be a sure winner. The winners will be judged on good writing, convincing arguments, great stories, wit, humour and… how spicy they are.
Everyone who enters will, of course, have my love (minus bodily fluids) and thanks for taking part. The five winners will have the, um, right to parade their new spicy status on their blogs and will be ranked from five down to one – the ultimate spicy blog entry! I’m going to create a special image, most likely a cauldron or a pepper, for you to display if you want to show off your hard-earned and well-deserved spicy status (and yeah, you’d better link back here from the image if you do). And, of course, the winning entries will be posted back here with each one reviewed by yours truly. You should get – ooh, at least another five site visitors after all this!
I look forward to seeing where you point me to with your entries (just don’t send me anywhere too nasty). What are you waiting for? Spice up your life! You’ve got until midnight UK time (that’s GMT 0) on August 31. Plenty of time but don’t leave it until the last minute or I’ll throw the ladle at you and won’t be responsible if eye of newt gets in your eye…
