Congrats to the Bloggers Named Voices of the Year!
Congrats to all the bloggers nominated as 2014’s BlogHer Voices and Photos of the Year — especially to the 22 of you blogging on WordPress.com.
Each year, BlogHer — a 100 million-strong blogging community, and home of NaBloPoMo — chooses 100 outstanding bloggers and blog posts as its Voices of the Year (this year, they’ve added 10 Photo of the Year nominees as well).
They announced 2014’s honorees last week, and we couldn’t be more excited to see all the WordPress.com bloggers on the list. Some are long-time community favorites, some are exciting new voices, and all published insightful, incisive, honest, and powerful posts that stopped us in our tracks.
We’re thrilled for all the incredible bloggers being honored this year, and especially for these 22 members of the WordPress.com community (listed along with their nominated posts):
- Coach Daddy, “Would you die for me, Daddy?“
- Raising My Rainbow, “When the Boys’ Room Isn’t Safe For a Boy.”
- The Waiting, “Finding Your People.”
- C is for Crocodile, “i had a boy.“
I have obviously come across this bottle before, but today, I was organizing the drawer, and I spotted it, and as I was organizing, I absentmindedly picked up pieces of a popsicle mold, and as I held these in my hands, it hit me so hard: I had a boy. I had a boy, and he died.
- Hacker, Ninja. Hooker, Spy., “Seven Ways Your Life is Like High School.”
- Africadayz, “For Ian: An Ordinary Saturday.”
- She Drives a Vegetable Car, “Once Upon a Time in New York.”
There are still days I think I see something scurrying away in my peripheral vision. Days where I wonder if the roach who had slept a night on my arm found someone else who could treat him the way I never could.
Maybe he’ll write.
- that cynking feeling, “Please Don’t Cheer for My Son.”
- Campari & Sofa, “Doing More Only to Do Less: Do We Glorify Busy?“
- I Miss You When I Blink, “Looking Bad is the New Looking Good.”
- Rarasaur, “I was small.”
My teacher walked us to my locker. It was smashed, with terrible words written across it. I could tell he wasn’t surprised, but the truth of it hit me slowly.
Of course. The new girl. The brown girl. The non-Christian. The anger and its brittle crumbs scattered all over the world. You couldn’t take a breath without inhaling someone’s exhaled rage and the crumbled remains of their broken-hearted humanity.
- Fear No Weebles, “What You Don’t See.”
- The Mango Cage, “Sunday 29th December.”
- The Life of Kylie, “When You Were My Age.”
- Funny For Nothing, “All I Wanted Was to be Rich and Famous.”
Three-years olds of the world: You know when adults ask you “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
You should say, “An adult”.
It can only get better from there.
- Little Miss Wordy, “History of the World, Part Two.”
- Posting Tuesdays, “Portrait of a Diabetic.”
- The Quote Gal, “Don’t Change That Channel-er!“
- Accidental Devotional, “The Day I Taught How Not to Rape.”
Our students are paying attention. They do care about what is going on in the world. They do listen and are capable of advanced thought. I am done selling out the ninth-graders that traipse through my room every day. The news will no longer invade my classroom, instead I will invite it.
- Naptime Writing, “Is that Manic or Depressive?“
- Our Stroke of Luck, “Grieving for the Other Owen.”
- Outmanned Mommy, ‘My Boobs Are Full of Surprises.”
I once spent an entire day at a child’s birthday part with a matchbox car in the left cup of my bra, under my boob, and I didn’t even know it. I haven’t seen the underside of my bra without a mirror since I stopped wearing training bras, but I’m fairly sure that the outside world would have noticed the faint outline of a 2002 Volkswagen golf protruding from my breast. Even my boobs can’t afford luxury cars.
There are also three WordPress.com bloggers who will be on the main stage at the conference, reading some of the nominated posts:
- Ashley, from Baddest Mother Ever.
- A’Driane, from Butterfly Confessions
- August, from Savor the Storm
For more great reads, check out the full list of 2014’s Voices and Photos of the Year. Congratulations to all of this year’s nominees!
BlogHer’s annual conference takes place in San Jose, California, on July 24, 25, and 26. WordPress.com will be there too — our space features a Happiness Bar where you can get one-one-one help with your WordPress.com blog, as well as a series of mini-workshops with our editors, Happiness Engineers, designers, and developers and a panel with some of the awesome bloggers highlighted above to help you make your blog exactly what you want it to be.
WordPress.com News 
Outmanned Mommy is one bad mama jamma. Honored to be among these amazing writers!
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Congrats to everyone! Thanks for featuring all of us, Michelle! I wanted to leave a comment just because everyone knows me as “Little Miss Menopause,” (rather then The Quote Gal) at least I hope they do when I start sweating profusely. 😉 I also wrote a follow-up post about the type of food bloggers will be served at this conference which someone might find amusing…. http://.wordpress.com/2014/05/08/what-do-bloggers-eat-at-a-meet-greet/
Looking so forward to visiting the WordPress booth!
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Whoop whoop, Stephanie! I’m so proud of you! 😀
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Well that link went nowhere! Here it is.
http://thequotegal.wordpress.com/2014/05/08/what-do-bloggers-eat-at-a-meet-greet/
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Congrats to all, will be checking these posts out 🙂
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Thank you for the nod! I’m excited to get around to read all the awardees.
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Congratulations to all of the nominees! Some of these are already in my Reader, and soon all of them will be!
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This is awesome! I have a feeling I will find some new favorite blogs after I read through these.
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This is going to sound like a dumb question, but is BlogHer only for women? What about men who blog?
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Nope — in fact, there are several men on this list of nominees. It started as a network to support women bloggers, but it’s inclusive of everyone.
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Cool. Thanks.
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CONGRATS, Michelle! Excellent work, and you’ve got an awesome blog! 🙂
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This is exciting! Congrats to all the nominees. I look forward to reading these posts too!
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Oh, thank you! I continue to be blown away by the support from WordPress. Who knew when I (somewhat blindly) picked a platform, I’d be getting not just great tools and awesome service from smart, real-live people, but PR, too… Really, I cannot imagine using anything else. Thanks so much!
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The pleasure is all ours, really 🙂
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Thanks for the lovely shout out! This is such a huge honor. Congrats, all winners!
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How come I’m not
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Looks like you’ve got a self-hosted WordPress site; this is highlighting bloggers on WordPress.com. But our congratulations go to all the incredible nominees!
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Thank you so much for the mention. I am still so humbled by this honor and then to be mentioned here too?! Wow. Congratulations to all of the other VOTY/PHOTY bloggers! I can see from the posts I have read already that I am listed among some pretty stellar writers.
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Congrats to everyone
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Congratulations All!
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Congratulations everyone!
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Woohoo! Thank you so much for this. It’s so exciting seeing my name in the list. I’ve had a quick read of some of the posts (and will thoroughly enjoy reading through the rest tomorrow). It is a roll-call of mightily talented folk, and I’m feeling honoured to be up there too. Congratulations everyone, and thanks again Michelle.
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That can’t be right, I mean I never got a notification of my nomination…
Seriously though, well done to everyone on the list, I guess.
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Erm, sorry, as we’re on the topic, anyone know how I can get the VOTY ‘badge’ onto my sidebar?
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I never need to be Re-Minded how badass WordPress is, but I love the Re-Minders, nonetheless. And I did not know about this award. Something to which to aspire…
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Great to know. I love the community aspect of WordPress, so hearing about this is another great way to find like-minds.
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Congratulations to all and what an achievement.. certainly an inspiration for us all!
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Congrats to all! I am a new blogger and reading through these post has encourage me to continue! LOVE it!
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Congratulations to all Bloggers!! 🙂
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Congratulations to all of the nominees 🙂
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Congratulations to all the nominees!
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A Hearty Congratulations to these Voices 🙂
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Congratulations to the WordPress bloggers! I’m also patting myself on my back for having found some of the nominees for myself – I’m over the moon for their oh so deserved nominations – and excited that there’s even more brilliant writing being pointed out for me to follow.
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Thank you so much for the mention, but more so for the friendly platform you provide, the endless tips on blogging, and a bloggerhood I’m happy to call home!
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Look out for me in the up coming year. Congrats to the winners!
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I’m late to the party! Thanks for the mention. It’s cool to see this list. I am beyond excited about reading my post at the conference–now if I could just remember which one I submitted! I can’t wait to see y’all in San Jose!
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Congrats to all nominees! I read some of the posts and they are indeed fantastic. Well Done
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