The Setting
So on the 15th, myself and Bicky attended our first Blog Awards Ireland Blog Awards, this year being held in Dún Laoghaire in Duffy's Circus tent and hosted by Littlewoods Ireland. See previous posts here and here and here.
It was an amazing night, and I'm not just saying that. I honestly don't think I can think of one criticism. It was causal yet professionally organised, quick entrance with sturdy wrist bands, the street food was so delicious and catered to all dietary requirements -I had the falafel from Eathos. So good! The wrist bands had pull off tabs that worked as tokens -one for food, three drinks, and one for a snack (popcorn or candyfloss).
Beginning at 6.30pm, the drink reception was held outside the front of the tent prior to the beginning of the awards ceremony at 8pm. The open layout of the pier gave to a festival feel, with food trucks, drink stalls and picnic table seating for those needing to sit down. It was nice having time to mingle prior to the show, and the weather being mild was an added bonus (although I don't think I we can give credit to Blog Awards Ireland for that one, ha).
I suppose the one criticism, the one thing all outdoor events fail on -toilets! Now I'm no stranger to festivals and so no stranger to portaloos. But these ones were in a van, so had a few steps up. As you know I'm sure, women's toilets always have a queue, and it was a tight squeeze in and out of the toilet door -up the steps which had a rather lose rail. This was a bit of an issue for someone like me with mobility problems. I'm sure the other lady contestants may have had other issues with them, but all-in-all they were pretty good for toilets at an outdoor event. Lights and all, of course. I didn't trip down (or up) the steps so a plus from me, LOL.
The circus tent itself was large and the seating not as uncomfortable as I had expected it would be... Although it has been about 20 years since I have been in a circus tent so really was surprised. It was very pretty and magical.
I met several bloggers throughout the night including the lovely Avril from a Paler Shade of Beauty -who came third in our category of Health and Well-being! I didn't win of course (obviously that would be the first thing I would have mentioned, lol) but I would have been far too nervous to win (going up there to the mic... vom!). In the future I will 100% feel different, but I'm still really new to all this stuff and I'm happy to sit back and enjoy the ride first. Saying that, I am still very proud and honored to have made it to the finalists list, especially in my first year of running. I'm not even sure how that happened to be honest... Avril, we didn't even get a selfie with each other!? We should not even be allowed to blog, haha!
A big hello to Nicci from LadyNicci.com, Fiona from FionaGrowsFood.com and Caroline from Bibliocook.com -Great meeting you guys! And everyone else I was chatting to, who I either didn't get names from/ can't recall at the min!
The Winners
Massive congrats to the third, second and first place in my category (click on logos for their sites and check em out):
✪Winner✪
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✪Silver✪
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✪Bronze✪
