And the winner isn't ....

I spent a good part of this afternoon thinking that maybe I should have just forked out for the flight, the dress, the awards ceremony ticket and headed home to Dublin for the Blog Awards Ireland. 

I spent a good part of tonight glued to my phone and then my laptop, barely able to keep up with the #bloggies2015 tweets coming in, telling me who won what and waiting to see the word 'diaspora' pop up somewhere. 

I spent a good part of the last week telling myself I'm not bothered whether I win or not and telling myself I've no chance really anyway. Then thinking maybe I have as much a chance as any of the others. 

My name didn't pop up in any tweets. But one tweet caught my eye and it humbled me a bit

Figures from @BlogAwardsIE

4,000 nominations,

1,400 entries

and 80,000 votes!

Some judges chose me for  the longlist. Then some people thought enough of my blog to vote for me and I made it to the shortlist. Some more judges thought my blog worthy of finalist status. 

From all of that, I made it into the relatively small circle of finalists. That's something to be proud of, isn't it? 

So, so what that I didn't win? I didn't even know there was such as thing as a blog award when I started out. 

Instead of dwelling on what I didn't win, I'm going to be thankful for what I have won in the past nine months - and that is you, my readers. 

Thanks for the votes. 

Thanks for the encouragement. 

Thanks for reading.  

Fionnuala xxx

Post Script:

The evening after I posted the above, I got a lovely e-mail from the Blog Awards Ireland to let me know that I won bronze in the Best Diaspora Blog Category! I am thrilled. Thanks again to all who voted, helping me make it from the shortlist to the longlist, and thanks to the judges too. 

Finalist in Best Diaspora Blog Category - A Thank You

My dear readers, 

By now I have realised that is is not just my family and close friends that read my blog. There seeems to be a reasonable amount of you out there who pop by now and again for a browse, and for that I am very grateful to you. 

My particular thanks go to those of you who voted for me in the Blog Awards Ireland recently. Your votes counted for 30% of the decision as to whether or not I would qualify as a finalist, having already made it to the longlist and then the shortlist. 

Given that I only began blogging under Three Sons Later in late January, I am delighted to have made it to the finals. Getting further than this would be amazing, but I am truly very happy to have come as far as I have so far. 

So, thanks. I am touched. 

And the voting begins

As promised last week when I heard I had been shortlisted for the Blog Awards Ireland Best Diaspora Blog, I am letting you know now that the public voting has begun and will remain open until 21st September.

I would be thrilled if you liked my blog content enough to vote for me. If you'd like to, you can do so right here. Just click on the button below and you'll be re-directed to the voting site. 

If you have even considered clicking and voting, thank you so much. Should you have already used your vote for another in my category, thanks for still reading my blog anyway. 

Best Diaspora Blog - Shortlisted!

Yesterday evening I received the mind-blowing news that this wee blog of mine has been shortlisted by the panel of The Irish Blog Awards in the Best Diaspora Blog category. 

It goes without saying that I am over the moon to have achieved this after only beginning this blog in late January of this year. 

For those who may be interested, you can find out a bit about me and The Bavarian and how I came to be living in Germany over in my About Us section. For my thoughts on life an an emigrant and how Germany has been good to me, have a read of my Irish Times Generation Emigration article. And for a bit more about Ireland, check out some of my posts here in my All Things Irish tab. 

Click here to go to www.blogawardsireland.com

In the hope that some of you might vote for me, I'll let you know when the voting has officially begun. It should be around the 7th September. 

In the meantime, thanks for reading. It's great having you!