The Indian Blogger Awards – Winners from Edition 1 speak about their life after the Awards

Hey Everyone,

We wanted to find out what winning the Indian Blogger Awards meant to the winners of the first edition. We wanted to know if it helped them in any way and if it brought about a change for the better or worse in their Blogging lives.

Here is what they had to say.

Ankita Sinha

Pretty much everyone can write on Indiblogger forum. In 2013, when Indiblogger came up with Indian Blogger Awards, I nominated my blog in the category “Sports” with my Fingers Crossed. That time, I was writing about Adventure Sports in India on my blog. I did not know if I would win and I just gave my best shot in trusting that if “ the Jury” gets to like my blog then cool, else I might get to read and know more about other awesome blogs!

I am very thankful that I won the award. Not only did the Awards give me the morale boost from within to write more, it also gave me more recognition in the industry. When in the past I had to hunt for opportunities,  today the opportunities were coming to me thanks to inclusion of the mention of award on my media kit and linked in . As I was very motivated after winning the award, I reached out to brands and they to me and we worked on many collaborations.

HardwareBBQ

While the concept of getting an award for a review website (especially for PC hardware) was alien by peers, it did serve as a milestone. It was an indicator of what I did so far at the time was good and it was time to push more than what I did. Armed with the confidence, I upgraded the site, included more content than just reviews- but also news and guides covering specifically for PC hardware. More PC hardware websites had cropped up in India over the years, but IBA 2013 is something that can never be taken away from Hardware BBQ.

Vijay Vicky

Budding writers like me got more encouragement from
winning the award. This helped me to write more and more and
also, you gave the equal priorities to the regional language blogs, thats the great job. Thanks a lot team..

PURBA RAY

Indiblogger is the most loved and widely used platform for bloggers. As a newbie who couldn’t differentiate a blog post from a blog, this is where I got my first readers, fan mails and feedback for my blog. I got a sneak peek into blogs with huge following and the impact they made.

When the first ever blogger awards were announced and I was shortlisted in the humour category, it was good enough for me. But actually winning it was the most ‘goddamn, I just can’t believe it’ moment of my life.

The award itself has intangible value considering the eminent panel of judges. It is an acknowledgment of one’s work. In terms of tangible value, I can’t really say, since monetising the blog was never a priority.

I do write for Huffington Post, occasionally for The Complete Wellbeing Magazine, a odd column here and there. The number of people wanting me to write for free has risen exponentially. I think I was invited as a speaker at the first ever BNLF international conference for bloggers, for this reason. To be able to share the stage with stalwarts like Bruce Dickinson, Preeti Shenoy, Arnab Roy, Anshul, Kanan Gill was a huge honour and a major butterflies in the stomach moment for me.

Revati Upadhya

Winning the Indian Blogger Awards actually came as a complete surprise to me. Ironic as it may sound, I have never (not even to date) given my blog “focus” as many bloggers do with themes, plans and schedules, etc. It has always been a place for me to freely share stories from my life. I’m mostly unaware of the audience numbers too, so when I won it kind of made me sit up and realize I could potentially look at blogging seriously. While the award didn’t directly open up any opportunities for me – it helped in motivating me to stop looking at my blog as a hobby, and it sparked one of my most prolific years of blogging thereafter. I was already a professional writer, so blogging has been close to my heart and winning the award is a feather in my cap and something I mention even on my portfolio today.

Atula Gupta

The Indiblogger award gave a huge credibility to the blog and brought many more visitors to www.indiasendangered.com. As this is not a personal blog but my way to focus on endangered wildlife of India, the award helped reach to the greater blogger community as well as build a trust factor around the news and stories I publish for those interested in nature & wildlife because of this validation from the Indiblogger community and with an esteemed jury making the decision. At a personal level, I’ve connected with some incredible fellow bloggers through Indiblogger who’ve grown to become close friends. It is definitely the best platform for bloggers of the world to connect, catch up and engage with one another.

jugalkishor Vyas

I was new to IB. My articles were in Gujarati and I wrote on literature. Those days they were very useful to Gujarati writers and that made the Award possible !

Vivek Patwardhan

When I learnt that my blog had won an award, I almost fainted!
I had started blogging at the suggestion of a younger colleague. I had no idea what to write and how. But one thing led to another and I started writing regularly and enjoyed.
I quickly realised that everybody blogger had a similar style. So I decided to do something different – I started writing my blog as a conversation. Yes, conversation. Not between two persons but between my parrot, Lulu, and me. This format suddenly opened up many possibilities.
That could be one of the reasons why my blog became popular – at least I would like to believe so. Is that the reason why it won the award? Well, I don’t know.
My wife when she learnt that my blog had won an award gave me a sweet smile, the kind that tries to hide the astonishment at people’s choice. Some thought that this retired man had nothing to do, and in any case there won’t be many retired persons who are tech savvy to indulge in blogging. It was like six countries playing against each other and declaring winner of the world cup. ‘Now start writing poetry’ was the advice of some well-wishers. Nothing of this had any impact on me. A good blogger can’t be discouraged easily.
Then came an assignment. ‘Will you blog about our products?’ they asked. They offered payment. Not too bad for a retired person. I nodded my head! ‘Yeah’ I told my wife. ‘Strange are the ways of today’s world’ she said, ‘they are paying for blogging!’ I bought a saree for her on my way back from the assignment.
Blogging has won me greater respect now. ‘What’s new on your blog?’ they ask. Some read and suggest subjects. Some even give me advice on what and how to write about it. But one thing is for sure. My blogging is ‘owner’s pride and neighbour’s envy.’ It has gained me respect. And some money – however small sum it is – but when was it ever sufficient?

Rachna Srivastava Parmar

I still cherish the Indiblogger Award that I received on this day in 2013. Indiblogger is a credible platform for bloggers, and one thing I know is that only the truly deserving made the cut for the awards. Winning the Indiblogger award validated that I created quality content, gave me brag value among the blogging community and yes added a feather in my portfolio. My blog has gone from strength to strength since then, and the IBA was a great catalyst in facilitating more opportunities for my blog.

I thank Indiblogger for being my favorite blogging community and for the relentless work that you do with a lot of fun and humor. Always stay grounded and do things with integrity which set you apart from other blogger aggregator platforms.

Rekha Kakkar

Frankly speaking it was a great surprise to see my blog as top voted blog. I knew my blog was loved by many but winning an award was a great validation of the love that I was receiving from my readers which is most important thing for a blogger.Regarding opportunities Yes it did help me make my presence felt as writer as well as food photographer as my blog was now more well known. Still I would say most important thing for me was it was my first blogging award and love that I received from everyone, Not that I did not like commercial opportunities I got because of better exposure 🙂 it was like proverbial “Having your cake and eating too”

Ranjana Shankar

The IBA award definitely helped me a lot. I got more opportunities in the field of crafts and DIY.

Harsh Agarwal

Winning the Indian blogger awards in 2013 validated our idea & effort of helping bloggers become their own boss.
Indiblogger is a trusted name in the industry & getting recognition from them helped ShoutMeLoud gain more visibility in the blogging community.
Backed up by some of the brightest minds of Industry, Indiblogger is setting up a standard for others in the industry to follow. A strong team with high values!

Umashankar

I have been a member of Indiblogger for many years now and the association has benefited me in countless ways. Not only I have had the chance to showcase my meager writing skills at this forum, I have been rewarded with priceless friendships that have cheered and supported me through troughs and peaks of the journey. I will forever cherish the Indiblogger 2013 Award for Short Stories bestowed upon me by the eminent jury of the event.It has buttressed my confidence manifold and lent me respectability in the world of blogging. Today, my blog is acknowledged and appreciated internationally and Indiblogger has certainly played a part in my success.

As the flame in my heart is still lit warmly and manifests itself through my blog, I have nominated my blog ‘One Grain Amongst the Storm’ again for the IB Awards 2017. I am hopeful for yet another medal for my passion.

The Indian Blogger Awards – 2017 edition:

To us the Indian Blogger awards was also about participation. We feel that although not everyone can win, it will help you greatly in connecting with your readers and well wishers via the testimonial program of the awards. We are also going to have a system that will tell you where your are in relation to the winner, so, look out for that at the end of the awards.

If you have any questions or clarifications, please do give us a holler in the comments below.

This years edition promises to bring more joy to many and you will never know until you take the plunge, so head on over.