ComputerWorld Canada’s second annual Blogging Idol Competition has drawn to a close, and we’re prepared to call it an unqualified success. More contestants, more posting, more discussion, more engagement.
While everyone who participated made a valuable contribution to the conversation about IT and its role in the Canadian enterprise landscape, the metrics don’t lie, and it’s time to hand out the prizes.
Pedro Cardoso was the grand prize winner for generating the most overall traffic. Cardoso posted relentlessly, sometimes three or four times a day, stirred some controversy and commented frequently on other competitors’ posts. In short, he exhibited the true spirit of online community.
In his last post of the contest, Cardoso reflected on what the experience of blogging had taught him and the merits of Blogging Idol specifically.
“It has truly been an experience that has not just met, but exceeded my expectations,” he wrote. “I hope there will be a third installment of Blogging Idol, and that the great work that IT World Canada is doing, sponsoring great programs and initiatives such as this, will continue to nurture and foster the Canadian blogging scene.”
Chris Lau, who returned to Blogging Idol after competing last year, wrapped up both second and third prizes, for the most traffic from a single post and the second-most overall traffic, respectively.
“In the context of the contest, views were the main driver so we all needed to learn about social networks, Twitter, and learning to use keyword searching to our advantage,” he wrote in a comment on Cardoso’s blog. “I was certainly pushed to go beyond what I thought I could accomplish. It’s motivating to race against the No. 1 who set the bar so high.”
Fourth prize was based on a much more subjective metric: Overall editorial quality, as judged by ComputerWorld Canada editor/senior curmudgeon Dave Webb. The hands-down winner was first-time blogger Asma Rafi.
“Asma’s blogging appealed to the old-school grammar cop in me. It didn’t lapse into the lazy habits that plague so many in the blogosphere, the sentence fragments, emoticons and SMS shorthand,” Webb said. “It was also on target in terms of the subject matter, and genuinely useful stuff. I think fellow blogger Pedro Cardoso hit the nail on the head when he referred to her as ‘the Business Process/Project Management Queen.’”
While the contest has come to a close, we’re hoping that everyone who participated will continue to do so. If you haven’t checked out what they had to say, visit the contest Web site . A million thanks to all our bloggers, and we hope to see you back next year.
