How to Get Nominated for a Best of AC or Associated Content PMA

It's that time again. Time to nominate worthy contributors for the Associated Content Peoples Media Awards. And like with the Best of AC award nominations, some interesting things are happening. Just bear with me a moment on the subject of self-nominations. In the effort to get a wide variety of input, AC opened a self-nomination forum thread. This is a great idea, but like with so many great ideas, it gets misunderstood. I'm all for nominating yourself, if you truly deserve it and if you have culled the site for other worthy nominees. Let me put out a protocol guide to self-nomination.

-Don't. Self-nominate, that is. Unless you have been writing on Associated Content for several months or longer, and have accumulated a sizable body of work, especially in the area that you are nominating yourself.

-Don't even think of nominating yourself for the Best of AC categories unless you have at least 15-20 pieces of content in the area that you are nominating yourself. No less than ten of those should have been published in that month. The self-nomination thread in the forum clearly states that you are not nominating yourself for a single piece of content. You might highlight some of your more relevant or noteworthy pieces. The concept for the Best of AC award nominations is that those who have been publishing extensively in a certain content area for at least three or four months get the recognition they deserve.

-I have been nominating for awhile. I look for these things: length of time on AC. Number of published articles. Number of page views. Article to page view ratio. Number of articles in a particular category. Breadth of content in a particular category, namely the one I'm considering nominating them for. Participation on forums. Quality of participation on the forums. Is the person I'm considering argumentative or helpful. Is this a whiner or a contributor of positive information? Number of people they have favorited. Notice I didn't say 'number of fans'. I'm not very impressed with contributors who have ten or twenty fans and haven't favorited anyone yet. If you don't know who your fans are, check your profile page.

-Before you chime in with your own self-nomination, do some research and nominate other contributors for the other two contest categories. It's shockingly tacky and incredibly galling to read post after post of self-nominations with no mention of anyone else they are nominating, not to mention when it comes from a face that never appears on the forums unless it's award time. There are hundreds of worthy writers on Associated Content. Get to know them. Reach out. If I see that you are in this writing business for yourself only, I'll make a mental note and never nominate you for anything or read your work.

-Don't start threads to nominate yourself. If you try to start your own cult or fan club, it will a club of one member only.

-Never just give your name and say 'I nominate myself for Sports' (for example). Provide a link to your profile page so that the Content Managers can easily click to see your body of work. Discuss a bit about why you think that you should win the category award.

There now that the non-niceties are out of the way, let me just say that if you approach Associated Content contributors with a positive, helpful, humble approach we will see that and sooner or later your good karma will come back to you one hundred fold, pressed down and running over. That's how the good people at Associated Content are. That has been my experience in three years on Associated Content.