Can a Randomer Win the Shorty Award for Literature?

UPDATE: I came 3rd in the Shorty Awards. More info on my blog and at the Shorty Awards page.

Hi everyone. I may need to introduce myself. My name is Rebecca Woodhead and this is my blog. I'll wait for you to stop saying 'eh? Who is this randomer?' Finished? Jolly good. It has been a while since I posted here, because I wanted to hand over the stage to some other word nerds.

They've done such wonderful work. I love the diversity of opinion and expression on this blog. It is not an easy thing to hand over your blog to others with little more than the guidelines 'try to keep it legal and I won't edit' but I am glad that I have taken that approach because I find it such an interesting place to visit.

The Word Nerd Army is growing. It is not kept in one place - the membership is fluid and diverse. People calling themselves 'word nerds' are cropping up all over the place on Twitter and elsewhere. I want to bring attention back to the 11 issues that started this whole thing off. There is an election due to happen in the UK in the next few months so now might be a good time to raise some of these issues. At the top of the column is a link to how the Word Nerd Army came about. If you click on that you will find the 11 issues. I'd love to hear which of these matter most to you and then invite the Word Nerd Knights to blog about the ones that affect them the most. As ever, I am happy for them to mention their own projects but I would like the issue/s to be the central theme. This will give me something with which to approach the politicians. As votes are the important thing to campaigning political types, they need to see that Word Nerd Army has influence, so I have held off until we have some decent numbers. It is a shame that these numbers don't show up in one place though, as this would have a bigger impact on the people who change policy.

One way to help would be to spread the word about the blog and/or Twitter account: twitter.com/wordnerdarmy and ask people to follow visibly. Another would be for me, or one of the Word Nerd Knights to win the Shorty Award (Twitter Oscar) for Literature.

At the moment, I am beating Neil Gaiman and am in third place but I need help to stay where I am or do better. If I won this, the Word Nerd Army would get much more attention. Since the Word Nerd Army developed in a Twitter contest - Ms Twitter UK - it would be poetic if it found its voice in another contest - The Real-Time Academy of Short Form Arts and Sciences Award for Literature The short link for the literature section is: tiny.cc/TheRandomer and for my own page is: tiny.cc/therandomer

Any help you can give - by speaking to your own followers on blogs, Twitter or Facebook for instance - would help. Publishers are not that impressed with contests and I may yet choose to self-publish, so winning this may not benefit me in any substantial way but what it will do is give me a platform from which to discuss the 11 issues on which Word Nerd Army is based, and I would welcome that opportunity.

If you still don't feel you know me, here's a vid:

Many thanks,

Rebecca

rebeccawoodhead.com