Christian New Media Awards: Best Newcomer Blog #cnmac12
I don’t usually pay much attention to Christian social media awards and ‘top’ lists and what have you, not that I have anything against such things, it just doesn’t really interest me.
But this year in the Premier Christian New Media Awards I had a ‘runner’; namely, Gillan of God and Politics who was shortlisted for the Best Newcomer Blog. I really enjoy Gillan’s blog and try to support with links as often as possible, and even corresponded with him before he went live. Given this I was really hoping he’d pick up the award.
Sadly he didn’t, but he did get runner-up.
But there is a silver lining.
The winner is a blog I’d never heard of called Believer’s Brain. Much to my delight this is a Christian blog dedicated to mental health and regular readers will know how important this issue is to me. I’ve had a look around and the blog looks super. Here’s what the author says of the blog:
Mental health & Christian faith. How can they be reconciled? Are the mentally ill more sinful? less Christian? How do we deal with depression, self-injury and everything else, while being true to God?
And
Believer’s Brain exists to discuss Christian faith and mental illness. My name is Emma, and I have bipolar disorder. I am also a Christian. I write mostly about depression and self injury, and associated topics.
You can read the About section for yourself and there’s also an entire section on self-harm. Believer’s Brain has been going since March and I will most certainly keep an eye on it. The author is also on Twitter.
So, although I’m disappointed Gillan didn’t win top spot, I’m very pleasantly surprised that a blog majoring on the intersection between mental health and faith did so well.
Finally, I will join Archdruid Eileen in crying into my pillow for never having been nominated for an award 
October 20th, 2012 at 6:33 pm
Thanks very much! What a lovely review. I feel quite embarrassed!
I thought God and Politics was excellent too – I had no idea I’d win, not them!
October 21st, 2012 at 12:50 am
Thanks Stuart for your unfailing support. You are amazing. We can’t all win, but at least I do now have a lovely runners-up certificate!
You’ve been such a blessing to me and like you say, every cloud has a sliver lining, so I’m not upset that I lost to Emma.
October 21st, 2012 at 6:45 pm
Well I had a quick look over at Believer’s Brain and what a lovely blog I have to say.
October 23rd, 2012 at 3:18 pm
Well then…..let us encourage you to nominate yourself or get one of your friends to nominate you for next year. Are you UK based? There is some talk here at the moment about opening up categories to overseas entrants next year. Watch this space. We’ll be posting up highlights and content from this year’s event soon. The conference hashtag #CNMAC12 trended up to no.3 spot in the UK nationally for a number of hours on Saturday. Not bad considering at the same time 100,000 people wer marching in London against govt spending cuts. All the best.