UK Blog Awards 2019: those F-bomb moments

One evening in September, my other-half and I were sitting in our kitchen with a cup of tea after work. He was telling me about his day and the politics going on in his office as I was catching up on messages on my phone after being stuck in back-to-back meetings for hours on end. While digging through my email I saw something which caused me to let out a loud F-bomb: I’d received a message to let me know that someone had nominated Later Levels for a UK Blog Award.

A similar event occurred two months later. I was sitting in a three-hour long presentation recently when my phone alerted me to a new email. In case it was something to do with work, perhaps a notification that one of the IT systems had gone down, I had a quick look to see what was going on and what I found caused me to utter another F-bomb under my breath. At least I thought it was under my breath – but a colleague turned around to laugh at me so I maybe wasn’t as quiet as I thought (oops).

You see, I found out last week that Later Levels had been put through to the second stage of the UK Blog Awards with ten other sites in the ‘Gaming’ category. My other-half swears blind that he had nothing to do with it and I have absolutely no idea who the extremely kind person was who submitted the original nomination. I’m still in a state a shock and it’s incredibly hard to believe that a blog which started as a bit of fun, and something I don’t intend to turn into anything serious or a career, has received that kind of recognition.

Each category in the competition is being judged by one expert and one blogger judge, and their scorecards account for 60% of the overall vote. The other 40% is down to the public so that’s where you guys come in. You can make your selection by heading to the UK Blog Awards website, clicking on a category, and then clicking on the heart symbol next to your favourite entry. You can also find out more about the sites and links by clicking on the ‘i’ icons.

So is this a post to ask everyone reading to vote for Later Levels? I’d be lying if I said no. But then it also wouldn’t be the compete truth if I said yes.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who you vote for as long as you vote. These annual awards are a celebration of blogging, the community that surrounds it, and the whole lot of good we can do with the power of our words. Whoever comes out on top in our category, they’ve helped show the world that video games can be more than simply entertainment and colourful pixels on a screen – and it’s an absolute honour to even be mentioned in such amazing company.

So whether Later Levels makes it through the second stage or not, I’m happy. I’ll keep blogging regardless, keep collaborating with you awesome lot on community projects, keep playing video games and keep enjoying everything that comes from our hobby. And f**k me if that isn’t the best thing about the UK Blog Awards.