There are various beauty journalism awards that happen during the course of the year, most notably P&G and Johnson & Johnson. They’re a great idea and it’s a huge boost to any journalist to pick up an industry award in an arena where beauty journalism doesn’t necessarily always get the attention it deserves. I always feel there is a difference between beauty journalism and beauty writing – I call myself a beauty writer, because it is rare for me to get right down to the scientific nitty gritty that is at the heart of new and innovative beauty products – particularly cosmecuticals – I kind of feel that there is only so much that I need to know. But the ‘journalists’ are the ones who really do ask the difficult questions and have the scientific knowledge to know what to ask in the first place. They’re the ones that inspect every ingredient for a back-story, sniff out any ingredient trends, sometimes even travelling to the source to get the full SP, and study the rise and fall of beauty business stocks and shares; they know the industry inside out. Writing about a new lipstick colour, in my view, falls more to the beauty writers. One is no better nor any worse than another, but in my head, I categorize them differently. And then of course, there are the beauty bloggers, who have in recent years been added as an afterthought or clumsy attempt at acknowledgement in these award categories.
Most recently, I tried to enter BBB for the 2011 7th Annual Johnson & Johnson Beauty Care Journalism Awards. Last year it was so complicated that I nearly gave up and this year swore I wouldn’t even enter again, but curiosity or vanity got the better of me and I ended up entering. As part of the entry process you are required to state what category you are entering – Best Beauty Blog in my case – and to attach your article for submission. It won’t actually take your entry without an attachment so I ended up attaching the logo for the sake of having an attachment. Obviously a blog is something that is not about one article – posts aren’t articles for god’s sake – they’re posts. That’s what makes them different from, uh, articles. A blog is about its entirety, encompassing genre, personality and content. So, I was a little bit surprised to then get an email asking me to forward my ‘article’ for submission. I explained that a blog doesn’t have articles per se, and was told that I could forward one blog post to represent my entire blog as my ‘article’, and that it should have the ability to inform and educate readers in a style suitable for the target audience. I asked to be withdrawn immediately from the competition.
Actually, I could feel tears of frustration prickling at the back of my eyes – this huge, vast company who could make such an inroad and be beneficial to bringing blogs into the mainstream arena and yet their understanding of beauty blogs is so poor that it is actually shocking. I wonder what they know about my ‘target audience’? I don’t have a ‘target’…BBB is open to any and all and isn’t written with any particular target in mind – you only have to love beauty to get something from reading it. That is all. The fact that they can’t tell the difference between a post and a beauty feature is worrying, and slinging that kind of remit onto bloggers – who aren’t on the whole, journalists – is ridiculous, and frankly quite depressing. It’s one step forward and two back.
2011 7th Annual Johnson & Johnson Beauty Care Journalism Awards
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13 responses to “2011 7th Annual Johnson & Johnson Beauty Care Journalism Awards”
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*blink* Did I read that right? Sounds like they left this thing in the hands of some flunky who was given a set of (very idiotic) rules and s/he is sticking to them, no matter what.
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I got the email about entering this and I of course did a bit of background research, registered and blah blah blah. It wasn’t until I came across the same problem – attach your ‘article’ – that I realised they were obviously just trying to show that they were ‘down with the kids’ and knew what a blog was. Unfortunately, they don’t.
You can’t sum up a blog with one article. I write so many different things… from a paragraph on a new polish, to a massive rant on the whole way mascaras are marketed. Not one post sums up my blog as a whole.
J&J = massive fail.
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On the other hand, you could resubmit your entry and attach this post…
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Jo here, I help organise the awards. Thanks very much for your feedback, this is the first year bloggers have entered and we really want to make it work for you. I’ll pick up with you each individually to see how we can make this achievable for everyone.
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I am with GreatSheElephant – that’s exactly what was going through my mind as I read your post. Perhaps we’re just both full of mischief!
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Totally know what you mean with this! For P&G’s awards here in Canada they asked us to submit 3 articles (ie posts) and I still had a terrible time deciding. You’re right – it’s impossible to define your blog within such narrow parameters. Many brands still don’t really understand the medium. What works in print (longer, more formal, in-depth articles) would put people to sleep on a blog… so for these awards I just hope they’re measuring each by different criteria.
Hope they can work out a way for you to still enter BBB! You deserve some recognition.
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Maybe I am missing the point here, but couldn’t you just attach one of your longer posts?
The worst that can happen is that you don’t win, which you won’t do anyway if you don’t enter.
I subscribe to your blog for 2 reasons:
1. You do tend to put up info about new products/lines first.
2. You give an insider look at the beauty world, including all the nitty gritty of PR.
So one of your posts about the beauty industry itself would seem ideal to me. -
I entered too and didn’t know what the hell to submit..
I ended up literally doing eeny meeny miny mo through my skincare category, copying and pasting something, ANYTHING into a word document.
By the time I’d completed the form I’d lost faith in the process and only clicked submit ‘cos it had taken me so bloody long to get that far.
First time I’ve ever submitted the blog for anything and they definitely made it as difficult as possible.
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Surely everyone has a favourite post just like a journalist has a favourite article? I think asking for an attached post or article is pretty logical and reasonable…?
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@Jo if you are still reading this, I read a lot of beauty blogs. I hope our host won’t mind me saying that although few people write better than her about beauty prodcts there are plenty who write just as well.
One of the key points about this blog is that it is regularly updated day after day and rarely misses anything. That is why so many of us follow it. Any award really needs to reflect that.
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@Colin I’m still reading! We are hoping to change the category criteria so judges can take into account things like frequency of posting etc. I’ll let you know about the changes asap.
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It think your post was brilliant and has now resulted in me subscribing to your blog. Keep up the good work and good luck with the awards, which I can now see they’ve simplified and you’re entering!
P.S. I totally agreed with GreatSheElephant!!
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Message for jo (fifi)…since you mention you help out at the J&J beauty awards…..is it possible to buy tickets for Jan 2011…if so, how etc, thanks…. pink lady 78 @ live.co.uk
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