And the winners of BAT 50 are

Thirty-five entrants and from them, twenty returned to vote for their favorites. 30 out of 35 entrants garnered at least one vote, which is good to see. I thank all of you for making this special edition a successful one.

The results of Blog-a-Ton 50, here is the list of participants and the cheers they garnered:

As evident, here are the five Blog-a-Tonics (since this is a special edition) and one Marshal Pick Winner of the Month. Click on their names to read their respective entries.

GOLD BATOM	GOLD BATOM	GOLD BATOM
Cifar	Khushboo	Vinay Leo
SILVER BATOM	SILVER BATOM	MARSHAL PICK
Megha Malik	Jaibala Rao	Namrata

Congratulations to the well deserved winners (Cifar Shayar, Khushboo, Vinay Leo, Megha Malik, Jaibala Rao and Namrata Kumari - Marshal Pick). Aativas, Aishwarya, Meenal Sonal, and UnknownShri were close to winning this time. Anyway, better luck next time.

Winners (Cifar Shayar, Khushboo, Vinay Leo, Megha Malik and Jaibala Rao) must drop an email to pendownmythought@gmail.com with their real name, phone number and address to claim their badges and books on or before 15 January 2015 EOD. Namrata, congrats for being the first winner picked by Marshal. You shall receive flipkart.com voucher worth 500 INR. You could've also won SILVER BATOM, if you had voted in this edition. As per Blog-a-Ton 2.0 Rule W 4.1, "Irrespective of the badge, if there is only one extra person vying for a marshal vote, then that extra person is also a winner, provided if he/she has voted in that edition." Winners name will also be featured on Blog-a-Ton Cover Photo. Keep writing..!!!

You all can also read the voting comments now. Just click here to find who all voted for you or liked your entry and what they had to say about it!

The Top Three contributors are

aativas

43

Someone is Special

33

Leo

30

Please visit Blog-a-Ton 2.0 for more info. See you soon in next edition!!!

Flipkart.com vouchers giveaway. Join now.

A Reminder - Have your number of participation reached 10 or 25??? Then you are eligible to be included into the List of Veteran or Super Veteran Blog-a-Tonics.  Just drop a mail to "pendownmythought@gmail.com" with the links to all your posts (or simply label all your BAT entries and send Marshal that single link).

Hope you all enjoyed this edition!
Poetically Yours,
Marshal,
~ Someone is Special ~

Vote for your BAT50 Favorites

Voting ends at 22:59 hrs (IST) on January 11, 2015. Remember, that means time stamp of your comment can be at most 22:59 and not 23:00 on January 11, 2015.

The curtain closes on a wonderful edition of Blog-a-ton, the 50th one (Golden Jubilee Edition). We had 37 entries from 35 entrants this time. I would like to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for participating! Do comeback and vote for the entries worth winning!

We had 35 blog-a-tonics enter in this edition within the stipulated time. Only those 35 Blog-a-Tonics are eligible for voting. So feel free to vote for your B-A-T 50 Favorites.

Click here to check the fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this edition of Blog-a-Ton along with the direct links to their posts.

Three Cheers to all the Blog-a-Tonics.

Please follow the following rules while voting.

1. ONLY THOSE BLOG-A-TONICS ARE ELIGIBLE FOR VOTING (i.e., Contesting for votes and voting for others) WHO HAVE PARTICIPATED IN THIS EVENT WITHIN THE STIPULATED TIME.

2. AS PER OUR RULES LISTED IN BLOGATON 2.0 ANNOUNCEMENT, THE NUMBER OF VOTES IS NOW DETERMINED BY THE NUMBER OF ENTRIES. WE HAVE 37 ENTRIES THIS TIME, WHICH IS A GOOD NEWS. In this edition, you can cast upto 5 votes or cheers as we call them, and of course you can not vote for yourself. In short, you are allowed to vote for one, two, three, four OR five. All your votes will carry the same weightage.

3.  Your Voting Comment should be as follows:

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I, BLOGGER NAME, participated.
My Blog-a-ton 50 Entry Is Here: BLOGATON50 ENTRY LINK

I vote for:

1. BLOGATONIC 1 NAME: His/her entry is here: BLOGATONIC 1 ENTRY LINK
2. BLOGATONIC 2 NAME: His/her entry is here: BLOGATONIC 2 ENTRY LINK
3. BLOGATONIC 3 NAME: His/her entry is here: BLOGATONIC 3 ENTRY LINK
4. BLOGATONIC 4 NAME: His/her entry is here: BLOGATONIC 4 ENTRY LINK
5. BLOGATONIC 5 NAME: His/her entry is here: BLOGATONIC 5 ENTRY LINK

The voting format has been simplified for assisting you. Replace "BLOGGER NAME" by your name, and "BLOGATON50 ENTRY LINK" by the direct link to your BAT50 Entry. Likewise, for the votes, replace "BLOGATONIC 1 NAME" by the name of the entrant (as used in his/her participation entry) and "BLOGATONIC 1 ENTRY LINK" by the direct link to that blogatonic's BAT50 Entry. Votes NOT IN THIS FORMAT will not be accepted.

For eg: A valid vote can look like this:

I, Vipul, participated.

My Blogaton entry is here: http://vipulgrover.blogspot.com/2010/08/goodbye.html

I vote for the following:
1. Someone is Special: http://www.fewmiles.info/2014/10/down-memory-lane-truestory.html
2. Leo: http://artofleo.com/2014/10/05/a-knot-in-time/
3. Dilip Patel: http://indiaicaremovement.blogspot.in/2013/01/deaf-world.html
4. Karthik : http://unalloyedwritingpleasure.blogspot.com/2010/08/goodbye.html
5. Meenal: http://auraofthoughts.blogspot.in/2014/10/down-memory-lane-poem.html

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4. While voting for a Blog-a-Tonic, use his/her name as provided by him/her in his/her participation entry and not his/her profile name.

5.  Post your vote in the comments section of this post.

6. All your votes should be posted in a single comment. So, take your time - go through all posts - only then decide your one or two or three winning entries. In case you vote separately, only the first comment will be taken into consideration.

Now coming to the other rules:

• Voting ends at  22:59 (IST) on  SUNAY, January 11, 2015.
• I have started moderating the comments and won’t display the voting comments till the end of this process to keep the result secret till its conclusion.
• After the voting code mentioned above, you may also add the reason, why you voted for a particular post to help others know what you expect as a reader. Moreover, you may also mention the other posts that you liked though you can vote for just for three of them. 
• A THOUGHT: Be it Gerneral Elections or Blog-a-Ton, it is your duty to vote, because you have the power to select the winner, so please DO NOT WASTE YOUR VOTE.

The Votes will be discarded without any prior warning in case they are not sufficiently compatible with the rules.

A Reminder - Have your number of participations reached 10 or 25??? Then you are eligible to be included into the List of Veteran Blog-a-Tonics.  Just drop a mail to "pendownmythought@gmail.com" with the links to all your posts (or simply label all your BAT entries and send Marshal that single link).

Remember, the time stamp of your comment can be at most 22:59 on January 11, 2015 and not 23:00 on January 11, 2015.  

May the best entries in this edition win..!
Poetically Yours,
Marshal,
Sarav

Rules and Reminder for Blog-a-ton 50

Subscribe to Blog-a-Ton Reminders & stay updated!

Welcome to the Golden Jubilee Edition of Blog-a-Ton!.

The dream is having 100 entrants in a single edition! Can we read 100 entrants this time? Spread the word, invite your friends...

Deadline extended based on many requests. The new deadline is 04:59 HRS on January 05, 2015 (IST). Hurry up and submit now! Ignore the timestamp mentioned in the post.
Publish the post anytime between 00:00 HRS and 23:59 HRS on January 04, 2015 (IST)!

Date for Blog-a-Ton 50 :  January 04, 2015

As you already know, the topic for Blog-a-Ton 50 has been finalised as: Soulmates

Please follow these rules while publishing your post and thereafter:

• You can choose the title for your post as you wish.
• You can submit MORE THAN ONE POST this time, but you are allowed to vote only once irrespective of the number of posts that you submit.
• Your post must justify the topic Soulmates. 

• The post should start with this code. Just copy the following HTML code and paste to your post in Edit HTML mode:
  
  <div style="text-align: justify;">
  <blockquote>
  This post has been published by me as a part of the <b>Blog-a-Ton 50</b>; the fiftieth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. In association with <a href="http://bit.ly/SoulMatesVinitBansal" target="_blank"​>​Soulmates: Love without ownership</a> by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/vinitbansalauthor" target="_blank"​>Vinit K Bansal</a>. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following <a href="http://blogaton.in/"><b>Blog-a-Ton</b></a>.
  </blockquote>
  </div>

• The post should end with the following code. Just copy the following HTML code and paste to your post in Edit HTML mode and replace XX with your Blog-a-Ton participation count:
  
  <div style="text-align: justify;">
  <blockquote>
  The <b>fellow Blog-a-Tonics</b> who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective <b>posts</b> can be checked <a href="http://www.blogaton.in/2015/01/blogaton50.html"><b>here</b></a>. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following <b><a href="http://blogaton.in/">Blog-a-Ton</a></b>. Participation Count: XX</blockquote>
  </div>
  
  

• Publish the post on January 04, 2014 anytime between 00:00 HRS and 23:59 HRS (Indian Standard Time)

• After publishing it, do not forget to leave the link in the comments section of this post.

• Use the following code to provide direct link to your post.

<a href="DIRECT LINK TO YOUR POST">YOUR NAME - YOUR TITLE</a> 

It will look like this: Someone is Special - Welcome to Blog-a-ton! and will link to your post.

What’s more?

• The winners of Blog-a-ton 50 will receive AUTHOR SIGNED COPIES OF THE BEST SELLING NOVEL "Soulmates: Love without Ownership" by Vinit K Bansal published by RED INK PUBLISHERS
• The winners will also be featured on the Blog-a-ton Facebook Page cover photograph.
• ONE Winner picked by Marshal (that's me) will receive a Flipkart.com e-Gift Voucher worth 500 INR * Marshal decision will be final.

Please follow this rule to ensure easy navigability to your post.

•  Use your complete name to prevent any confusion and mix up with other bloggers.
  

• In case you post your link after the stipulated time, then your submission will not be considered for voting. 

• Return between January 5th 20:00 IST and January 11th 20:00 IST to vote for your favourite post. A separate notification for the same will be posted upon the conclusion of the event. So do not vote till then. Just enjoy reading the various entries, keeping in mind your favourite but worth-winning ones.

DO NOT USE THE COMMENTS SECTION OF THIS POST FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE. If there are any queries, ask them in the comments section of previous post.

...HAPPY WRITING ...

Looking forward to a read wonderful passionate Blog-a-Ton writers post again!
Poetically Yours,
Marshal,
~ Someone is Special ~

The Golden Jubilee Edition Topic is...

Subscribe to Blog-a-Ton Reminders & stay updated!

Welcome to the Golden Jubilee Edition of Blog-a-Ton!.

DATE for BLOG-a-TON 50: January 4, 2015
TOPIC for BLOG-a-TON 50: Soulmates

Our dream is to have a hundred participants come in one day and take part in an edition of Blog-a-ton. Thanks for the support as always.

The rules for Blog-a-ton 50 are:

• You can SUBMIT MORE THAN ONE POST this time, but you are allowed to vote only once irrespective of the number of posts that you submit.
• You can give your post any title that you wish to.
• You must justify this theme with your post. You can do it with any type of post (i.e. Poetry, Fiction, 55 fiction, dialogue, Essay... etc). You can also choose to make it serious, humorous, tragic, romantic... whatever setting you'd love to give.
• You can write in any language as well, but since most Blog-a-tonics would prefer English as their language of communication, we'd suggest that too, so your post reaches a wider audience, and help you when it comes to Blog-a-ton 50 voting time.
• The other rules (viz. header & footer to put in your post, the way to submit it on January 04, 2015 etc.) will be conveyed to you on January 3, 2015 02:00 PM IST. So kindly wait for that notification then rather than putting up queries right now. If the queries are regarding general pattern of the event, please go through the posts about previous events.

The winners of Blog-a-ton 50 will receive AUTHOR SIGNED COPIES OF A BEST SELLING NOVEL PUBLISHED BY RED INK PUBLISHERS and will also be featured on the Blog-a-ton Facebook Page cover photograph. For more surprises stay tuned!

You have six days to write your post but please publish the post only on January 04, 2015 and not before. The aim of Blog-a-ton is to have many people posting on the same theme on the same day, and that day is January 04, 2015 for Blog-a-ton 50!!

Encourage your fellow bloggers to participate in this edition. You can share this post on your various social networking profiles through the ShareThis widget present at the bottom of this post.

Looking forward to a good Blog-a-Ton again.
Poetically Yours,
Marshal,

Someone is Special

The Golden Jubilee Edition is here... Let's Celebrate - Topic Suggestion #BlogATon50

Subscribe to Blog-a-Ton Reminders & stay updated!

DATE OF BLOG-A-TON 50 : SUNDAY, JANUARY 4, 2015

TOPIC DECLARATION:
SUNDAY DECEMBER 28, 2014 22:00 IST.

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Welcome to the Golden Jubilee Edition of Blog-a-Ton!

I’m Sarav a.k.a Someone is Special - The Marshal of Blog-a-Ton. Well, the time is ticking along, and we move to our 50th Blog-a-ton edition, which will be on January 4, 2015.

Let's begin our Special Edition! It is special for all of us, and there is some special surprise waiting for the participants. Watch this space for more clues. Before I proceed further, let’s relive the journey together!

........the journey
On 5th July 2009, Blog-a-Ton was born, a misnomer of the word Blogathon and on 1st August 2009, our first edition was hosted by our Marshal Vipul Grover and after 17 editions, he willingly took a break. Our Ravan and few others hosted initially, later Leo and I took the responsibility on our shoulders to march forward and to achieve our dream!

It’s a one-day event each month, our dream is to get 100 participants in one edition, and our motto is to help writers to write better.

Can we make it possible in this edition? Can we read 100 entrants this time? I agree, we are not giving away any prizes or gift vouchers but we are giving a Golden platform; a platform preferred by passionate writers!

Some of our BATOM’s (including me) are now published authors and we can proudly say that Blog-a-Ton helped us a lot! Some write because of BAT, some breathe for BAT, and that’s what Blog-a-Ton is all about!

I love numbers and I’ve been known to cherish stats a lot. So far, in 49 Editions, we have received 1720 Official Entries; that’s an average of 35 entries per edition. We have crowned 132 Blog-a-Tonics so far – 61 GOLD BATOMS, 52 SILVER BATOMS, and 19 BRONZE BATOMS. Our Official Followers count is more than the magical four-digit number and we are more than seven hundred plus member family on Facebook!

Do you want to know more numbers that are magical?

Vinay Leo R of I Rhyme Without Reason has won 14 BATOMS (8 GOLD BATOMS, 5 SILVER BATOMS and 1 BRONZE BATOM) in total and has the most in GOLD and SILVER categories. Shilpa Nair of Servings of Mania and Apala Sengupta of A Message in a Bottle has won 2 BRONZE BATOMS each, the most by any. Vinay Leo R is also the best topic giver for BAT. His topic was selected as BAT TOPIC 12 times. Aativas of Times Change has participated in 42 editions, the most by any. Someone of Special of Few Miles is the most capped (20) Marshal. More stats below…

Click on the image for better resolution!

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The way we usually go about on Blog-a-ton is that we have a call for topics (ONLY ONE WORD) and then by voting, we decide on one of the topics as the topic for the month. After that, we give you a week’s time to write your post justifying the theme (TOPIC SELECTED) with a complementary post. Then, on the first Sunday of the succeeding month, you will publish the post on your blog, with our preset header and footer and come to Blog-a-ton and link your post in a comment. The week after the Blog-a-ton day will be for voting for your favorite blog-a-tonics from that edition.

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We will be having the secret ballot in this edition.

What you have to do is suggest the topics. Moderation is enabled, and I'll select the first eight topics that come. And we begin voting on that. If I find any topic to be inappropriate, or similar to that of a previous edition, that'll not come into the voting list.

Suggestion a topic now or Vote for a topic of your choice.

Topic

Soulmates

Rain

Love

Unveil

Beginning

• You can vote for any one topic.
• If you wish to change your vote later and support another topic, you can do so during the voting time-frame. But you are allowed only one change-of-vote. I’ll consider only the second vote in that instance.

• The voting period is from December 17, 2014, Wednesday to December 28, 2014 Sunday 21:00 IST.
• The topic that gets the majority votes will be announced on 28 December 2014, 22:00 IST Sunday as the Blog-a-ton 50 topic. In case two or more topics are tied at the end of voting, my vote as Marshal vote will decide. This time, we are giving you 7 days to write your post.
• The Date for Blog-a-ton 50 is January 4, 2014 SUNDAY from 00:00 IST to 23:59 IST.

Looking forward to seeing the old hands back to writing, and new ones joining in.

Keep Writing! Keep Reading! Keep Winning! Keep Celebrating!

Poetically Yours,
Marshal,

Someone is Special