Recognitions

It was on a sleepless night two years back that I decided to take the plunge and participate in a contest. I was assailed with thoughts such as – will writing for contests dilute the objectivity of my own space? Will it look cluttered and aimless? On the other hand, I wanted to test unknown waters and explore the boundaries of my own creativity. Finally, I gave in to the latter’s conviction and submitted my entry. 

Since then, I have written for several contests, but not as often as I came across them. I wrote only for those which appealed to my senses.


Here’s a list of posts that won a little acclaim:

WINNER

1. Won an all-expenses paid FAM trip to Kuala Lumpur, the contest held by BlogAdda and Tourism Malaysia, for the post - In the Quest of Hidden Treasures in Malaysia

2. Won an all-expenses paid trip to Goa, the contest held by Indiblogger and Kissan, for the very emotional post – A Letter To My Son

3. Won INR 25,000 for a charity of my choice (People For Animals), the contest held by Indiblogger and Tata Capital – Two Cameras, A Few Kids And A Little Hope

RUNNER-UP

1. Contest held by Air Asia for the post – Going Off The Beaten Track In Kuala Lumpur

2. Three of my posts became runners-up in the contest held by Indiblogger and AmbiPur

 A Road Trip To Cherish
 A Road Trip Along The Western Ghats
 A Journey To Uttarakhand

3. Contest held by Indiblogger and Godrej Aer for the post – A Rainy Day In Chikmagalur

4. Contest held by Indiblogger and Tata Safari Storme for the post – A Mist-terious Affair To Cherish

5. Contest held by Indiblogger and Dabur Lal Tail for the post – Traditional Knowledge, Natural Growth

6. Contest held by Indiblogger and Far East Hospitality for the post – Takeaway Level: Singapore

7. Contest held by BlogAdda and Smart Suraksha for the post – That Fateful Summer Night. The winning post, for the record, was controversial and seemed quite similar to what I had written. 

8. Contest held by Cycle Pure for the post – Happy Lakshmi Puja

9. Consolation prize in a Contest held by Del Monte and Indiblogger for the post - Ode to an Italian dream with a little bit of Goa: Pasta in tomato cream sauce and Goan choriz

I also took part in the #CelebrateBlogging event taken up by BlogAdda and my team was declared one of the top five teams.

As I took part in these contests and received a few badges, I began to gain confidence on my creative writing skills. I felt, perhaps I could push myself a bit more and try my hand at writing fiction. Womensweb.in, a website focusing on women’s self-development, would give out writing clues and a story had to be woven around that. 

FICTION

I decided to participate in that and to my surprise, my stories actually got published:

1. The Match

2. The Rant

3. The Forbidden Meal

4. The Rabbit-hole

Womensweb also selected my post Two Women as one of the top five posts for the Pay It Forward Blogathon.

In the meantime, some of my writings got featured in other websites and blogs.

GUEST BLOGGING/FEATURED IN

1. My joy knew no bounds when I was asked to contribute as a guest blogger and the article was featured alongside stalwarts on jlrexplore.in – Tracking The Seasons In BR Hills. 

I got another chance to write for JLR, this time on Bandipur - The monsoon and a hundred stories.

...and then another, would you believe it! In 2016, I wrote on The Hidden Treasures of Hampi.

2. Another small, quirky post that I had written based on my jungle days was featured in www.indiasendangered.com – A Sackful of Surprise

3. I was asked to do guest blogging by Poornima on her blog and I was delighted to share my post on Chicken Biryani.

4. I found a mention in Shivya's blog as one of the 12 bloggers out of 667 to have answered the most creative answer to the question why I travelled.

4. It was extremely kind of Aditi to mention me in her beautiful blog. I shall never forget her kindness but it pains me to think that I have not returned the favour yet.

So there, this is how I fared in the Recognitions section. I hope all these spur me on to improve my writing further and scale newer heights, expanding my creativity and knowledge. *fingers crossed*