My First Award

I've been reading a lot of postings lately about awards my fellow writers have won... Have been nominated for... Have led to finding agents and signing publishing contracts. I admit it, I'm really jealous. Last year I entered the "Fool for Love" contest and didn't even final.

So I was Thrilled last night, when I received the Very First Award garnered since beginning my quest as a Serious Writer. And yes, it was for writing. Unfortunately, not for writing fiction. It was for being quoted on an international website, and promoting the cause of Girl Scouts to a wider audience.

It was a Girl Scout award.

But still, it was for writing.

I'm a Brownie leader for my daughter's troop. For Girl Scout Thinking Day this year (2/22), my girls participated in an international poster contest sponsored by "Nature's Voice, Our Choice," a really cool NGO promoting water awareness and access issues around the globe. The theme of the contest was "What Water Means to Me," and the deadline was World Water Day (3/22).

I wrote a letter describing our Cape Cod Brownies and how we as leaders incorporate water use and the oceans into our curriculum. I enclosed a picture of our girls on a field trip we took last September to a barrier island off the coast of Chatham that has since been reclaimed by the sea. The places we had visited six months before were now far below the ocean's surface, without a major hurricane, typhoon or natural disaster. Simply the power of the ocean.

None of our Brownies won the contest, in fact only one out of the twelve winners was even from the U.S., but in the press release announcing the winners NVOC quoted from my letter - as the closing quote to the press release no less. I was thrilled, and apparently so was my local Girl Scout Council.

So it's not a prestigious writing award - but I have the certificate and was applauded by my fellow leaders at the meeting last night. So I feel pretty good about it.