May I say it's an honor to work with you three? And this award is phenominal.

My personal choices for the prize would be:

A Blogging tutorial that goes through the basic how-tos, the dos and don't, but expands into the audio, video, mobile blogging technologies that are becoming the future.

At the same time, bringing bloggers from all parts of the world (and helping low-income bloggers from the US) to attend the annual conference would be fabulous too.

Either way, I'd prefer to see the investment used in a manner that ties the support to the BlogHer community.

Deb

Debra
A Stitch In Time
Weight for Deb

But first, congratulations to you, Lisa and Jory. We've always known you rocked and it's great to see others recognize that.

Those are all excellent ideas and I cannot choose so I'm going to throw out another one. What about BlogHer internships? If I were still a student I'd love the opportunity to work with in BlogHer offices for a summer or semester.

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

Congratulations, Elisa, Jory, Lisa and all BlogHer staff! What an accomplishment. And I love that you are, of course, putting the prize back into action.

This is my favorite idea you mentioned: "We could use the money to fund bringing activist bloggers from
developing nations to BlogHer '09. Every year we get emails from all
over the world from amazing bloggers who are blogging in the face of
enormous challenges and would love to join us and meet their blogging
sistren"

Again, congratulations classy women! 

Lara

Notions of Identity

Definitely a tutorial/resource section would be awesome!  I also agree with Debra that using some to sponsor some attendees to the conference next year would be fabulous too.  

Congratulations!!

Laurie, mom of 3 boys and

blogger about my VA business and my life as a mom!

I'm getting some votes via Twitter too!

Elisa Camahort Page
BlogHer
elisa@blogher.com

My BlogHer profile truly shows you everything I do online...Check it out!!

I am thinking about those activist bloggers in far off places. Could some of them use a digital camera, a scanner, a RAM upgrade, hosting, or help paying telecommunications bills? Perhaps they could apply for mini-grants so they could keep having their voices heard.

SJ also writes at I, Asshole.

Congratulations Ladies!

I love the idea of bringing activist bloggers from around the world to BlogHer '09.  That way when they return home, they'll have ideas to inspire other women and girls in their own countries and the result of that investment will broaden.

And/or, I'd love to see something to get more girls involved in writing, technology and computers.  Maybe a BlogHer contest where teen girls can submit essays about their lives and how they interact with technology.  The prizes could then be cash, computers or laptops.

Megan

Megan Smith
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/YouTube
Megan's Minute: Quirky Commentary Around

Congrats!! A dedicated tutorial and resource section sounds like a great idea and would help a lot of folks who are either new to blogging, or may want to learn more on incorporating different tools on their current blog. 

A. L. Venable is a Random Citizen. She primarily writes at Dimple and a Smirk (dot) com and Our PDX Network.

My vote would be for sharpening the saw, and make BlogHer even more effective as a "social impact" effort.

Laura Scott, BlogHer Contributing Editor, Tech/Web
design, snap, blog, tweet

This is a well-deserved tribute to BlogHer. Congratulations to our intrepid leaders.

Of the ideas you presented in the original post, I really like bringing activist bloggers from developing nations to BlogHer '09 or building a centralized blogging tutorial and resource section on BlogHer.com.

Another idea is to use some of that money promoting BlogHer itself. Advertising, PR, whatever. As BlogHer grows, so do we all grow.

Virginia DeBolt
BlogHer Technology Contributing Editor
Web Teacher
First 50 Words

Congratulations.

The Anita Borg Institute is focused on women in technology and the sciences, so it would be nice to see that money used somehow to promote women in both. I was discouraged to see the speaker list at the Ajax Experience and how there is only one woman speaker (http://ajaxexperience.techtarget.com/east/html/speakers.html)--representing the events that started all of this, including Blogher, years ago. 

Despite the success of Blogher, there hasn't been progress for women in technology outside of a few genres, such as Drupal (yeah, Drupal). 

However, I'm not sure the problem is such that money will provide a solution, so perhaps sponsorships for women in countries like Iran and elsewhere who have been fighting dangerous battles for equality would be a better use of the money.

This is great news for us, but I can't think of how BlogHer should spend the money.  The only thing that comes to mind is helping village women who are trying to create a sustainable livelihood market their wares better through technology.  I think of this because LOTUS by LOA intrigued me.  There's so much work to do. I also like the idea of using the money to bring activist bloggers from other countries to the annual BlogHer conference.

Nordette is a Contributing Editor with BlogHer.com whose personal blog is hosted on another site at this link.

Maryan Pelland
online at www.demystifyingdigital.com/blogs/DigitalGrandparent
and www.womendaybyday.com

You have to make some noise before people can hear you and the noise has to be made in the right places. If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, does it make a sound?

All of the writers at blogher, and, indeed, women writers world over have a lot of beautiful and important noise to make. I think at least part of this money would be well used in promoting the site, the idea, the writers. 

The people behind the scenes at blogher are moving in good directions - they've captured some good keywords at Google - like women blogs, blogs by women. There are other words to get - women writers, for example - to be nailed down. Print and broadcast advertising could be considered.

As another writer said here, the more we grow the more we all benefit.

mkp

Maryan Pelland
online at www.demystifyingdigital.com/blogs/DigitalGrandparent
and www.womendaybyday.com

Congratulations.   So great to see your hard work recognized.

 I'm leaning w/ Deb :

"Either way, I'd prefer to see the investment used in a manner that ties the support to the BlogHer community."

Maybe something along the lines of helping to furhter fund attendance to conferences?  I'm looking at my credit card debt wondering how in the world I can justify adding to it to attend the D.C. conference.   

That way maybe someone who is new can get some help in starting -- and some who are more seasoned can get to their next steps etc etc??

Or, even to help fund conferences in the "smaller" places.

And?  the added benefit of getting to actually see faces in this online world we all could use a real 'face time' break from now and then.  (makes us better bloggers, no??)

If I had to pick specifically from your list - I'd say the tutorial, or even better maybe a blogging "helpdesk" sorta thang.

Thanks for asking what we think.   I enjoy all the points of view and am sure you guys will figure out what is best for all!!   I'm just happy you got it  : )

 Cheers!

It was a long time in the coming as you said but your case only got stronger with the passage of time. It's well deserved. 

Mari Kuraishi
GlobalGiving
The beginning of spring

Fantastic to hear.

I like the idea of using the funds to build a centralized blogging tutorial and resource section.

Would 1-2 brief, fun video tutorials be an option?

It costs a lot of money to travel across the planet to attend BlogHer and lots of poeple can't spare the bank. Even if they can scrap up the dough to attend, there's a plan ticket and accomodations and incidentals... 

I love the idea of using the $$$ to help those bloggers that couldn't otherwise make it to attend the conference. 

And many congrats.

Pam

Nerd's Eye View

Do you have to spend the whole thing in one year or can it be divided up and spaced out. If so then many more small seed projects can be tested out to see if they work.

I definitely gronk the tutorial/reference section.

Another idea is to work with an established NGO that focuses on women's educational/technological needs that could set up BlogHer nodes around under serve countries.

The nodes could have computers and access and women in the area could connect to us to access the tutorial/reference sections that they would create to focus on their needs which might not be our needs.

If we cold do something like a BlogHer Memory Alpha project where our history and achievements don't hit the vapors but are in place for anyone to access that would be kinda cool.

Gena - Out On The Stoop

Those are all great ideas, but what about a 1st Annual BlogHer Grant Or Scholarship?  Maybe $2,500.00 could be used to endow it initially and donations could fund it every year after.  

If enough money were raised, it could be used to fund the dreams and goals of women of every age.  If someone wants it for a scholarship for school that would be great.  But if someone always dreamed of taking a month off from work to study art in Italy for a month, it could fund that too. 

Anali's First Amendment

http://analisfirstamendment.blogspot.com/

I hate to come across as a spoil sport, but one thing I think Blogher needs to be careful about is spending the money on something that directly increases the value of Blogher.

Blogher is a for-profit commercial enterprise. To use the money to advertise for Blogher elsewhere, even to pay for people to come to the conferences, could be seen as corporate promotion. As for the reference tutorial section, seems like that would be an effective addition to the site, period, but again it increases the value of Blogher, the corporate entity. Plus, I wouldn't mind seeing women being involved in other sites that provide tutorials and references, rather than grouped in a somewhat isolated manner. There are sites that provide tutorials. There are sites that provide references.

The ideas about funding women's fights elsewhere, a scholarship for young women, a "dream" fund, providing supplies to help women elsewhere, including the women in small business concept -- all of these are outward facing actions, and are good ideas. 

I like the idea of an international fellowship to BlogHer.  A few years ago I attended the 10th anniversary of International Women's Media Foundation.  At the conference were women who had been supported and sometimes trained by American journalists through the foundation and were now functioning in their own countries in ways women often (and in some countries men too) were not able to do.  It would enrich the conference, yes, but I think it would be a great opportunity for women from Iran or Saudi Arabia or Kenya or someplace in South America to be among women whose freedom is so well-appreciated and used as is a blogger's.  They go home with a whole different sense of self.

Otherwise I'd also vote for BlogHer travel scholarships.  So many wonderful bloggers, who would add so much, can't afford to come.  It's not your still affordable registration rates, it's those damned airplanes!

Cynthia Samuels, Partner
Cobblestone Associates, LLP
Blog and Media Strategies and Content Development Online and on Television   

Don’t
Gel Too Soon

What comest to mind is how can you grow the money so it is worth more than $10,000 whether through investment (I know it's not a good time for that), savings, or some kind of challenge or matching grant (though I'm not sure how you'd process it).

Or, what if you collaborated with 9 other companies, who each donated $10,000, and together you made a $100,000 investment that made the world a better place.

I love the idea of helping International bloggers come to BlogHer. I would further suggest that it be a fellowship that involves more than just a trip to BlogHer. I think it should also support their blogging further by including at least one other conference, a digital camera, a Flip video... I'm just brainstorming, but a blogger's dream package of tools, you know? Maybe we could get a company to donate a laptop.

I imagine administering a fellowship is challenging, but maybe you could set it up like they post their application somewhere specific or on their own blogs and then there's a window where BlogHer members vote.

Liz Rizzo

I blog at Everyday Goddess.

 First, Congratulations On A Job Well Done!

As I have read the thread I love Britt's idea for expanding the available dollars through collaboration. And, it would make next year's conference absolutely fascinating to have this activist bloghers on the agenda.

Also, love the idea of the resource center but as I have had the benefit of reading the entire thread understand why that might not be the best use of the dollars.

 Looking forward to following this story.

elana
Blogher Contributing Editor,Business&CareersFunnyBusiness

I'd really love to see the $10,000 go towards helping women blogging from all around the world to come to BlogHer!

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Liz Henry
lizzard@bookmaniac.net
Contributing Editor, World and Latin America