… and toot takes home the GOLD!
(Above: the awesome toot team with the awards)
I just got back from the Jordan Web Awards where the toot table screamed so loud after toot won the gold shield and Ikbis won the bronze shield for the Entertainment and Blogs Category. It really feels great! After a year of tooting several times a day every day, and after watching it grow from 50 blogs to 147, I have grown to really love that place, and it’s wonderful seeing something I love so much get recognized. Hat tips to Wael for the brilliant design that purplifies my days, Jad for creating the backdoor interface that I actually still enjoy using, a year on, and all the tooters whose blogs I have learned so much from.
Congratulations toot, toot team, tooters, and anyone who enjoys toot!
Also, congratulations to toot’s sister site, Ikbis, and what a great job for one so young! YAY!
The award:
CONGRATS TOOT!!!
(3)
Dana
January 26, 2007 @ 3:05 am
CONGRAAATS
your work is amazing and you are all really amazing….admins and general bloggers…I was just telling myself yesterday (wonder where the toot website really rank? bcuz its good)—and i knew nothing about the even before reading this post–
I think our Jordanian Bloggers will also score high at the PAN awards!
best of luck always…keep refreshing my days with your berries
Roba
January 26, 2007 @ 3:06 am
YAAY! Thanks Dana! What a sweetheart!
Hamzeh N.
January 26, 2007 @ 3:19 am
Mabrook!!!!!!
Amerabian
January 26, 2007 @ 3:36 am
Salaam Roba!
I’m very happy that toot made it to the JWA and won the golden plack : )
When I look at the pictures, I think it’s must’ve been fun being there and feeling the atmosphere of all the competitive creative people.
Qwaider قويدر
January 26, 2007 @ 4:11 am
Congratulations :)
moi
January 26, 2007 @ 4:14 am
Many congrats to the toot team! Well done :)
Iman
January 26, 2007 @ 4:29 am
Mabrook! Good job!
Ayyob
January 26, 2007 @ 6:29 am
Gongrats guy!!! Way to go
Meno Lal2a3la
Dave
January 26, 2007 @ 8:50 am
And another Mabrook. Well done.
kinzi
January 26, 2007 @ 10:03 am
Way to go…but, I am not surprised!!! Blessings to all for your investment!
Khalidah
January 26, 2007 @ 10:08 am
WOW
1000 mabrook guys
Wonderful news qallah :)
You deserve it :D
Rami
January 26, 2007 @ 10:31 am
Congratulations. The toot team was literally “tooting” the event, I liked that :)
Eve
January 26, 2007 @ 10:40 am
mabrouk guys :)
Muhammad Arrabi
January 26, 2007 @ 10:53 am
Mabrooooook - mashallah, you guys all deserve it.
keep it up and 3oqbal the world web awards.
amjad027
January 26, 2007 @ 11:13 am
Mabrook
You deserve the best :)
G.
January 26, 2007 @ 11:48 am
congratulations Roba !!
manal y
January 26, 2007 @ 12:13 pm
mabrook, that’s something great YAAAAAAAAAY for you and the rest
Jad
January 26, 2007 @ 12:46 pm
t00ooooooo00000000oOOOOOOOTttttttt T000000000000oOOOOT
Rebecca
January 26, 2007 @ 1:13 pm
Mabrook! It must be nice to be recognized for all your hard work. Good job!
Makes me curious… who won silver?
nzm
January 26, 2007 @ 1:37 pm
Excellent result - congrats to the toot and Ikbis teams!
Abu 7amarneh
January 26, 2007 @ 1:48 pm
ya reeto alf alf nabroook ya rab! w 3ogbal il,,, ay ishi akbar …
Lubna
January 26, 2007 @ 1:56 pm
congratulations… that seems very exciting… hehe.. i guess you already are excited:P
Irene Atallah
January 26, 2007 @ 3:04 pm
Congratulations!!! We knew you could do it! Hoping this is the first award of many and keep up the brilliant work
Roba
January 26, 2007 @ 4:11 pm
THanks guys! Very much appreciated!
Rebecca, Abu Mahjoob took the silver.
Batir
January 26, 2007 @ 4:23 pm
Fantastic and awsome result that you all deserve. We are all proud of you. Now about those who organized the contest when are they gonna publish the results on their website? where can we find the while list of winners?
Bobby
January 26, 2007 @ 4:48 pm
Ahlan beck?!
linda Alazraq
January 26, 2007 @ 6:58 pm
Hi Roba,
I would like to congratulate you for the award you’ve received, and for the wonderful and insightful blog you have,I don’t think you know me, but I do believe you know my cousin Mohammad, as he was the one who told me about your blog,he said you travelled together to attend a youth conference in Beirut.
I’ve been checking out your blog every once in a while for the past 4 months and through it, I got to know many other bloggers and blog portals such as Jordan Planet and Toot.
I would like to comment though on your previous post about honour crimes in Jordan…
As someone who has never lived in the Arab world, as I was born and raised in the U.S, it really shocks me how masculin Arab societies are, and it saddens me how some men in the Arab world believe that their daughters, wives, sisters, and even female cousins are like their property, they claim full control over it!
And we ask ourselves, why are we not developing like other nations are?, why there is always something that ties us down and takes a step in the wrong direction?…I do believe, part of it has to do with the cultural and traditional behaviour of Arab men…
I know , I may sound like a hardcore feminist..,well, I’m not, I do believe in the role enlightened and open mindded men should play in the progress of the region…
I just believe that the enlightened and open minded should exert more effort in making their voice louder and heard.
Thank you agan Roba ,for such a wonderful blog
luai
January 26, 2007 @ 7:31 pm
Congrats to the entire team!
yaseen
January 26, 2007 @ 8:16 pm
Finally Jordanians who knows how to create webpages, grats ^^
mohammad
January 27, 2007 @ 2:56 am
alf mabrook, both toot & ikbis deserve it, really :-)
yaseen
January 27, 2007 @ 4:15 am
I feel abu mahjoob is under appreciated :(
Mohannad
January 27, 2007 @ 8:43 am
Alf Mabrouk, do not forget us with the sweets!! Konafah>>
Ohoud
January 27, 2007 @ 3:04 pm
Mabrook! You guys deserve it:)
p.s: Nice pic btw
The Observer
January 28, 2007 @ 11:54 am
I am a bit late to congratulates you.
Excellent work. I am happy for the Toot team. You sure deserve it :)
Keep up the good work.
Ahmed Nasr
January 28, 2007 @ 11:56 am
Congratulations :)
You deserve it :)
george
January 30, 2007 @ 12:26 pm
congratulations
keep up the good work
and george take care man
note: funny photos dude
Zed
February 1, 2007 @ 12:02 am
congrats … you guys have a great thing going … enjoy
Zeid Nasser
February 2, 2007 @ 8:54 pm
Dear Roba,
I was pleased to see that you were very happy and proud of the awards Toot won at the Jordan Web Awards, bearing in mind that you had called the event “pathetic” in a post on your blog on 1 October (http://andfaraway.net/blog/2006/10/04/another-lol/), in which you unfairly judged the organizers to be greedy and sneaky because we are charging an entry fee of JD95 per website submitted.
Well it didn’t seem to bother you much on January 25, when you not only showed up to celebrate at the event, but you basked in the lighting setup (which costs money), enjoyed the presentation on screen and the stage design (which cost money), and took home one of 66 trophies we produced for winners (which also cost money). There are SO MANY other costs that you don’t see. How do you think we pay for these things?
May I point out that it is standard practice to charge for etries in award ceremonies for the simple reason that Jurors Cannot Judge 1000 entries! When there’s a fee, you get a more reasonable number. And, of course, because financing is needed to hold such events. If you noticed, it was a top quality event.
I have recommended to the Pan Arab Committee, whom my company represents in Jordan, that we create a special Blog Category in which Personal Blogs can be accepted free but based on certain quality standards, and whereby Business Blogs will be required to pay a very low entry fee. Next year, we’ll apply these ideas.
Otherwise, every site (non blog) owner is either a commercial or governmental entity, or a web design company who all can pay for their entries.
I hope you publish my comment. Anyway, I’m sure the 37 commentors to this message will be interested. I could have responded back in October, but now seems much more appropriate.
On another note, may I express my admiration for your efforts and dedication to blogging and let me say that pioneering Arab bloggers like yourself provide a forum for all of us to interact.
Keep it up ….
Roba
February 2, 2007 @ 9:26 pm
Hello Zeid, first of all, thank you for the comment. Of course it will get published, I only moderate comments that have obscene material.
Admittedly, and this is something I should have probably mentioned in my blog, when the toot team asked me to go with them to the ceremony I was at first reluctant due to my initial reaction, but then I decided to go.
What I found when I went to the ceremony was very different from what I expected (for one thing, I didn’t think it would be a gala). I guess you could say that I look at internet-related activities with a geeky passion for something I love from all my heart and have a cautious time digesting the corporateness.
It was a job well done, impressive in terms of organization and coordination. I hope to see more websites racing for the titles next year (sucks that some categories only had 3 contestants), and thanks for your comment :)