Thanks to Donna Volkenannt over at Donna's Book Pub, I've won my first award for the year. It's called the Premio Dardos Award, given in recognition of cultural, ethical, literary and personal values transmitted in the form of creative, original writing. Premio Dardos means "prize darts" in Italian (that's the award logo above)...I'm not sure what prize darts have to do with that logo, and to be honest, I'm not sure what Donna was thinking, throwing one of these literary darts my way. But I am ethical. I mean, how many times do I say "to be honest"?

In accepting the award, I must do the following:

1) Accept the award by posting it on your blog along with the name of the person that has granted the award and a link to his/her blog.

2) Pass the award along to blogs you find worthy of this acknowledgment. Remember to contact each of them to let them know they have been selected for this award.

So, without further ado, here's who I'm skewering (so to speak):

Suzanne Pitner has a wonderful blog called Teacher Writer that I just recently stumbled upon and had to read for an hour or two to catch up on all the great posts. Her blog is busting at the seams with teacher ideas, writing opportunities, contests, and other teacher-y, writer-y things. Suzanne is a PG sister of mine, but I had no idea where her writing had taken her. She's one busy teacher writer!

Hope Clark has a great blog that I catch up on every week. Many of you know Hope from Funds for Writers, and her blog lists interesting writing opportunities, too. You'll find grants, scholarships, contests, and I don't know what all. But what I really enjoy reading are her pithy notes at the end of her blog on her personal writing journey. Right now, she's shopping her book. It's a roller coaster ride of ups and downs and honestly, sometimes, I skip the contests and just read her notes.

See how honest I am? And honestly, I appreciate Donna's kind words. And I know you'll like Suzanne's and Hope's blogs as much as I do. Oh, and don't forget Donna's, too. Congrats to us all!