We're looking for a blogger ambassador. Are you a mom or dad willing to share your experiences of “Parenting By Nature” on your blog? If so, then we want to hear from you!

Parenting By Nature invites bloggers to share their inspiring stories and experiences for a chance at winning a Visa® Gift Card worth $600CAD and a six-month paid guest blogging contract (valued at $600CDN) with www.ecobabysteps.com.

Eco Baby Steps is the Parenting By Nature blog, where parents of like-mind can share and discuss their decisions to lead a natural-parenting lifestyle. www.ecobabysteps.com

How to Participate:

Inspiring bloggers are to write a 500-word minimum entry on their blog based on one of the following natural parenting themes:

• Cloth Diapers: Choosing cloth diapers over disposables
• Babywearing: How babywearing has improved your parenting
• Breastfeeding: The trials & tribulations and why it is worth it in the end
• Natural Play: Efforts to resist commercial, non-eco toys & the benefits of natural, creative play

Your entry should be no more than 800-words in length to appeal to our audience of parents with busy lifestyles.

Select from our Contestant Widgets and add a widget to your post using the provided code.

Link the widget and your post back to http://www.parentingbynature.com

Tag the post with “I Parent By Nature”

Email contest@parentingbynature.com with the link to your post.

Share your blog post.

Email your friends & family and send a message to your followers on Facebook and Twitter. Post your link as your Facebook status linking back to www.parentingbynature.com/canyouinspire and on Twitter send @ParentByNature a tweet to your post using the hashtag #Blog2Inspire

Engage your community - fans, followers and readers!

Entries submitted before 12pm EST on December 1, 2009 will be reviewed by the editors of www.ecobabysteps.com and six finalists will be selected and notified by email. Finalists will be chosen based on writing ability & their level of engagement with their community of readers (see Judging of Finalists below).

A web poll accompanied by a link to the finalist's post will go live on the ecobabysteps.com blog at 11:00am EST on December 3, 2009. All finalists are encouraged to ask for the support of their community, family and friends. A newsletter will also be distributed to more than 10,000 parents asking them to vote for their favorite blogger. The writer of the blog post that receives the most number of votes will be awarded the distinction of the Most Inspiring Blogger and will be the winner of the grand prize.

Judging of Finalists

Parenting By Nature judges will select the finalists in its sole discretion and will be based on the following criteria (weighted equally), and will not be limited or restricted by each category:

• Subject Matter – Does the post effectively communicate a story and strong position about one of the natural parenting themes?
• Creativity and Uniqueness – Does the post portray parenting-life in a fresh, original, creative and engaging way?
• Inspiration – Does the post inspire readers to adopt natural-parenting beliefs and practices?
• Responsibility – Does the post show an awareness, appreciation and respect for the natural or eco approach to parenting?

Key Dates for Can You Inspire Contest '09:

November 2 - Contest opens

December 1 - 12PM EST Deadline for entries

December 3 - Six finalists will be emailed and announced on www.ecobabysteps.com

December 4 - 11AM EST The polls will open and let the voting begin

December 11 - 12PM EST Polls will close so make sure that your community has voted!

December 14 - The winner will be notified by email and announced on www.ecobabysteps.com so keep checking back!

January 2010 - The premier post by our winner, the new Eco Baby Steps blogger ambassador.

 

The Grand Prize

The winning blogger (crowned the Parenting By Nature Blogger Ambassador) will immediately receive a $600CAD Visa® Gift Card as well as a paid six-month blogging contract totaling $600CAD. As Blogger Ambassador, the winner's role will be to contribute two posts per month to ecobabysteps.com over a six-month period, for a total of 12 blog posts running January 2010 to June 2010 and in exchange receive a payment of $100CAD per month ($50CAD per post), which will be issued on the 30th of each month by way of a Visa® Gift Card.

The guest blogger will also receive a custom “Parent By Nature Guest Blogger” widget to be posted on their blog during the period of their contract.

Winner Selection

The judging and selection of finalists will be completed by Dec 3, 2009. Decisions of the contest judges will be final and binding. Odds of becoming a finalist depend on the number of entries received and the caliber of blog posts received.

Odds of winning the Grand Prize depend on the number of votes received, the caliber of selected finalist blog posts and the ability of the finalists to garner votes within their community of readers. The winner will be chosen based on the voting results from the web poll. In the event of a tie, the finalist judges will have the last vote declaring the winner.

Eligibility

The contest is open to citizens and residents of Canada and the continental United States (excluding Porto Rico and except where prohibited by law). The contest will run from Monday, November 2, 2009 until 12:00pm EST Tuesday, December 1, 2009.

Disclaimer

By participating in this contest you acknowledge and agree that ecobabysteps.com and/or Parenting By Nature has the right to repost all submitted content on ecobabysteps.com, parentingbynature.com or through any newsletter, at their discretion. We reserve the right to edit posts. No employees, family relations of Parenting By Nature, limelitePR or Parenting By Nature suppliers are eligible to enter the contest.

For additional information please email contest@parentingbynature.com