No, I’m not running for office, although I often think I couldn’t do any worse than a lot of the current bunch. Instead, I’m looking for your votes in a different sort of popularity contest, the 2013 Mum and Dad blog awards, also known as the MADs.

Not that I expect to win anything you understand. I’m a very small fish in a very big pond (Tots 100 have well over 4,000 UK based parent bloggers registered) and there are plenty others far more deserving than me; folks who I know put a lot more time and effort into their blogs than I do.

So why bother posting about it?

Well, I set up this here blog largely as a result of last year’s MADs, where us dads were massively under-represented in the nominations. At the time I had another blog that I very rarely posted in, but after the lovely Susan Mann directed me to Tom Briggs’s rant on the matter, I decided to join in, and swell the ranks. And here I am. (You can read the longer version of that story here).

So… while I might not feel deserving of any of a MAD award, in the last 8 months or so I’ve got to know a fair few others who are, who I’ve listed here for your convenience:

• Diary of the Dad
• Mutterings of a Fool
• First Time Daddy
• It’s a Dad’s Life
• Daddacool
• Babberblog
• Whiskey for Aftershave
• Reluctant Housedad (although he’s a MADs judge, and not eligible for any awards)
• That Spencer Bloke…
• bringing up charlie
• OneDad3Girls
• Read it Daddy!

Why not check them out? If you like what you see (which I’m sure you will) why not give them your support with a MAD nomination? Go on, nominate a dad! The link is right here, you can’t miss it.

Oh, and as far as I’m aware, none of those I’ve listed qualify for the “Best New Blog” category. I do, though, so if you can’t think of anyone else to nominate…