F is for Flabbergasted: BeautyGeeks wins P&G Beauty Award for Best Beauty or Fashion Blog

Well the staff’s still a bit freaked out. Last night marked the first P&G Awards evening to honour the beauty-and-fashion content creators in Canadian media (P&G Beauty Awards have been an industry highlight in the UK for the past five years). Held at The Carlu in downtown Toronto, the event featured Academy-Award-and-Golden-Globe-nominated Canadian screenwriter and actress Nia Vardalos (above, right) as delightful emcee, and presenters such as “FT” host Jeanne Beker, designer Joeffer Caoc, hair/makeup-artist agency owner and “Style by Jury” stylist David Clemmer, MTV host/producer Aliya-Jasmine Sovani, international model and “Canada’s Next Top Model” judge Yasmin Warsame, and Top Model winner Meaghan Waller.

A big fan of Kristen Vinakmens of SugarShockBeauty.com and Chantel Simmons of Sweetspot.ca, fellow P&G Beauty Award finalists for Best Beauty or Fashion Blog, Staff doesn’t quite understand how BeautyGeeks managed to win. She is, however, pretty impressed I got a buddy photo with Nia  (who has the softest skin, I noted as we were cheek-to-cheek). Staff’s also feeling smug that she’s the first mention that came to mind when I managed to get to the stage. Sheesh.

Had I prepared a proper acceptance, I’d have said thank you to everyone more like this: I’ve had so much wonderful support and encouragement from family and friends — heart, heart, heart! Thanks also to all my professional associates such as the amazing editors and writers I’ve worked with, the PR pros who keep me informed, the social-media-savvy folks who generously offered and provided invaluable guidance, and online colleagues (grateful shout-out to Lipstick Powder N Paint’s Lesley Ellen Mirza in particular) who shared advice and experience.

And a big thank you must also go to P&G Beauty for creating a spotlight opportunity for media devoted to lipgloss and shoes, and for including the blogosphere in the appreciated.

Congratulations to all the finalists, and Big Congrats to the following P&G Beauty Award winners:

• Fashion (Ceri Marsh, Editor) — Best Magazine Cover
• Rhonda Rovan, Best Health — Best Beauty Editor of a Magazine
• Elizabeth Cabral, Flare — Best Fashion Editor of a Magazine
• Anne Mullens, Best Health – Best Beauty Feature of a Magazine or Newspaper
• Joanie Pietracupa, Clin d’Oeil — Best Beauty Feature of a Magazine or Newspaper (French)
• Karen Burshtein, Fashion — Best Fashion Feature of a Magazine or Newspaper (English)
• Jean-Francois Légaré, Clin d’Oeil — Best Fashion Feature of a Magazine or Newspaper (French)
• Leo Petaccia, Sharp — Best Male Grooming Feature (English)
• Andrée-Anne Léonard and Claude Laframboise, LOU LOU – Best Male Grooming Feature (French)
• ElleCanada.com/ElleQuebec.com — Best Fashion or Beauty Website (big props to site editor Lara Ceroni and team!)
• Lolitta Dandoy, moderue-clindoeil.ca — Best Beauty or Fashion Blog (French)
• Chris Nicholls – Photographer of the Year
• Addison Gill (Sutherland Models) — Best New Face
• Dylan K. Hanson — Hair Stylist of the Year
• Simone Otis — Make-up Artist of the Year

Wondering who the judges were? Their job wasn’t easy — they reviewed more than 200 entries (wherever possible, the author/publication names had been blacked out) to whittle them down to finalists and then to winners (P&G was not in any way involved in judging). Thank you to:

• Donna Braggins — Professor of Illustration, Sheridan College
• Hughes Chandonnet — Copy Writer, BCP Advertising
• Sandra Cliche — Editor
• Chantal Durivage — Co-president; Sensation Mode
• Charlotte Empey — Associate Dean of Creative and Performing Arts, Humber College
• Tracy Howard — Editor-in-Chief, Rouge
• Hans Koechling — President; The Image Is
• Susan Langdon — Executive Director, Toronto Fashion Incubator
• Rona Maynard — Speaker, Author and former Editor of Chatelaine
• Francine Nadeau — General Manager; Marie-Victorin College
• Robert Ott — Chair, School of Fashion, Ryerson University
• Carly Stojsic — Market Editor; WGSN

And thanks to you for reading! Hugs! Oh, and if you have any suggestions on how to deal with a now-too-big-for-her-already-big-britches Staff running around telling folks she’s an award-winning beauty-blog type, please share. *sigh* (Click here to see ChickAdvisor.com’s engaging recap of the people and fashion at the event.)

Tagged as: Nia Vardalos, P&G Beauty Awards