Tag: Shorty Awards art

The Shorty Awards in New York City: What a Blast!

BZTAT and Frugal Dougal with staff at the Shorty Awards
BZTAT and Frugal Dougal with staff (Lynn Haigh) at the Shorty Awards

Everyone expected me to be at the Shorty Awards. I did have a pretty public appeal for help to get there, after all. And everyone expected @FrugalDougal‘s staff to be there too (nominated in the non-profit category). But it was a complete surprise for all of us when the phenomenal fund raising pooch showed up himself at the Shorty Awards!

I discovered that the CDO of the #PawPawty is no shrinking violet at human parties as well. What a good time we all had in New York!

Neither  Dougal nor I came home with a Shorty Award, but we certainly had a good time celebrating as finalists. Dougal and I had a great time with his staff, Lynn Haigh, and Nancy Heltman (tweeter for @VAStateParks, who was nominated for a Shorty award in the Government category).

Shorty-Awards-FrugalDougal-and-staff-and-BZTAT
At the Shorty Awards

We met up with some other “tweeps” as well during our adventure to the Shorty Awards.

Shorty Awards Tweet-up
Shorty Awards Tweet-up
Shorty Awards Tweet-up
Shorty Awards Tweet-up
Shorty Awards Tweet-up
Shorty Awards Tweet-up

I also got to see my niece, who is studying costume and theater set design at NYU, and who I am convinced is going to be famous some day.

BZTAT and Travis Boatright
BZTAT and Travis Boatright

I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to New York, and I took lots of photos to use for reference in making some digital art. Watch for my NYC series of works to come in the future.

I want to express my deepest thanks to all who helped me get to New York so that I could experience the Shorty Awards in person. It truly was a very special opportunity to be able to represent the wonderful pet community on Twitter at the Shorty Awards.

Although the Shorty Awards tended to favor recognizable Twitterers over creative users of the medium, and an unusual number of ties was somewhat disconcerting, I think the whole process was a fun and exciting adventure.

Thank you to all my followers who made the Shorty dream come alive for me.

Life is an Adventure!

BZTAT

I Gotta Feeling That Tonight's Gonna Be a Good, Good Night!

This video was filmed in Chicago, but it characterizes the feeling that I have as I write today from New York City! I am here for the Shorty Awards Ceremony, which begins tonight at 7 pm EST.

If the Shorty Awards judges go solely on the number of popular votes in making their decisions, I don’t have a chance. The guy in first place has many more votes than I do.

But if they consider the love and enthusiasm shown by my followers, I would have won it a million times over.

Somewhere along the line in this quest for a Shorty, it stopped being about me. It started being about all the folks who helped me get to the Shorty finals and to New York City.

I take all of you with me. Please live vicariously through my tweets (Follow #bztatnyc on Twitter), as you are here with me every step of the way.

No matter what happens, today is gonna be a good, good day, and tonight is going to be a good good night! It is all because of you!!!

Thx for the adventure!

Life is an Adventure!
BZTAT

BZTAT is going to the Shorty Awards in New York City!

Artist BZTAT at work for recent Paint-a-thon

I have the BEST friends from all around the world!

First I asked them to help get me into the finals for the Shorty Awards in the Art Category. As an emerging pet portrait artist whose business has been built by leveraging social media, I thought that being in the Shorties would help advance awareness of my artwork.

My friends came out in a big way!

I came in third place in the popular voting, which is one component of the overall judging for the award.

Then I asked them to help me raise money for the trip to New York City for the Shorty Awards Ceremony. As an  artist and  creative entrepreneur starting a new business,  funds are very tight for extra things such as travel, and I couldn’t do it on my own.

Including donations, proceeds from a 12 hour Paint-a-thon, and new commissions, my friends helped me raise over $1400 for the trip!

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!

I will be meeting up with a number of friends in New York with whom I have come to know through social media but never met face-to-face. Most notably, I will be meeting @FrugalDougal‘s staff (Shorty nominee for the Nonprofit Category), and @Yoda_the_Dog‘s staff, who is the tweeter for @VAStateParks (Shorty nominee for the Government Category).

@FrugalDougal‘s staff is traveling all the way from the UK for the Shorty Awards!

The ceremony is Wednesday evening (3/3/10) from 7 -11 pm EST. Be sure to follow my tweets on Twitter with the hashtag #bztatnyc during the ceremony and throughout the whole trip.

I plan to post many photos and chronicle my trip on Twitter for those who helped me make the trip. I hope you will join me on the adventure!

In case you were wondering, @BrewskieButt and my other cats will be well cared for while I am away. I have a sitter checking in on them and the studio to make sure all is well during my absence.

New York, here I come!!!

Life is an Adventure!

BZTAT