Thankful Thursday: 2019 Cat Writers' Association Certificates of Excellence

Seven years ago when I was accepted as a Professional Member of the Cat Writers' Association I wrote that it was a dream come true. I still have a file folder in my desk filled with articles I printed out from the CWA website dated 2006. Back then I studied the membership requirements and made a vow to myself that one day I would become a member of this exclusive group of cat writers. It took me another 5 years to start blogging, and even more time after that before I realized my true blogging passion was cats. What else could it possibly be?

Even after being honored with a membership, the idea of ever winning a coveted Muse Medallion was so far in the back of my mind it was practically non-existent. I still had much work to do on honing my craft. Still, you'll never know if you can achieve something unless you try, so with the knowledge that Truffles' tragic passing inspired some of the best writing I'd ever done, in 2016 I decided to dip my toe into the water and enter their annual writing competition. Entries in each category are reviewed and judged independently by three professional CWA members and their scores are averaged by the Contest Chair to determine the winner. Anyone earning an average of 90 or higher based on the scores submitted by the three judges receives a Certificate of Excellence, with the highest score winning the Muse Medallion. I entered the Blog/Any Other Topic category, and not only won a Certificate of Excellence, but also the Muse Medallion...on my very first try!!!

Eventually I decided to veer away from the blog category and instead selected individual articles to submit in a variety of categories, just to see if I could measure up to so many other amazing cat writers. Through this blog and my freelance writing for Canidae I won 9 more Certificates of Excellence in 2017 and 2018, and this year I 'm thrilled to say I added 4 more to my collection!

These are the articles I won them for...

Written Article: Health & General Care (medium length) The Heartbreak of a Saddle Thrombus Blood Clot

Written Article: Health & General Care (short) Dispelling Myths about a Cat’s Primordial Pouch

Written Article: Health & General Care (short) Does My Pet Need to See a Veterinary Cardiologist?

Written Article: Lifestyle (medium) First Felines: A History of Cats in the White House

Unfortunately I don't have links to the articles because the Canidae blog shut down in January and they inexplicably removed a majority of the content. I have all my articles saved as Word documents though so at least they're not lost.

Muse Medallions will be given out at the From Glammies to Jammies virtual awards ceremony in August. I'm certainly not planning to win any because the competition is stiff, but just being a contender is an incredible honor!