I am so proud of the Cat Writers Association success for Dash Kitten. The blog has been awarded one of the much sought after Certificates of Excellence for our post reporting on Feline DNA.

We have realised, late in the day, that we can actually use our post to help celebrate Thankful Thursday with Brian and his family! So don’t forget to drop by Brian’s lovely blog and you will love the cat tree report!

Why should this matter to the Crew and to myself as a blog? Because cat authors and journalists value the Cat Writers Association awards very highly. Success is never guaranteed but always welcomed and celebrated.

What Does CWA Success Mean?

Certificate success means a great deal for a writer. For Dash Kitten, it reflects my successful focus on helping spotlight science in a helpful and understandable way.

Sometimes, when researching a topic for the blog’s readers, I encounter challenging terminology or a concept that needs explanation. Ensuring it is readable by a cat parent is important, and takes time.

A tough subject needs to be tackled head-on, and the blog does its best on behalf of those readers who need our help. This may mean contacting a specialist or referring to a reputable website. A helping post needs quotable references, and these need to be listed to help readers do their own further reading.

A fellow cat blogger admitted that not everyone wants to read the huge ideas behind ‘big science’ and things like DNA, but everyone does want to help cats. So, a clearly written post can help every cat lover understand a challenging topic.

Is Cat Writers Association Success Just for Science Posts?

No. There are a host of different awards covering publishing, writing and the visual arts such as photography, illustration and painting.

Authors may be writing about everything from cat health and rescue to novels and the famous Hemingway cats. Every member of the CWA can submit work for judgement to the CWA’s professional judges in the categories listed each year. The highest scoring post in each Category is awarded the coveted Muse Medallion and these are awarded at the annual CWA conference.

The Cat Writers Association Conference 2018 takes place at the Hyatt Regency, in Houston, TX. Conference details can be found here, and you can check out the requirements of membership here. I wish I could go but after a busy BlogPaws and workload, but I can cheer my friends and colleagues from New Zealand.

Learn More About the CWA

The goals of the Cat Writers Association:

• Offer members networking opportunities with their peers
• Be a major influence for the good of cats by providing news, information, and education on all aspects of cats
• Improve the quality of writing about cats
• Encourage cat writing in general newspapers and magazines
• Recognize outstanding communication about cats
• Encourage professionalism among cat writers, bloggers, photographers, artists, and broadcasters
• Provide education on being published
• Develop a mentoring program

Well done to everyone who has won certificates. I know that I am thrilled and proud to have achieved a Certificate from the CWA. Not every cat blogger is part of the CWA but I encourage you to join because there we all need that extra nudge to do our best work.

Marjorie from the
Dash Kitten Crew