Fuse blog wins national award

The Fuse Open Science Blog beat tough national competition to win the award for best blog in the education category at this year's UK Blog Awards.

The blog, which invites contributions from academics and others involved in using public health research across North East England, picked up the honour at an award evening in London Westminster on Friday 29 April.  Mark Welford and Emma Dorée from the Fuse communications team, based at Teesside University, were on hand to pick up the trophy.

Two thousand blogs were entered into the competition and more than 78,000 votes were cast, with the Fuse blog nominated for the first time and shortlisted for the final in two categories: health and social care, and education.

Blogs were judged against the following set criteria which considers: design, style, content, marketing, and usability.  The two judges in the education category were Nicky Cox MBE, editor-in-chief of First News, the national newspaper for young people with more than two million readers a week and Jay Ashcroft, the founder of learnmaker.co.uk, supporting schools to improving learning with ICT.

Mark Welford, blog editor and Fuse Communications Officer, said: “We were thrilled to have been shortlisted in two categories but the award itself came as a complete shock.

“It is fantastic for everyone involved to have their efforts rewarded and recognised nationally.  The hard work and commitment of Emma and the blog team mean that we are able to post consistently high quality content.

“A big thank you to Jean Adams who founded the blog in 2011 and to everyone who has contributed over the years.  The posts have sparked great discussion and helped our readers learn what it is really like to work in public health.  Our many writers make the Fuse blog what it is.”

The UK Blog Awards are the only awards of their kind recognising a multitude of industry professional talent across the UK.  The awards provide a unique opportunity for individual professionals from their sector and organisations to be recognised for their social media achievements through blogging.

Since its creation in December 2011, the Fuse blog has published more than 350 posts and been viewed by 180,000.

Visit the Fuse Blog to read all about Mark and Emma's experience at the the UK Blog Awards

If you would like to write a post contact Emma Dorée, Fuse Communications Assistant, for more details email: E.Doree@tees.ac.uk or tel: 01642 342757.

Last modified: Tue, 31 Jul 2018 09:13:30 BST