PMA Nominations & Holiday Sweeps: Final Week!

With 2009 drawing to a close, there are only a few days remaining to log your nominations for the 4th Annual People's Media Awards. Be sure to take the time to give a shout out to AC's most talented Contributors, and the best pieces of content you read, watched, listened to or created in 2009!

Any piece of content published in 2009 can be nominated for a Content of the Year PMA, and five winning pieces will each receive a $500 prize. Help us find the most most insightful, inspiring, unique, useful, powerful and/or poignant pieces in the AC library!

Contributors can win one of the following awards: Contributor of the Year ($1500), The Community Spirit Award ($1500), News Contributor of the Year ($500), A/V Contributor of the Year ($500) or Rookie of the Year ($500). Click here to read descriptions of each of these award categories, and here to read the official rules.

To log a nomination, simply click the PMA graphic on the top-left corner of any Contributor profile or content page. You can also email your picks directly to community@associatedcontent.com. Nominations officially close at 11:59PM Eastern on New Year's Eve, so be sure to get yours in before 2010 is upon us!

Don't forget! You also have 4 more days to enter to win a $100 Amazon.com giftcard in AC's Oral-B Triumph Holiday Sweepstakes! Click here for more information.

Good luck, happy nominating and all the best in these final days of 2009!

Christmas Tunes from the AC Library

Looking for new tunes to add to your Christmas playlist this year? Don't miss the latest hip-hop hits from AC superstar Greg Reese from Cincinatti:

> Christmas Rap

"Give me the mic and I'm giving you rhymes, my mind is feelin' this flow, it's Christmas time!"

> The Christmas Shake
"Tis the Season for big fun, I wish I had a gift to give everyone, but here's a song to keep it hot, you know I let the jingle bells Rock, Rock, Rock!"

And don't forget about these other Christmas classics from the AC archive:

Barth Wooster takes us on a "warm and nostalgiac trip through the paths of our Christmas past," in his beatiful acoustic tune, A Christmas Sort of Dream.

Trent Sandusky spreads holiday cheer Who's the Boss? style in A Very Tony Danza Christmas.

D-Town Records put an R&B spin on a Christmas classic in Deck the Hallz.

SongLadyBlue pays tribute to his mother in heart-wrenching country tune, Merry Christmas Mama.

Juan Loren Zerimar calls out to a far away loved on in Wish You Were Here for the Holidays.

And Lynn Casper gives us space to reflect in his quiet holiday melody, Seasons Greetings.

What's on your holiday playlist? Tell us in the comments, and post a link to your own holiday music roundup if you published one.

Safe, peaceful and happy holidays from Associated Content!

Holiday Guide & Sweepstakes

Need some last minute Christmas gift ideas or inspiration for your upcoming holiday party? Tap into the collective wisdom of the AC community with the 2009 Holiday Guide!

Dive even deeper with this year's other holiday features: The Holiday Gift Guide (presented by Oral-B) and Home for the Holidays (presented by Folgers).

We also invite you to take part our Oral-B Triumph Holiday Sweepstakes, and enter to win a $100 Amazon gift card you can use to clean up on the post-holiday sales!

To enter, all you have to do is read and comment on one of the first-hand reviews of the Oral-B Professional Care SmartSeries 5000 Power Toothbrush, published by the doctors, moms, dads and other oral health experts of Associated Content.

Click here to read some of the buzz on this new product, and leave your comment by December 31st to enter the sweeps!

Note: Each of the participating Contributors received a free Oral-B Power toothbrush before submitting their review. Sweepstakes winners will be chosen in early January 2010. Click here for full sweepstakes rules.

Good luck, and happy holidays!

November Best of AC Awards

We're excited to announce the winners of the November 2009 Best of AC Awards for Fiction, Shopping Guides and Winter Holidays!

Best of AC: Fiction – Khara House
Khara House has tackled many topics in her 3+ years as an AC Contributor, but it's clear that her passion lies in creative writing. She has published close to 150 stories and poems on AC, including November's excellent "California British Tea" and her Chirstmas story for children, "The Star of Creation."

Best of AC: Shopping Guides – Missy Jess
Missy Jess joined AC in June 2009. In the 6 months since, she has won a Rising Star Award, published 150 pieces of content and climbed to Clout 9. Her top notch, writing, researching and formatting skills come to the fore in all 20 Shopping Guides she published in November. Check out her comprehensive guide to finding the perfect eco-friendly water bottle.

Best of AC: Winter Holidays – Anne Wright
Anne Wright also joined AC in June 2009 and won a Rising Star Award soon thereafter. She has already published more than 100 pieces of holiday content (and 350 overall), including a slew of Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year's and Winter Solstice pieces published in November. Check out her guide to making an personalized Christmas ornament on any budget.

Be sure to stop by each of these talented Contributors' profiles to congratulation them!

Looking ahead...

There won't be any Best of AC Awards for the month of December, but be sure to take the time to nominate your favorite Contributors and pieces of content for this year's People's Media Awards!