Getting to Know The Cribsie Awards

It's a great time to be a parent. The rise of mommy bloggers and the increasing role of social media has lead to a more informed, opinionated generation of new parents. But sifting through all of the information on the web can get a bit tedious, so Elina Furman and Tara Mandy decided to help out. The two partnered to create The Cribsie Awards, which rewards the most popular juvenile products on the market for discerning moms and dads. Baby & Kids chatted with Elina Furman and got the inside scoop on the Cribsie Awards.

Baby & Kids: Tell us about the Cribsie Awards. How did they get started?
Elina Furman: The Cribsie Awards started as a partnership between Strollertraffic.com and Alistmom.com. Tara Mandy and I are founders of the two sites, which cater to an urban mom audience and deliver timely news about products, services and information in a concise e-mail format. Having gained traction as two of the leading media properties for moms, we noticed a gap in the market for a definitive and editorial awards program for the baby industry.

In our work, we frequently create "best of" products and website lists. With so many baby products, moms need accurate and timely information to decide which ones are the best investment. Due to their popularity of these lists, we decided to continue this work with a formal awards program. The first annual Cribsie Awards were sponsored by Diapers.com.

The mission of the Cribsie Awards is to create a secure forum for opinionated moms to elect their favorite brands and services from a curated list of best-of-the-best finalists across six categories (toys, mealtime, nursery, fashion, web, gear).

B&K: How does the voting process work?

EF: The Cribsie Awards were launched with a nominations period, wherein the public was asked to nominate their top brands for babies and tots. After an overwhelmingly successful nomination period with more than 4,000 brands in the
baby industry nominated by their fans, the editors of A-List Mom and StrollerTraffic along with industry experts hand-
selected the 344 best products, brands, services, and websites for babies and tots. The final voting period opened to the public and was limited to one vote per user, per award. The voting lasted four-weeks and garnered more than 135,000 votes. Sixty winners were selected based on the total number of votes per award.

B&K: What part does social media and the rise of mommy bloggers play in the Cribsie Awards?

EF: Social media played a big part in the immense success of the first annual Cribsie Awards. There were thousands of Facebook posts and Tweets from brands and their fans resulting in more than 134,000 votes. We also made sure to honor the public's favorite blogs and sites with the web category. Many leading blogs and websites were nominated and honored in the awards.

B&K: In what direction are the Cribsies headed?

EF: We have big plans for the 2012 Cribsie Awards. By creating the "best of" list and displaying the winners on the Cribsie Awards site, we have received amazing feedback from voters who are using the site to create their own registries and shop for products. Having been compiled by editors and the public, the site has quickly become the definitive go-to guide for moms making purchasing decisions.

Click here to visit the 2011 Cribsie Award winners.

Image courtesy The Cribsie Awards.