We’re so excited to be up for Best Lifestyle Blog in the UK Blog Awards 2016. And, in the wise words of Take That: “it only takes a minute (girl)” – to vote, so please do…

Firstly, apologies for the Take That reference – terrible. But now, swiftly moving on… we’ve been nominated for Best Lifestyle Blog 2016 and would absolutely love it if you would do us the great honour of voting for The Early Hour.

It’s easy peazy…. you simply go to our UK Blog Awards 2016 page, click where it says (you guessed it): ‘click here’, you’ll be asked for your name and email address – and that’s all. (We’ve also been nominated in the Green and Eco category, so you can vote for us there too, if you like, by clicking for both Lifestyle and Green/Eco when prompted).

If you’d like a little reminder of what The Early Hour is all about, here’s what we wrote for our entry:

The Early Hour is an online culture, lifestyle and parenting magazine, with articles published daily at 5am; giving parents something stimulating to read first thing. So if your baby wakes up for a feed then falls back into a deep sleep, it’s too early to get up and you’re twiddling your thumbs – you can visit theearlyhour.com and find an interesting article or interview to read.

Interviews so far have included Rudimental, Gorgon City (music), Benjamin Zephaniah, Hollie Poetry, Laura Dockrill (poetry), footballer Jack Collison, Joe Stretch and Anna Whitwham (authors), Raymond Blanc and Anna Jones (food), a Holloway beekeeper – and lots of other people who aren’t necessarily parents but have a good story to tell.

Articles have covered ethical Christmas presents for him, her and the kids, CMV during pregnancy (which can cause birth defects), whether porn has a place in modern relationships, miscarriage – and the fact that we should be more open about it, excerpts from a parenting book about fatherhood tales from around the world and a debate about vaccinations.

Our main aims are: to include dads, who are so often left out of the parenting conversation. To create a space where parents can come to read a bit about family issues but also about business, travel, food, culture, disability, the environment and other non-family topics. And to be inclusive – celebrating diversity in every sense (sex, gender, class, culture, religion, nationality, ability).

Summed up: a daily 5am read that will enlighten, stimulate, interest, shock or delight. Or maybe do all those things. Everyone’s welcome.

We were asked to include two of our favourite blog posts from The Early Hour, which is an impossible task because there have been so many amazing people we’ve met and interviewed so far… so instead, we chose two that YOU (the readers) have most liked –

Backing Singer, Band Member and Beyonce Fan: Jan-ai El-Goni

and…

Setting Up Shop: Tom Cohn, Founder of Kigu

So, if you now fancy voting, here’s that link to our UK Blog Awards 2016 page again. And thank you so much – for reading, for voting, for just being an all-round superstar.

Love,

The Early Hour