Join the Plutus Awards Blogger Panel

Every year, a panel of Plutus Awards peers reviews the nominations and selects the finalists. This Blogger Panel is essential in the success of the Plutus Awards every year.

J.D. Roth, Jim Wang, Luke Landes [via Philip Taylor / Flickr]

J.D. Roth, Jim Wang, Luke Landes [via Philip Taylor / Flickr]

Serving on the Plutus Awards Blogger Panel is a great way to connect with others in personal finance media, and to offer your two cents and participate in celebrating the best in personal finance.

The Plutus Awards Planning Committee will begin accepting applications for the Blogger Panel within the coming months.

The 5th Annual Plutus Awards Blogger Panel.

Thank you to everyone who served on the 5th Annual Plutus Awards Blogger Panel in 2014.

Michelle Schroeder, Making Sense of Cents Mark and Lauren Greutman
Joshua Sheats, Radical Personal Finance Maria Nedeva, The Money Principle
Glen Craig, Free From Broke Shannyn, Frugal Beautiful
Valerie Rind, Gold Diggers & Deadbeat Dads Eva Baker, Teens Got Cents
Crystal Stemberger, Budgeting in the Fun Stuff Bryan, Simple Financial Lifestyle
Gary Foreman, The Dollar Stretcher Jeff Rose, Good Financial Cents
Kyle Prevost, Young and Thrifty Peter, Bible Money Matters
Matt Giovanisci and Andrew Fiebert, Listen Money Matters Broke Millennial
Elle, Couple Money John Schmoll, Frugal Rules
Kay Bell, Don’t Mess With Taxes Jacob Wade, iHeartBudgets
Addison Cash, Cashville Skyline Sandy Smith, Yes I Am Cheap
Lance Cothern, Money Manifesto Kraig Mathias, Create My Independence
Robert Farrington, The College Investor Justin Bouchard, My University Money
Paula Pant, Afford Anything Julie Rains, Working to Live
Joe Saul-Sehy, Stacking Benjamins Andrea Amir, Smart Money Chicks
Sofia, Caviar and Quarters Michelle Jackson, Shop My Closet Project
Anne, Money Propeller Mel, Broke Rich Girl
Janine, My Pennies My Thoughts Travis Pizel, Enemy of Debt
Tahnya Kristina, DINKS Finance Rebecca Stapler, Stapler Confessions

Behind the Scenes at the Plutus Awards: Meet the Team

Every year at FinCon, we present the Plutus Awards to recognize the best of the personal finance blogosphere. Personal finance bloggers recognize their peers for their accomplishments. However, this sort of event doesn’t put itself on. We have a team working behind the scenes to make it happen.

Plutus Awards Executive Committee

The Executive Committee is made up of Luke Landes, Tom Drake, and Miranda Marquit. Together, the members of the Plutus Awards Executive Committee plan the awards, oversee the voting, and manage sponsors and volunteers.

Luke Landes is the founder of Consumerism Commentary, and the creator of the Plutus Awards. Five years ago, Luke asked fellow bloggers to vote on their favorite blogs, as well as on their favorite financial products and services. The Plutus Awards have grown each year, and this promises to be the biggest year yet.

Luke is the director of the Plutus Awards. He coordinates the Awards, and keeps everything on track.

Tom Drake is the founder of Canadian Finance Blog, and is the owner or partner of several other blogging properties. He handles most of the backend portions of the Plutus Awards, working on the code of the web site, and developing voting forms and other forms. Tom also has a program that tabulates votes to help us understand how many nominations each blog has received to help determine finalists (actual winners are determined by the Blogger Panel) and tabulate votes for the People’s Choice Award (which is determined by popular vote).

Tom was also instrumental in hiring Forest Parks for the Plutus Awards web site redesign.

Miranda Marquit is the writer behind Planting Money Seeds. She writes for several financial web sites and blogs. Miranda is the point of contact for Plutus Awards sponsorships, from coordinating who sponsors the Happy Hour to the companies providing swag for the Plutus Awards Winner Gift Bags. (There are still opportunities to sponsor; email [email protected] for more information.)

Plutus Awards Planning Committee Members

There are also great volunteers helping to plan the events surrounding the Plutus Awards. Here are the rest of the people that make the Plutus Awards possible:

Athena Lent is the founder of According to Athena, a blog about living fabulously on less. Athena is a great events organizer, and is planning the Happy Hour, which will take place following the Plutus Awards ceremony on Saturday, August 20, 2014. In addition to the work required to arrange all aspects of the Happy Hour, Athena is also managing the Plutus Awards Twitter account andFacebook page, handling all social media for the event.

Ashley Jacobs is part of the team at Wise Bread. She is in charge of the ceremony itself. After witnessing her rap skillz at last year’s Plutus Awards ceremony, we asked her to emcee. She’s putting together a fantastic show.

Matt Giovanisci is one of the founders of the Listen, Money Matters podcast. He is known for his humor and quick wit — and his ability with technology. He’s created a great parody song for this year’s Award’s ceremony, and is in charge of audio/visual for the awards.

In addition to those listed above, the Plutus Awards ceremony and everything surrounding the entire season wouldn’t be possible without the help of volunteers throughout the community. At the awards ceremony, a corps of volunteers helps as awards presenters, ushers, stage hands, property managers, stage managers, audio/video technicians, and social media associates, and we all work together to produce a fantastic show that exceeds everyone’s expectations every year.

We’re grateful to all of those who help out with the Plutus Awards, since our team is what makes this production possible.

The Plutus Awards Ceremony

To start off the Financial Blogger Conference weekend, the Plutus Awards ceremony in St. Louis put all conference attendees in the mood for an exciting weekend. Kevin McKee, from Reward Boost andThousandaire created two musical numbers for the event, and for the opening number, he was joined on stage by Ashley Jacobs of WiseBread.

After the opening numbers, Plutus Awards panelists and other volunteers took the stage to present awards to the winners of the blog categories. Thank you again to all the volunteers who helped make this year’s awards ceremony one of the highlights of the FinCon. Thanks also to the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch for providing the great space for the ceremony, and to Philip Taylor (PT Money) and his team for putting on a great conference and inviting the Plutus Awards back this year.

Thanks also to our main sponsors for the night: Scottrade, who sponsored the after-party; Fidelity Investments, who sponsored the entertainment; and State Farm, who sponsored the gift bags.

For my summary of the conference, which includes my thoughts on the Plutus Awards, the awards ceremony, and after-party, head over to LukeLandes.com.

Do you want to experience the ceremony again? Or, if you weren’t at the awards ceremony, this is your chance to see the performance. Here is the official recording of the Fourth Annual Plutus Awards ceremony. It’s worth watching for the performance at the beginning (after I leave the stage).

Preparing for the Fourth Annual Plutus Awards

Plans are under way for the Fourth Annual Plutus Awards. Over the course of the next few months, the Planning Committee and I will provide more information about this year’s awards and the ceremony. We do have some exciting news to share at this early stage:

The Fourth Annual Plutus Awards Ceremony will be held at the Financial Blogger Conference, as last year. On Thursday, October 17, following the welcome reception that begins at 7:00 pm, gather at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at The Arch to enjoy the show.

In the several months leading up to the awards ceremony, personal finance bloggers and their audiences will have the chance to select the best blogs and financial products across a wide variety of categories. The planning for the ceremony begins as early as this week. The planning committee will determine which categories of awards are returning, which are being retired, and whether there are any new categories this year. We’ll also be determining the host and emcee of the event, developing the entertainment, producing multimedia, and planning an after-party at a location near the hotel.

I’m excited about this year’s event, scheduled to be the opening piece of the Financial Blogger Conference. If you are attending the conference, make sure you arrive by Thursday evening to enjoy the festivities.

Relive the last year’s Third Annual Plutus Awards Ceremony by watching this video.