Moms, why should you look for the Mom's Choice seal on books or products?

We take the guess work out of deciding what media, books, products or services are appropriate for your family. Mom's are the largest consumer group in the country, but with the millions of products on the market, it can be overwhelming trying to decide what's right for your family. That's where our organization can assist.

Our award winning selections go through several expert assessments before it can be selected to receive this prestigious honor. Our panel of judges are among the most credible and knowledgeable in their industry which ensures that each honoree meets our standard for excellence in family-friendly content. Among our experts are:

• Dr. Twila Liggett, creator of the award winning PBS' Reading Rainbow and professor for early childhood education. Each year Dr. Liggett selects the most outstanding children's book which must meet her stringent guidelines in order to be considered.


• Julie Aigner- Clark, creator of Baby Einstein and the Safe Side. Julie's expertise crosses many bridges; her background is as an elementary school teacher. Julie is also affiliated with the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which makes her an expert with regard to our youth of today.


• Terry Doherty, founder of the non- profit, the Reading Tub (http://www.readingtub.com/). Terry spends her days evaluating children's books ensuring that the books we select to receive our award are diverse and meet a high quality standard you can feel comfortable with.

We are an organization who believes strongly that parents need to feel confident with the materials they introduce to their children. We are not a program who selects products based on marketing or high profile PR, but rather we base our selections on the core values they were created from. The MCA is not about "whose who."

Each year, many of our awards will be presented to first time or self- published authors, mom entrepreneurs, philanthropic products, family- friendly web sites, magazines or services, innovative, exceptional educational products, and the list goes on. To look at the latest Mom's Choice products, visit our store- http://astore.amazon.com/wwwmomschoice-20.

I am a mom of three children and it was important for me to create a program that would reach out to the heart of a mom and support her in the nurturing of both herself and her child. It was also important for me to acknowledge the many creative geniuses out there by giving them a place they could be recognized for their contribution to society and the world at large.

We are all a part of this together and the MCA is positioned to lead the industry in the direction of recognizing the unique quality and heart so many people bring to their products or services.

Mom's if a product you love doesn't display a Mom's Choice "stamp of approval," we need to find out why and ensure that it does. It is the only way you will be assured it meets the quality standard you want for your family!

~Tara Paterson

Take Our Poll

In an effort to continue to provide you with the highest quality and standard you've come to expect from an award's program, we have created a poll to the side of this post. Please select the item you feel sets us apart from other awards' programs and if you have a suggestion you feel we missed, please respond to this post and I will gladly add the item to our poll.

~Tara Paterson

Letting Go In Order To Grow

It was 2004 when I was approached by a colleague and friend of mine, with the idea for creating an awards program approved by moms. He was familiar with the various businesses I had established in the mom niche, so it just made sense- why not a program to honor the things mom's feel are important? We collaborated on a name and the Mom's Choice Awards was born.

I spent the first couple of years marketing heavily to the book market and attended several Book Expo conferences, encouraging authors and publishers to submit their products. It was exciting and exhausting at the same time, but the rewards were great. Our recipients began to share the impact receiving our award had on their product and one even received interest in the form of a T.V. show. How amazing it was to know we were truly having an impact on people's lives and their creations, all at once.

2007 proved to be more challenging than past years, because we were truly growing beyond my personal capability. We contracted with a remarkable company who brought the image of the Mom's Choice to new heights and the realization began to set in- I was not capable of taking this much further on my own. In the fall of last year, I was faced with a decision that proved to be a difficult one. I had a choice to make- continue to develop the MCA within the box of my limitations or let it go so it could grow. It wasn't an easy decision to make as I had formed an emotional attachment to my creation and the feeling it evoked, but in the end, it was the only choice that made sense.

I made the decision to allow the Mom's Choice to take on wings of her own and released the attachment I had to solely operating the program. Today, the awards is climbing to new heights as we form partnerships with company's like the Dove Foundation and Wachovia Securities and I am happy to say I have more pride and ownership in this company than I ever expected.

I want to honor and thank the Mom's Choice team for all of their hard work in making my dream a greater reality than I ever could have imagined.

Stay tuned, because the momentum we are building this year far exceeds my expectations and I am proud to be a part of such a great organization!

~Tara Paterson

Why Should You Enter The Mom's Choice Awards?

There are many awards' programs out there and we understand it can be challenging to decide which one's to enter. We offer a variety of unique opportunities for our entrants in an effort to make the decision making process a bit easier.

Upon receiving a Mom's Choice Award, you can expect to receive:

• An award certificate and a supply of the beautiful MCA embossed seals
• A product review in Entro® – The Mom’s Choice Awards® Magazine
• National press release listing your book/product (we also offer a model for creating your own press release)
• Product reviews posted on Amazon.com and BN.com
• Product promotion via the Mom’s Choice Awards® website with links to your website and Amazon.com
• List your product in the Mom’s Choice Awards® webstore
• Your testimonial included in the Mom’s Choice Awards® interactive testimonial gallery
• Lifetime membership in the prestigious Mom’s Choice Awards® Alumni Honor Roll
• Cooperative advertising opportunities
• Product promotion opportunities at BookExpo America and the ABC Kids Expo
• Honorees interviewed and filmed for media distribution at BookExpo America and the ABC Kids Expo
• An interview which will appear on the Mom's Choice Founder's blog
• Product promotion to retailers and other strategic partners
  15% off Webiob services (interactive online books, product trailers, and other services)
• 50% off the review fee for the Dove Foundation’s Family Approved Seal
• For a small licensing fee – the MCA Image Pack – everything you need to promote your status as an MCA honoree on your book cover, product packaging, website and promotional/marketing collateral
  And more!

To find all of the services included here, visit- www.MomsChoiceAwards.com for more information. Plus, you always have access to me, the founder of the Awards! I will be at BEA, interviewing all of our fine alumni and recipients and I look forward to meeting you.

-Tara Paterson

What Does An Award Bring Your Product?

When you win an award for your book, product or service, it is an exciting experience full of potential to increase sales and acknowledgement within your industry.

Here are some benefits of winning an award courtesy of the Jenkins Group:

• Increases credibility
• Increases visibility
• Gives you new material for press releases, brochures and other marketing collateral
• Renews enthusiasm of sales and marketing team
• Use of logo and stickers on books and promotional material

So how can you use this honor to your advantage and how can you put your new stickers and logo to use? Use your award honor on:

• Press releases
• Book covers
• Press kit covers
• Catalogs, brochures, post cards, flyers, book marks, other materials

And don't forget to place the logo on your:

• Web site
• in your signature line
• on your business card

If you are scheduled to do an interview mention you have been selected as a recipient of a special award and make sure when your team makes a sales call, he/she refers to your award winning honor.

Who knows, you may be the next recipient or alumni with a show on PBS. Dewey Doo-It did it, you can too!

Regards,

Tara Paterson

Happy Easter to the Mom's Choice Recipients, Alumni and Team

I would like to wish all of the Mom's Choice 2008 recipients, MCA Alumni, staff and team a very Happy Easter. May this year bless you all!

With fondest regards,
Tara Paterson

Congratulations to the 2008 Mom's Choice Awards' Recipients

I would like to personally congratulate all of the 2008 MCA recipients! Welcome to our community of award winning creators and we look forward to seeing you all at Book Expo where I will be personally interviewing past and present recipients. It is always our pleasure to recognize outstanding products, and this year was no exception.

Among the most outstanding children's books were-

• Dance In A Buffalo Skull by the South Dakota State Historical Society Press
• R Is For Rhyme by Judy Young, Sleeping Bear Press
• Priscilla McDoodleNutDoodleMcMae Asks "Why?" by Janet Mary Sinke, My Grandma and Me Publishers.

Congratulations to this year's top honors in children's literature and to all of our other honorees!

Founder,

Tara Paterson

2008 Mom's Choice Announcement

Be the first to learn about the 2008 Mom's Choice recipients at our sneak peek preview tonight! Announcements will officially be made Friday March 21st.

Why I Created The Mom's Choice Awards

My name is Tara Paterson, the founder of the Mom's Choice Awards and it gives me great pleasure to share with you the reasons I created this prestigious awards program. It has always been a vision of mine to empower mom's to create from their inner passion; to nurture the special gifts that are contained within each of us; and to recognize those gifts in a light worthy of being a celebrity. The creation of my first business, the web site- JustForMom.com is a prime example of the heart I bring to acknowledging the role of a mother and how important she is to the world at large. I also believe strongly that a mother must first nurture herself so she can nurture the people in her life.

My goal with the Mom's Choice Awards was to recognize the effort a mom puts into her family and the consideration she gives to the books, products, businesses, or services she wants her family to have. The book market certainly seemed like the ideal place to begin this journey having previously come from the publishing industry with a company I began- Moms In Print. Books are such an integral part of a family's life and an important part of their educational future. I could envision people who put their heart and soul into their work, passionate about impacting the world, standing on stage receiving an award of excellence for the work they produced and it would send chills down my spine.

Although not all of the products that display a Mom's Choice seal of excellence are created exclusively by mothers, the products that display such an honor signify the recognition of a "mom's stamp of approval" which is important to the consumer market and most of all to families. It is also my vision to one day see our awards on television alongside programs like the Kid's Choice or the People's Choice awards, so that people at home can see something of themselves in any one of the recipients. How beautiful to know that anyone can create from their place of passion and be honored on the red carpet like a celebrity who partakes in a movie.

I hold the belief that each one of us has an inner genius and if we can see someone just like ourselves standing in a place of honor, it would empower anyone to reach for and achieve their dreams regardless of their circumstances. I am here today to say- the ride hasn't been easy; I have had to overcome tremendous obstacles; but what has kept me going is the knowing that someday my efforts would be recognized and the support we would receive for this program would enable our team to reach more people like you, ultimately changing your life and ours.

It gives me great pleasure to say thank you for your support; thank you for believing in our program; thank you for spreading the word; and thank you for the book, product, business or service you believed in yourself enough to share with the rest of us.

Many blessings and success to all,

Tara Paterson
Founder
Mom's Choice Awards

Welcome!

Welcome to the Mom's Choice founder's blog. It is my intent to create an interactive environment with our MCA alumni, recipients and entrants, as well as with our judge's, sponsors and team. In the next few months, we will introduce our new 2008 MCA recipients as well as conduct interviews with many of our supporters.

Please join us in building a community where you can speak directly with me as well as learn about all of the amazing books, products, and services we are proud to recognize as worthy of the esteemed Mom's Choice seal.

Join us in May at Book Expo America in Los Angeles where I will be conducting live, filmed interviews at our booth. For more information, stay tuned or visit the Mom's Choice official web site. You can also sign up for email alerts with all of our upcoming events and offers.

I look forward to meeting you!

Welcome To The Founder's blog

My name is Tara Paterson, the founder of the prestigious Mom's Choice Awards. I have created this blog to enable recipients, entrants, authors, sponsors, businesses, and the general public, to have access to information as it is announced as well as direct contact with me.


Over the next few months, I will be interviewing the 2008 Mom's Choice recipients and answering your questions. Please take our blog poll and share your insightful experiences as a creator of your business, product or idea.