Book Expo America 2009

Mom's Choice Awards' recipients and alumni make sure to book your arrangements for BEA as soon as possible! Accommodations are filling up and it's an event you won't want to miss.

After much demand, we are offering two days of interviews to our recipients this year. If you haven't scheduled your interview to be filmed live at our booth, contact the Mom's Choice team to reserve your slot. Space is limited and filling up fast.

We have a special guest joining us on Friday May 29th from 10am- noon. More information will be available next week.

We look forward to seeing you there!

~Tara Paterson

Mom's Choice Awards 2009 Updates

The Mom's Choice Awards^® is currently accepting submissions for 2010. Enter your product, book, service or company and distinguish yourself from all of the others on the market. Entries will be accepted now through October 1st, 2009.

Join us in our booth at Book Expo America May 29^th-31^st. Book Expo America is the largest publishing event in the United States and hosts several industry leaders. We will also have a special guest with us Friday May 29th from 10- noon, so don't miss your opportunity to be a part of the excitement.

There is still time to book your interview spot with me at Book Expo. All interviews will be taped and available for upload on the internet. Currently, we are filming on Friday May 29^th and Saturday May 30^th so reserve your spot now; space is limited!

We would like to thank the sponsors who have graciously offered us their support.

• Smithfield


• Wachovia Securities


• Webiob


• JetBlue Airlines

And a special thanks to our partner in advocating family- friendly entertainment, the Dove Foundation.

Make sure to pick up your copy of the Mom's Choice magazine Entro at Book Expo or reserve a copy through MomsChoiceAwards.com.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

~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 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