The winner of the first annual iPura Tweet & Blogfest at last week’s International Boston Seafood Show was Richard Auffrey, who blogs as The Passionate Foodie at passionatefoodie.blogspot.com.
The contest was open to writers who agreed to blog and Tweet about the three-day show. Auffrey, who lives in Stoneham, Mass., won the USD 1,000 prize for his extensive coverage of the show. "I am very pleased and honored to have won," said Auffrey. "Thanks to iPura for holding this contest, I must also thank the other local bloggers who competed, whose keen writing skills made this a very competitive contest. The show was a very compelling event, and something I would strongly recommend to all seafood lovers. I look forward to next year's contest, to defend my title against hopefully an even greater number of participating bloggers."
“Richard Auffrey was in it to win it. He arrived at the show with his game face on and proceeded to do what he does best: Blog until it hurts,” said Jason Simas, director of communications at competition sponsor iPura Food Distribution Co. in Hanford, Calif. “He’s a sponge, soaking in critical information and squeezing every drop into blog posts that burst to life. Even if you hadn’t attended the show, after reading The Passionate Foodie, yo’'ll feel as if you had.”
iPura introduced the competition this year to extend the social-media conversation to the show floor in a fun, interactive and rewarding way. “Bloggers represent an important voice, reaching niche audiences that tend to be highly engaged and educated about their subjects of interest. We felt that the issues and people in the seafood industry would pique a blogger’s storytelling instincts, as well as be relevant, and sometimes fascinating, to their readers,” said Simas.
Simas is already planning next year’s competition. “Having all the bloggers there gave us the sense that the dialogue was expanding beyond the show’s cavernous exhibition center, stretching the real-time boundaries to include a broader audience while cultivating an archive of voices, of insights that can contribute to our industry,” he said. “We expect the turnout next year to be even greater as word gets out about the bloggers’ experience.”
The contest was judged by Fiona Robinson, associate publisher and editor of SeaFood Business, which is published by SeafoodSource parent company Diversified Business Communications of Portland, Maine.
