Saturday Spotlight: Congrats to Our Christmas Countdown Week 1 Finalists

As Texan's say . . . . Yeeeee! Haaaaa! Thank you everyone for liking my cookies! I am thrilled !!! ~ Jinnee Parr ~

Thanks for the votes ladies...I'm in shock!!!!

Thank you all for voting by liking and commenting on my cookies! I'm so very thrilled and thank you Julia for putting this challenge together! You bring out the best in all of us Oh, and congrats to all the other week one finalists

Congrats again, ladies. I can almost hear the enthusiasm reverberating through my computer!  

Good Morning,

Julia. I had a blast and I am elated. I slept well and now that I'm up.... my mind is racing. I'm not sure I can sit still and listen to what our pastor says.

I forgot to congratulate everyone. So CONGRATULATIONS EVERYONE !

Hi, all. There have been 1 or 2 questions about how finalist rankings were determined, so I thought I would try to clarify so that there is no confusion as we enter the next few weeks of the contest:

As noted in the contest guidelines, the ranking is a TRENDING ranking, calculated by the site (not me), that looks at which cookies have accumulated the most likes, comments, and views the fastest over THE PAST WEEK. It is the same trending algorithm that has always been used to determine Saturday Spotlights. The trending rank order of the cookies at any one point in time can be viewed on our Hot Spot page (https://cookieconnection.juliausher.com/pages/hotspot), but note that it is constantly updating as activity changes on each clip each time a member views, comments, or likes it.

Because it is a trending ranking (and not one based on absolute or total number of likes/comments/etc.), it very well could be that an entry with fewer likes, etc. was trending faster than another with more likes, etc. over the course of the past week (i.e., it accumulated more collective interest over that period of time). In fact, that was the case with a couple of entries this week.

One reason for using this ranking (rather than absolute number of likes, views, etc.) is to level the playing field for entrants that come in a bit later, as total time on site (which correlates highly with number of likes no matter the cookie) isn't necessarily the best indicator of cookie popularity. If a cookie enters later and rapidly accumulates attention, or has a surge in interest after a long time on site, that is usually a better indicator of relative interest in that cookie/image. There are also plenty of examples of cookies/clips on this site that have remained at the top of hot lists for many weeks, because those clips have generated interest week after week. So entering later in the contest is not a guarantee that you're more likely to rank higher, just as entering earlier is not a guarantee that you're more likely to rank lower.

By relying on an objective measure (vs. subjective judging), I have attempted to make this contest as fair as possible - one measured by YOUR collective and expressed interest in the quality of cookies posted, not a measure that can be easily gamed or influenced by online popularity contests.

Week 2 to 4 finalists will be determined the same way - by looking at activity in the week preceding the selection. However, the final three winners will be determined by a straight tally of popular votes.