Hello! Thanks for waiting patiently for the Week 3 finalist reveal. I was tied up with other work (not a good thing) and house guests (a very good thing) this weekend, so couldn't steal away to write this blog post 'til now. But I think you'll find it well worth waiting for! (FYI: Finalists were selected at 5 pm central on Saturday, as stated in the contest guidelines. So don't be surprised if site rankings have changed since the time of finalist determination.)
Also, lest you forget: This contest is a BIG deal - $700 in prizes are at stake! Thank you again to our sponsors Designer Stencils, Fancy Flours, and Karen's Cookies for making this contest possible. If you haven't yet entered (or earned a finalist spot), there's still time to do so for Week 4 of this contest; entries are being accepted in that clip set until 5 pm central on December 25. For the contest guidelines and submission deadlines, click here.
Also, important to know: finalists are determined by the trending calculator on the site, which factors in the recent rate of accumulation of likes, comments, and views. In short, the finalists are those cookies that members, by virtue of their actions, deemed hottest* in the week prior to this announcement. It is not total number of likes that determines these spots. For more information about this selection process, click here. While people can continue to like and comment on Week 3 cookies after this finalist announcement - and rankings may change - the finalists indicated in this Saturday Spotlight will remain the finalists going into the final voting round starting on December 28. Once finalists are named, they are the finalists throughout the duration of the contest.
And now . . . what you've all been waiting for - the finalists for this week!
And in bigger format in all their beauty:
Day 15: Folk Art Christmas by Love at First Bite
Day 16: Woodland Christmas by Sweet Smiles
Day 17: Stacked Snowman by Kimberlie
Day 18: Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! by Classic Cookies by Parr [EDITOR'S NOTE: Congrats to CCP for earning her fourth finalist spot!]
Day 19: A Wintry Snowman by Kimberlie [EDITOR'S NOTE: And congrats to Kimberlie for earning her third finalist spot!]
Day 20: Upside Down Turkey Santa and Lollipop by Tina at Sugar Wishes
Day 21: Kissing Elves by Sarah at Klickitat Street
Congrats to all of this week's finalists! Another amazing representation of the holiday season!
* Again, a word about how the rankings are determined: The rankings are not at all subjective. In fact, they are determined essentially by you, our members, and the activity (number of views, likes, and comments) you've bestowed on each photo. The site uses a top-secret algorithm that weighs these various factors to determine which photos are trending most quickly (i.e., are the "hottest") over specified periods of time. As such, the hot list at the time of this announcement may look a little different a few hours or a day from now as more photos are added to the site.
So that no one has an unfair advantage in making it onto a hot list, the algorithm is secret even to site administrators. Only our platform developers know the code, which has been exhaustively tested by those developers and Cookie Connection staff.
All photos shown here are the courtesy (and copyright) of the designers listed.
To check out our other hot lists, at any time of day, visit our Hot Spot, also found in the site's main navigation line.
Comments (13)