I am so thrilled to announce the winners of the 2014 So You Think You Can Niche? contest!
Backstory: throughout the month of April I invited people to submit 120 character niches (that’s shorter than a tweet!), and if they submitted a niche, then I asked that that they rate at least five other people’s niches from 1-10 and offer feedback to one another.
The results were staggering. We had 126 entries, over 1000 facebook “likes” and over 2500 comments – amazing! I am blown away by the quality of content and interaction, it’s been a wonderful success.
And the winner is: Audrey Wong!
Audrey received an overall rating of 10, and of the four overall 10’s in this contest, she had the most ratings in comments – thus making her our winner and proving that the amount of rated feedback really did matter! Our sincere congratulations to Audrey – she entered an excellent, clear niche for her company Living Lotus. She will take home the first place prize of a 90-minute coaching session with me ($450 value) + she’ll be featured on my blog in the future + a $100 gift certificate at her favourite locally owned restaurant + a free hardbound copy of The Niching Spiral!
Our 2nd and 3rd place winners are Debra Graff and Ruth Schwartz respectively. Each of these women receive a 10 rating and had the 2nd and 3rd most ratings in comments of all the 10’s. They will each receive a 30-minute coaching session with me + an electronic copy of The Niching Spiral.
The lovely nichers who placed 4th through 10th each wins $100 off my next Niching Spiral Mentorship program (a discount the winner can use or pass onto others). And they are: 4th: Shannon Lagasse [10]; 5th: Kim McNeil [9.75]; 6th: Sudha Devi [9.5]; 7th: Shay Sampson [9.5]; 8th: Jennifer Seitzer [9.5]; 9th: Deborah Epstein [9.5] and 10th: Wei Houng [9.5].
Best Photo Awards go to: Yahya Bakkar, Audrey Wong, Kevin Gebert, Debra Graff, Ruth Schwartz, Claudia Richey and Shellie White Light. Each of these people wins $100 off my next Niching Spiral Mentorship program (a discount the winner can use or pass onto others).
The Best Comments Prize go to the people who gave the best feedback to others, and they each get $300 off my Niching Spiral Mentorship program – because they’re the kind of people I want in it. Thanks for the amazing effort and deeply thoughtful feedback folks, my congratulations go to: Jennifer Steinbachs, Joanna Free, Lorraine Watson, Monika Denes, Manal Khalife and Briana Barrett-Squirrel.
And lastly, the Good Comments Award goes to anyone who gave at least five quality pieces of feedback (beyond just a rating number). These good commenters will each get $100 off off the Niching Spiral Mentorship program. I was thrilled to see so much thoughtful feedback offered and gracefully received during the contest. Congrats to: Claudia Richey, Michael Moon, Shannon Lagasse, Jennifer Seitzer, Deborah Epstein, Nicci Tina, Tara Jeanine Gilmaher, Rose De Dan, Kari Pickler-Hughes, Erik Arendonk, Mary Reynolds Thompson, David Jurasek, Aga Wiklo, Barbara Steerman, Lisa Marie Haché-Maguire, Stacye Leanz, Grace Gerry, Chelsea Coghill, Sue Burness, Carolien Oosterhoff and Janet Matthies.
Below is a list of the final ratings for everyone who entered the contest.
The calculation was made by finding the average score of your ratings and averaging that total with Tad’s rating. Congrats and thanks to all to contestants!
| First Name | Last Name | Overall Average Rating |
| Audrey | Wong | 10 |
| Debra | Graff | 10 |
| Ruth | Schwartz | 10 |
| Shannon | Lagasse | 10 |
| Kim | McNeil | 9.75 |
| Sudha | Devi | 9.5 |
| Shay | Sampson | 9.5 |
| Jennifer | Seitzer (fruit picture) | 9.5 |
| Deborah | Epstein | 9.5 |
| Wei | Houng | 9.5 |
| Carolien | Oosterhoff | 9.5 |
| Judie | Barta | 9.5 |
| Yahya | Bakkar | 9.5 |
| Claudia | Richey | 9.25 |
| Szarka | Carter | 9 |
| Tina | Cunningham | 9 |
| Susan | Kendal | 9 |
| Monika | Denes | 9 |
| Lisa | Haché-Maguire | 9 |
| Jennifer | Seitzer (forest photo) | 8.75 |
| Jennifer | Summerfeldt | 8.5 |
| Olga | Minko | 8.5 |
| Laura | Probert | 8.5 |
| Manal | Khalife (photo) | 8.5 |
| Tanja | Gardner | 8.5 |
| Amelya | Cohn | 8.5 |
| Lorraine | Watson | 8.5 |
| Jenn | Scalia | 8.5 |
| Rev. Faye | Thornton. M.Msc. | 8.5 |
| Nancy | Reilly | 8.5 |
| Bettelou | Soosaipillai | 8.5 |
| Mzima | Scadeng | 8.5 |
| Chelsea | Coghill | 8.5 |
| Ortixia | Dilts | 8 |
| Claudia | Ferretti | 8 |
| Emily | Gardner | 8 |
| Sybil | Cope | 8 |
| Janet | Matthies (“unique 1 on 1”) | 8 |
| Jane | Binnion | 8 |
| Nicci | Tina | 8 |
| Alisoun | Mackenzie | 8 |
| Barbara | Steeman | 8 |
| Erica | Sosna | 8 |
| Megan | Devine | 8 |
| Makennah | Walker | 8 |
| Crystal | Wilson | 8 |
| Shellie | White Light | 8 |
| Michael | Moon (music) | 8 |
| Jennifer | Steinbachs | 8 |
| Nicole | Allard | 8 |
| Sonia | Dabboussi | 7.75 |
| Louise | Eistrup | 7.5 |
| Christopher | Shirley | 7.5 |
| Mary | Reynolds Thompson | 7.5 |
| Tahra | Makinson-Sanders | 7.5 |
| Krayl | Funch | 7.5 |
| David | Jurasek | 7.5 |
| David | Jurasek (for men) | 7.5 |
| Brenda | Scarborough | 7.5 |
| Sarah | Blick | 7.5 |
| Aga | Wiklo | 7.5 |
| Mark | Keane | 7.5 |
| Jutta | Nedden | 7.5 |
| Krystal | Williams | 7.5 |
| Michael | Moon (astrology) | 7.5 |
| Kari | Penner | 7.5 |
| Heather | Loewen | 7.25 |
| Anne | Baker | 7 |
| Wendy | Curran | 7 |
| Janet | Matthies (Asian-inspired imagery) | 7 |
| Tom | Ellis | 7 |
| Kari | Hughes | 7 |
| Aline | Verheyen | 7 |
| Briana | Barrett (Squirrel) | 7 |
| Rose | De Dan | 7 |
| Rebecca | Allen | 7 |
| Mary | Choo | 7 |
| Umang | Goel | 7 |
| Michelle | Reynolds | 7 |
| Kevin | Gebert | 7 |
| Carrie-Ann | Baron | 6.75 |
| Nicole | Moore | 6.75 |
| Sue | Burness | 6.5 |
| Bradley | Morris | 6.5 |
| Manal | Khalife (flowers painting) | 6.5 |
| Ivana | Siska | 6.5 |
| Joanna | Free | 6.5 |
| Lisa | Manyon | 6.5 |
| Narayani | 6.5 | |
| Stacye | Leanza | 6.5 |
| Alya | Heeds | 6.5 |
| Nana | Jokura | 6.5 |
| Derik | Eselius | 6.5 |
| Iona | McArdle | 6.5 |
| Joy | Caffrey | 6.5 |
| Erik | Arendonk | 6 |
| Janet | Matthies (girl stretching photo) | 6 |
| Shell | Mendelson | 6 |
| Suzanne | Walsh | 6 |
| Carol | Fenner | 6 |
| Fiona | Hughes | 6 |
| Mary-Carla | MacDonald | 6 |
| Philip | Sarsons | 6 |
| Patti | Obrist | 6 |
| Alix | Jean | 5.75 |
| Bob | Reckhow | 5.5 |
| Stephanie | Lin | 5.5 |
| Lara | Narayani Golland | 5.5 |
| Rae-ann | Wood-Schatz | 5.5 |
| Grace | Gerry | 5.5 |
| Angela | Davis | 5.5 |
| Ling | Wong | 5 |
| David | Dressler | 5 |
| Greg | Macdougall | 5 |
| Tina | Huang | 4.5 |
| Madeleine | Innocent | 4 |
| Janet | Matthies (flowers photo) | 3.5 |
| Tara | Gilmaher | 3.5 |
| Silke | Neumann | 3.5 |
| Frederic | Wiedemann | 3.5 |
| Layla | Tahoun | 3.5 |
| Don | Ollsin | 3.5 |
| D. Scott | Brown | 3.5 |
| Anaiis | Salles | 3 |