The Motherload Award Winners 2016

The Motherload® HQ are delighted to announce the FIRST EVER winners of The Motherload® Awards 2016!

Over the last 12 months, we are incredibly proud to have created and grown such a phenomenally supportive, honest and funny community. The Motherload® Awards 2016 is about YOU: To celebrate your posts, experiences, support of each other and the hysterically funny photographs that you share from the frontline of motherhood. These Awards are about being a MOLO; it is the strength of our members who make this Community so very special. From washing baskets that attack, oven baked X-Box controllers and babies dressed up as grannies, to personal accounts of member’s experiences with PND, their journey to motherhood and establishing themselves as single parents; it is the honesty and wit of our MOLO’s that makes The Motherload®! Our members have been voting for the past fortnight and we are excited to announce, our THE FIRST WINNERS OF THE MOTHERLOAD AWARDS, 2016!

	BEST PHOTO OF THE YEAR: Emma Dunn: Choosing even just one of Emma’s brilliantly witty, dry and honest posts or photos was hard, but without a doubt, when Emma had had enough of her other half’s apparent expectation to magically find pants in his drawer at any given opportunity – like 6am, for example – Emma decided to use her power of secret code to give him a warning he perhaps will never forget; and nor will we! ALWAYS funny, always a bit irreverent and never smug, Emma’s posts are always a highlight. And we are really excited that she has joined our Features Team, so will be bringing even more moments like these our way, we hope! Congratulations, Emma! Runner Up – ‘Granny Babies’ by Candi Hall (and Sarah Morbey)
	Funniest Post of the Year: LAURA LEATHAM: <GROAN> Housework is never ending. Ever. Never. Ending. Right? So you’ll feel a lot of empathy for Laura, who had briefly achieved the impossible: she got to the Bottom of The Laundry Basket. This being a highly unusual event (as many of us can appreciate), you can imagine the shock of her life when she found herself eaten (ok, not really) by her empty washing basket and found herself, tumbling, head first to the bottom as she tried to shove down a bedsheets into it’s empty depths – a depth of unimaginable proportions going by our own teeming baskets. This post is still referred to on regular occasions, and is truly a MOLO Classic. Congratulations, Laura! Runner Up – ‘Toddler Scissor Hands’ by Gemma Kettle
	Most Inspirational MOLO of the Year: EMMA NYE In February, Emma first posted that her best friend’s little girl Faye had been diagnosed with Meningitis B. Through her updates in The Motherload®, we learnt that Faye was incredibly poorly, and we were acutely aware of the incredible support that Emma gave to her friends at the lowest point of their life. When, deeply sadly, Faye lost her battle with Meningitis B, Emma helped to establish and promote a petition to the government for the Meningitis B vaccination to be available to all children, which led to Faye’s parents addressing the government on this terrible illness. We were so touched by Emma’s clear and unwavering support of her friends during their lowest ebb, despite her own grief. Congratulations, Emma! Runner Up – Lucy-Rose Carliell
	MOLO of the Year: ROSEY ADAMS Despite suffering PND after each of her babies arrivals into the world, Rosey refused to let depression and anxiety beat her and in seeking support from those who suffered similarly, Rosey created PND and Me, an incredible network of support and advice through Twitter. With over 8,400 followers, Rosey has provided a platform for women, men and professionals to come together and discuss PND and maternal mental health in an open, inclusive way, and is now establishing PND and Me as a charity. MOLOs will know Rosey through her beautifully supportive posts, uplifting comments, and Little Books of Hope that she sent to MOLOs in need of encouragement, along with a beautiful note. Congratulations, Rosey! Runner Up – Axela Butterscotch. The Motherload® are very proud to work with Rosey and to have developed a partnership with PND and Me. You can find more about this wonderful organisation on their page here.
	The Motherload® HQ Award for Outstanding Contribution: JESSICA MAINGAY When Jessica first popped the acronym MOLO onto her post, the comments that followed were not, as you’d expect, about the use of a sanitary pad as breast pads, surprisingly. (In fact that sort of thing is pretty run-of-the-mill tip for a MOLO). What followed was an outpouring of “love Love LOVE MOLO!” as we saw, for the first time, one of the most identifying names a Motherloader can call themselves. MOLO has been fondly used on the majority of posts since, and as you can see through the site, it’s now become a part of the lexicon of our membership. It’s our hashtag, it’s our nickname, it’s our opening gambit and we are very, VERY proud, and thankful to use it! Jessica, you are a TRUE MOLO. Congratulations!