Grab a cup of coffee an quit chewing your fingernails. The Grand Prize Winner of the 1st Annual ActiveRain Article Contest has finally been announced!

A contest like this can never be entirely objective. The judges are human and the perception of quality is highly individual. Regardless, I think you will agree that the 1st Place Winner of this contest, submitted an excellent article that illuminates the characteristics of a great article by any measure.

The criteria of the contest were fairly straightforward. The purpose behind the contest was simply to find out if the members of ActiveRain wanted to improve the quality of the content on the network. We have many members who work hard at producing well-written, informative and entertaining real estate related blog posts. It is not an easy task.

The contest winner met all the original criteria. Her article is real estate related. Her article is well-written. Her article is thought provoking. Most importantly, her article is highly relevant to the other members of ActiveRain.

Lesson #7: Drive by Amber Riviere

Congratulations Amber and thank you for a great article!

The prizes for 1st Place are:

• 1000 bonus points for 1st Place
• The Article will be Feature again today on ActiveRain
• The article will be published in it's entirety on SoundBiteBlog.com with an author credit at the top and a live link to a site of your choice. Please let me know what Anchor Text you wish to use in the link.

This contest has been surprisingly successful. Originally, I believed there would be some interest, and hoped for (with fingers crossed) 50 articles. The submissions eventually totaled 75! Every one of the articles was above average. Many of the articles ranked with the best I have read since I joined the network in July. The quality of these articles was so consistently high, it became very difficult to judge them. I want to thank all the entrants for making this so difficult. It has been a real pleasure to meet all of you through your writing! I found myself saying again and again, "Wow, this one is really good too". And then I would read the next article and once again say "Wow,...".

It is clear that many more 'Rainers than I realized, are aggressively trying to produce high quality posts. We have some fascinating and often entertaining 'voices' on the network. ActiveRain is a member-driven network of real estate professionals. You are ActiveRain! We are ActiveRain! I am proud to a part of such a talented and impressive collection of the finest real estate professionals in the world.

Thank you to all the writers and thank you to all of the commenters. Active participation from both groups was necessary to make this contest a success. Feedback from the readers is what lets the writers know they have been heard. Comments are, in their own way, the most important part of a contest like this. Make sure you leave one on Amber's post. She will appreciate it!

If you would like to give Amber the highest compliment possible on this network, click the blue button in the top right hand corner of the screen. Subscribing to another members' blog is the ultimate 'blog nod' on ActiveRain. As a matter of fact, take a moment and click on the big blue button on this post! I promise, I won't be offended!

• The 2nd Place Winner - Mariana Wagner
• The 3rd Place Winner - Tim Maitski
• The original contest announcement