01/06/14 12:00pm

WHO WON THE SWAMPLOT AWARDS THIS YEAR, AND WHY Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate Ribbon LogoDidja miss the grand finale of this year’s Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate in all the New Year hullabaloo? Our grand announcement of 2013’s winners is patiently awaiting your recognition and appreciation here. Also equally worthy of your perusal is this accounting of the runners-up, which was published a day earlier. Thanks again to all the worthy contestants and commentators — your juicy contributions to this city (and this website) make the Swampies an annual endeavor worth repeating.

12/31/13 10:45am

Drumroll, please. The results of the sixth annual Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate are in! Who won what in this year’s competition? You’ll find the answers below.

This announcement caps an almost month-long process that began with calls for nominations in 8 separate award categories. Official ballots were assembled from reader nominations. Then voting was opened up — to everyone.

Let’s salute the winners of the 2013 Swampies for their unique contributions to this city. It takes something special to stand out in Houston’s real estate landscape. Houston real-estate fans have noticed you!

A big salute is also due to the many Swamplot readers who took time to nominate, evaluate, vote, and comment on competitors in each category. It’s your judgments, your descriptions, and your observations that are featured below. Does this honor roll of award winners — along with the list of runners up — provide an accurate snapshot of the year in Houston real estate? All were determined by reader votes. Sure, it’s too late to vote, but you can still let us know what you think!

The winners of the 2013 Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate are . . .

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The 2013 Swampies
12/30/13 10:00am

Your votes have been tallied, and here’s the moment you’ve been waiting for — well, sort of. It’s time to reveal the second-place winners of the 2013 Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate!

Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate Ribbon LogoBut before we do that, we want to thank all of you who voted, commented, nominated, campaigned, and cajoled in support of your favorite candidates. You make the Swampies possible.

The actual award winners will be announced in a later post, but now’s the time to let the second-place finishers shine. For many categories, it was a close race; under slightly different circumstances, these could have been the winners. So let’s have a big round of digital applause for the 2013 runners-up in the Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate — the Swampies!

They are:

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The 2013 Swampies
12/27/13 10:00am

This is it. The deadline for voting in this year’s Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate is today at 5 pm. That means there’s only a few more hours left to get your votes in. Does that leave enough time for a come-from-behind candidate in that category you’re watching to gain the lead? Sure! If enough supporters cast each of their 4 votes in each category.

Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate Ribbon LogoWithout your votes, will the best candidates win all the 8 categories? Take a look at the votes in the comments section of each category, and add your votes if you haven’t already. We need your help to make the 2013 Swampies the best they can be.

Here’s a link to all the official ballots, and here they are, one by one:

Tell us who your favorites are!

The 2013 Swampies
12/23/13 3:15pm

Last week we finished announcing the official nominees for the last of the 8 categories in this year’s Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate. With all ballots open, voting is already well under way.

Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate Ribbon LogoYou can vote using any or all of 4 separate methods:

That’s a total of 4 votes (only one using each method, please) for each of 8 categories. But make sure you follow the voting rules here. If you’re ready to catch up on the award action, use these handy links to all the categories:

Already voted? There’s still time to round up more support for your favorite nominees. Come-from-behind candidates, we’re talking about you: All it might take is a little email, Facebook post, or tweet to call on your friends to better the odds. If you explain your vote when you make it, too, you’ll help build support for your choices.

Voting in all categories will end at 5 pm on Friday, December 27th.

The 2013 Swampies
12/20/13 2:00pm

Have you voted yet in the 2013 Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate? In all 8 categories? If that answer’s yes, have you also taken advantage of our quirky system and voted up to 4 times for each? That’s right, you can vote once in a comment to the official ballot post for each category, once in an email to Swamplot, once from your Twitter account, and once on the wall of Swamplot’s Facebook page. Just make sure you follow the rules listed here to make sure your votes count.

Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate Ribbon LogoAll 8 categories in this year’s Swampies are now open for voting, so there’s no reason to hesitate. They are:

Whichever method or methods you use when you cast your ballot, don’t forget to explain why you’re voting the way you are.

Did any of your favorites make it to the ballot? Then show them some love! And don’t be shy — tell your friends to vote for them, too. Just make sure to do it in time. All votes for all categories must be in by 5 pm on Friday, December 27th.

The 2013 Swampies
12/19/13 4:15pm

This is it, folks. We’ve reached the final ballot in the final category of the 2013 Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate. The award for the Greatest Moment in Houston Real Estate is meant to separate those events that are especially noteworthy from those that were simply headline-worthy.

The nominees came from your suggestions. Now, we need you to pick the winner! Vote by adding a comment below or by email, Facebook, or Twitter. You can vote using all 4 methods — if you follow these rules. Tell us which of the following nominees represents the greatest moment in Houston real estate. And then tell us why.

Here are the nominees:

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The 2013 Swampies
12/17/13 3:15pm

Here it is, the official ballot for Neighborhood of the Year. It’s the next-to-last category for the 2013 Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate, and it all came together thanks to your nominations.

Just a note: This category is for neighborhood of the year. If we had wanted to name this category best neighborhood, we would have. For Neighborhood of the Year, you get to decide what the criteria are — and which nominee deserves the award. Of course, it sure helps if you explain your reasoning as you cast your vote.

Do that by leaving a comment below or contacting us via email, Facebook, or Twitter. You can vote all 4 ways, too, so long as you follow the voting rules.

And the nominees are:

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The 2013 Swampies
12/16/13 11:00am

This award will go to a Houston neighborhood that is reliable, familiar, consistent. Yes, our sixth category in the 2013 Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate honors the area’s Most Recognizable Neighborhood.

We narrowed down your nominations to the list below, but now it’s time to narrow it down even further — to the winner. Which neighborhood deserves this particular superlative? Tell us by adding your vote in the comments below, or through email, Facebook, or Twitter. You can vote once by each method — up to 4 times — if you follow these rules. Whichever method you choose, make sure to explain your choice.

No, they probably don’t need any introduction. Here are your official nominees for Houston’s Most Recognizable Neighborhood:

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The 2013 Swampies
12/13/13 4:30pm

“Would you even recognize that neighborhood today?”

That’s the underlying idea behind the next award in this year’s Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate, which goes to Houston’s Least Recognizable Neighborhood.

Of course, there’s more than one way to define what makes a neighborhood unrecognizable, as this official ballot of nominees put together from your nominations show.

In the end, only one neighborhood will get the recognition (heh) of winning this award, so tell us which it deserves to be. You can vote for your favorite by leaving a comment below this post or through email, Facebook, or Twitter. You can do all 4, too — as long as you follow these rules. Just don’t forget to tell us why the neighborhood you selected is getting your vote.

Now allow us to (re)introduce the official nominees for Houston’s Least Recognizable Neighborhood:

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The 2013 Swampies
12/12/13 4:45pm

Here are the official nominees for another signature category in the Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate this year: the Ground-Floor Retail Award.

The award is meant to celebrate — well, whatever you think it should celebrate: all manners of ground-floor retail, from surprisingly thriving retail centers to valiant attempts to plain ol’ missed opportunities. The nominees have been selected from reader contributions.

Which of them deserves to get the award? You tell us! You can vote by leaving a comment below or through email, Facebook, or Twitter. You can use all four methods (once each) to vote — but that’s the limit. And don’t forget to tell us why your pick should win.

The nominees for the 2013 Ground-Floor Retail Award are:

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The 2013 Swampies
12/11/13 3:30pm

With this award, we look outside ourselves.

New to the Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate this year, the Best Houston Transplant category considers the outside influences that have helped to shape the city, as well as homegrown ideas that have allowed Houston to shape the rest of the world. The nominees have been selected from your suggestions. Now it’s time to pick the winner.

What deserves recognition as the Best Houston Transplant? Vote in the comments below, by email, on Facebook, or through Twitter — you can even do all 4! Don’t forget to explain your vote. And just make sure you get all your votes in by the deadline: 5 pm on Friday, December 27th.

Now, let’s give a big ol’ Houston welcome to the official nominees:

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The 2013 Swampies
12/10/13 2:45pm

They’re gone, but not forgotten.

Our second category of the 2013 Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate aims to determine what was, exactly, this year’s Best Demolition?

Thanks to your help, we’ve compiled a list of potential candidates. With some more help — in the form of your votes — we can pick the winner. Before you vote, ask yourself this: Should this category commemorate the best act of demolition, the removal that produced the best results, or the best building that happened to be torn down?

The voting rules for this year’s Swampies are posted here, but they’re not that complicated: You can vote in this category through each of 4 methods: in a comment below, in an email to Swamplot, on Twitter, or on Swamplot’s Facebook page. If you’ve got a favorite candidate, start a campaign! And don’t forget to add why you’re voting for that particular nominee. The polls close for all categories at 5 pm on December 27th.

Without further, um . . . adieu, let’s knock out the nominees for Best Demolition of 2013, shall we?

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The 2013 Swampies
12/09/13 1:30pm

Ripped and culled from your submissions, here they are: the official nominees in the first category of the sixth annual Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate. That would be Favorite Houston Design Cliché. Thanks to all of you who contributed! These awards wouldn’t happen without you.

Here’s the cool thing about voting: You can do so up to 4 times in this category (and in each of the others too) — by leaving a comment in the post, by sending us an email, expressing your preference on Twitter or Facebook. Each will count as a vote — as long as you follow the voting guidelines. Oh, and don’t just tell us which choice you’re voting for, tell us why!

Here are the nominees for favorite design cliché around hereabouts:

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The 2013 Swampies
12/09/13 11:00am

Last night nominations closed at midnight for the first 2 of the 8 categories in this year’s Swamplot Awards for Houston Real Estate: Favorite Houston Design Cliché and Best Demolition. Later today, we’ll kick off the voting when we announce the official nominees for the first of those categories. After that, through this week and part of the next, we’ll work our way through the rest of the categories in sequence, announcing the official nominees and opening the voting for each, one by one.

For the categories for which nominations have not closed, though, we still need your help. Take a look at the suggestions posted in the comments sections of the 6 remaining categories (all the categories are listed here). If you find anything missing, please add your nominations now! If you think you can improve on any of the explanations already submitted, please do so. Or if you see a nomination without any explanation at all, please add a good one! Got photos of any of the nominees? Please send them!

The deadline for nominations in the next 2 categories — Best Houston Transplant and the Ground-Floor Retail Award — is midnight tonight. 

The 2013 Swampies