LJ Contests!

LiveJournal has joined the be a STAR alliance, a group of organizations united to raise awareness of bullying and to create avenues of discourse in communities on the ground as well as in cyberspace. bullying_begone, a LiveJournal community created by a victim of bullying, is a place for people to share their stories, seek advice, and support each other in a open and friendly environment.

October is National Bullying Prevention Awareness month. Throughout the month, we'll be addressing bullying topics in various features and communities on the site. To get the conversation started, LiveJournal and bullying_begone are sponsoring a giveaway in Writer's Block this Monday, October 3rd. Here's the details:

• When: Monday, October 3rd, 2011
• Where: Writer's Block, on the LiveJournal homepage
• One winner, chosen at random, will receive an Amazon Kindle e-reader and a $25 Amazon gift card
• To enter, answer the Writer's Block question on Monday, October 3rd
• The winner will be chosen on Tuesday, October 4th, and announced here at lj_contests

While bullies aren’t going to vanish overnight, we can turn the tide by reaching out to friends, victims, and bullies alike to learn more about the roles people play in this cycle and what can be done to improve relationships. By working to better recognize bullying and the tactics employed by bullies, we can engage both the victims and their aggressors in an effort to minimize the effects of bullying. If you've been affected by bullying directly or you know someone who has, we invite you to share your experiences over at bullying_begone.

Update (10/4/2011): The list of finalists from Writer's Block and comments posted here in lj_contests has been finalized and a winner has been chosen. Congratulations to punkgrl5, winner of an Amazon Kindle and a $25 Amazon gift card! :-)