nerdgirlthoughts.game.blog
Blaugust 2026 is Coming!
Blaugust is the brain child of Mark Temple, more commonly known as **Belghast** , author of **Tales of the Aggronaut**.
Normally, this post would be coming from him, but sadly, we lost Belghast on July 2, 2026. The Blaugust Discord mentors have decided to move forward with hosting the event this year, as we believe he would want to see it continue.
I expect I will be making a more personal post about this in the near future, but for now? For now, we do what we’ve always done – get ready to throw a big old blog fest!
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Already know everything you need to? Go directly to **the signup form!**
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## Blaugust – Classic Edition
The next two sections here are stolen in its entirety from Bel’s post Blaugust 2024 is Coming. Only the dates have been changed where necessary.
## What is Blaugust?
For anyone arriving here for the very first time Blaugust is a month-long event that takes place each August which focuses on blogging primarily and has started to include other forms of serialized content over the last several years. The goal is to stoke the fires of creativity and allow bloggers and other content creators to mingle in a shared community while pushing each other to post more regularly. Above all the goal of Blaugust has always been to prove to folks that they can in fact sit down every day and create something fresh and then share it with the world. Posting regularly builds a community and in this era of AI-slop content, our voices are needed even more than we ever have been at any point in the past. Our hope is to create a nurturing environment where Veteran bloggers can help those just getting started and the cross-pollination of ideas can create something truly spectacular. Your blog gives you a permanent foothold on the Internet that you own and have complete control of, and that is a really good feeling in the midst of shifting trends.
## The Core Challenge of Blaugust
Blaugust at its heart has always been about celebrating the creation of content on a regular schedule. The original challenge was to post 31 times during the month of August which is 31 days long. This can be posting every day or doubling up on some days to make the schedule a bit easier. However, we also want to award anyone who starts down this path, because deciding to blog in the first place is a victory in itself. As such we give out awards based on the number of posts that you manage to knock out during the month of August. Again the idea is to spark creativity and get folks to create more content, not necessarily grinding them to dust on the millstone of some lofty goal. Here are the guidelines for each of the awards that we give out as part of this original challenge:
* **Newbie Blogger Award** – You did it! You joined Blaugust for the very first time and we are extremely happy to welcome you into this raucous community. As a result, we are going to recognize your efforts just for signing up.
* **Bronze Award** – You made at least 5 posts during the month of August 2026.
* **Silver Award** – You made at least 15 posts during the month of August 2026.
* **Gold Award** – You made at least 25 posts during the month of August 2026.
* **Rainbow Diamond Award** – You beat the original challenge and posted 31 times or more during the month of August 2026.
## Blaugust – Community Builder Edition
As noted above, Blaugust has been around for a bit now. While it still attracts new bloggers every year, quite a few folks have now conquered the 31 post challenge several times. We know we can do it, and a few of us have been chatting about the idea of mixing it up a bit and trying something a little bit different.
Blaugust is so much more than just a personal challenge, and we wanted to offer an alternative “rule set” that reflected that. Anyone choosing to participate in the Community Builder edition of Blaugust this year will earn the Community Builder award in tandem with whichever other award you obtain for your number of posts.
Community builders will meet **at least three** of the following challenges:
* Make a post on your blog on or before August 1st, 2026 inviting other bloggers to participate in Blaugust. Make sure you link the signup form.
* Make at least 5 posts directly inspired by a post by another Blaugust participant. Make sure you provide a link back to the post in question.
* Engage with other Blaugust participants at least once per week. Read posts, leave comments, join discussions in the **Blaugust Discord** and share posts written by others on social media.
* Guest post on another Blaugust participant’s blog – or have someone else guest post on yours!
* Create or join in a group project – choose a topic, find some other bloggers, and each post your own take on that topic on the same day.
The Community Builder badge will be done strictly on the honor system. If you think you’ve earned it, claim it and wear it proudly.
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## Use of AI as a Blaugust Participant
The Blaugust mentor team has worked together to draft the following statement in regards to AI and Blaugust participation (with thanks to Roger Edwards, who did the heavy lifting on this one):
Blaugust celebrates human creativity, personal expression and the shared experience of making and publishing something of your own. Participants are welcome to use AI tools for assistance, but **the substantive creative contribution to a Blaugust post must come from the participant**.
Posts that are wholly or substantially generated by AI should not be submitted as Blaugust content or counted towards Blaugust awards. This includes supplying an AI system with a prompt, notes or bullet points and asking it to produce, substantially rewrite or expand them into a finished post. Lightly editing an AI-generated article does not make it human-written.
Acceptable assistance may include:
* spelling and grammar checking;,
* formatting and organisational suggestions;,
* brainstorming or writing prompts;,
* research assistance, provided information is independently checked;,
* transcription or accessibility assistance;,
* translation of the participant’s own original work; and,
* AI-generated images used to illustrate an otherwise human-created post.
Meaningful use of generative AI should be disclosed briefly within the post. This includes generated passages, substantial rewriting, translations, images, audio or video. Routine spelling and grammar checking does not need to be disclosed.
For primarily visual, audio or video posts, the central creative work must likewise be the participant’s own. An AI-generated image accompanying a human-written article is acceptable; a post whose only substantive creative element is an AI-generated image would not meet the spirit of the event.
Participants remain responsible for the accuracy, originality, attribution and legality of everything they publish.
Blaugust operates on trust. Organizers will not routinely use AI-detection tools or attempt to investigate participants. However, content that clearly conflicts with this guidance may be excluded from Blaugust listings or awards, normally after a private conversation with the participant.
A simple rule of thumb is: **AI may assist your creative work, but it should not replace your creative contribution.**
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