iA, the company behind iA Writer, my preferred tool for writing on this site, has a new award:

We’re always interested in finding and celebrating good writers and presenters. That’s why we’re launching writing and presenting awards. Show us what you created using our tools.

The prize is their simply stunning iA Notebook.

(Aside: I love notebooks, and I’ve recently returned to an old love of fountain pens. I’ve eyed the iA Notebook but hesitated to buy it because 1) My handwriting is atrocious, and B) it’s $73… $98 with shipping. The nearly hundred dollars is an easy justification for someone who hand writes more than I do, but I’m confidant I’d find all sorts of excuses to use it if I won (or finally break down and buy one for myself. End aside.))

I submitted one of my articles—Happy Birthday, America—to give myself at least a chance to win this stunning notebook (though I have no illusions about those chances!).

I selected this one because it’s my most popular piece, and was a lot of fun to write.

I’m a huge fan of iA Writer; in my submission email, I wrote:

Every word (of this article and of the site) was written in iA Writer and published directly to Ghost via its integration.

Being able to write across multiple devices and have them in sync via iCloud is fantastic. Many a time I’ve drafted an article on my iPhone, polished it on my iPad, and published it from my MacBook—with nary a missed comma.

Because iA Writer is markdown-flavored plaintext, I can also roundtrip between it and several other tools, like Drafts, BBEdit, and git. It’s become the center of my writing workflow.

Update: The deadline for submissions has been extended to January 1, 2025. Get your writing and presentations in!