Blaugust 2026 is Coming!

Blaugust is coming for its 13th iteration, and it’s going to be stellar!

Originally started in 2014 by Belghast as a personal challenge extended to the wider blogging community, Blaugust is a challenge to oneself that was initially conceived as a way to improve one’s writing habit but has since grown into much more than just.

If you’re new to blogging, it’s a great opportunity to meet many cool people, get help with starting up your own website, and participate in a cool community project. If you’re a blogging veteran, it’s just the push to dust off the old site and get back into the ring again. Overall, it’s just a nice event that reinvigorates the community and helps folks not just build up a habit of writing but also form connections with other people in the sphere.

Originally, the challenge was to post 31 posts in the 31 days of August, but since its conception, the idea has shifted from “posting as much as possible” to community, mentorship, and achievable personal goals. As Krikket aptly said last year: The only way to “lose” Blaugust is to not play.

If you’re interested in participating, head to the Sign-Up Form over here!

Awards

As per usual, there will be awards for all participants based on their merits:

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.
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 (or more) times during the month of August 2026.

Blaugust – Community Builder Edition

Since Blaugust is so much more than just a personal challenge, and since we wanted to offer an alternative “rule set” that reflected that, the Community Builder Award returns again this year!

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 have to 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 honour system. If you think you’ve earned it, claim it and wear it proudly.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be posting more about the theme weeks, the various Blaugust prompts and Blaugchievements that are still available to you from years past, and various and sundry other things you might like to know.

In the meantime, feel free to check out posts about Blaugust’s past over on Tales of the Aggronaut as well as NerdGirlThoughts!

Again, sign up here!

Themes and Prompts

Just like before, themed weeks are returning again this year. Throughout the event, participants can take inspiration from the themes that have developed over the years. If you struggle with finding something to write about, this is a good way to get

August 1st until August 6th is the “Welcome to Blaugust” week that serves as a hype generation week. Announce your participation and your plans, get folks to join in, maybe showcase other people, or talk about cool blogs in the community. It’s the “Rally Week”, so to speak.

August 7th until August 13th functions as the “Introduce Yourself/Getting to Know You” week, giving folks an opportunity to talk about themselves, their interests, their pets, and more. A lot of folks do introductions each year, which is cool because you kinda get to see how folks’ perception of themselves changes each year.

August 14th until August 20th is the “Creator Appreciation” week, directly inspired by other similar events’ and initiatives’ prompts of showcasing cool creators, developers, artists, musicians, and the like in the space. I love talking about some of my favourite game developers, for instance, while other people love talking about bands, actors, and directors.

August 21st until August 27th is – often very fittingly – dubbed the “Staying Motivated” week. It’s practically the final stretch of the event and motivation can drop. Why not write about and the struggles? Perhaps share some tips to help others keep it up? Maybe motivate yourself or others to keep up the good work?

August 28th until August 31st is the “Lessons Learned” week, which can also extend to beyond the event, of course. What were your goals and did you achieve them? Did you learn something new from following other people’s work? What are things you’d like to do different? What wisdom have you attained?

Use of AI during Blaugust

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. Organisers 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.

This post was originally published on Indiecator.

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