Technically in my little corner of the globe, there are still just about four more hours of 2020 left, but the first #HivePUD for 2021 has already arrived in other parts of the world! If you want a wicked cool way to check if January 1st is officially in your area, be sure to check out the "new" (as of September 2020) Countdown Timer courtesy of the awesomesauce team at @hivebuzz!

And quickly, to clarify -

If you want to qualify for the AMAZING Hive Power Up Day badge(s), your power up must happen during the 24 hours of January 1st, 2021 according to UTC time.

And/or

If you want to qualify for the #HivePUD prize pool, your power up and post must happen (according to criteria listed below) during the hours of January 1st, your local time.

Speaking of HiveBuzz...

When I put out the announcement post last week, the Hive Buzz team hadn't posted theirs yet, but as I wasn't expecting any new news until next month, didn't think it would be a big deal. Then when I saw their post a few days ago, I about lost my mind! Just when I think they can't do any more to make Power Up Day any cooler, they go and do this -

First Hive Power Up Day of 2021 - Get a Hive Power delegation

You really should go check out the awesomeness for yourself, but suffice to say...

As stated from the start of our initiative, we want to reward regular participants and those who have also been generous in helping others. Therefore, to start the year on a high note, we will be offering a 3 weeks Hive Power delegations to those who meet these criteria!

I can't even with how amazing they are!

Now, since I did a rundown of it all in the Announcement post last week, I'll stick with a short & sweet recap this time around.

What is Hive Power Up Day?

Hive Power Up Day has been taking place on the first day of every month since @streetstyle came up with the idea on that other blockchain over a year and a half ago.

What does it require?

Essentially, we ask that:

On the first day of the month...

... anyone who is able to, powers up some Hive on the first of the month.

... accounts that are powering down, pause during the 24 hour span of the first of the month.

... anyone who is trading/selling Hive, pause those transactions during the 24 hour span of the first of the month (and possibly even cancel any type of sell order on any exchanges during that time as well).

What are the rules to win prizes for HivePUD?

The requirements are:

Your reputation must be above 39 and below 70.
Your total Hive Power (before the 1st) must be more than 100 and less than 8000.
You must power up at least 10 Hive on January 1st.
You must write a post about your power up on January 1st with the tag #HivePUD (International) or #HPUD (Spanish).

To be included in the winners list, you must meet all four requirements above. The order of the list (first place, second place, and so on) will be determined by the biggest PERCENTAGE of Hive powered up, not necessarily the most Hive powered up.

For more information about @victoriabsb's wicked cool Hispanic Initiative that ensures that the smallest accounts (who might not be able to make the requirements above) are still able to get some prizes, check out her announcement post for this month, Hive Power UP Day: Enero 2021 💪 [ENG/ESP] || #HPUD.

What are the prizes?

The list of prizes, both confirmed & not confirmed (although I'm pretty sure they've all got a green check mark), are in the aforementioned Announcement post last week.

Did I hear something about badges?

By this time, I think everyone within a hundred miles of my 3D home has heard about Power Up Day badges...lol! Back in July 2020, after @jeanlucsr went to the @hivebuzz crew with an idea for a Power Up Day badge, @arcange, @lizanomadsoul, and the team came up with some amazing new stuff for our Power Up Day initiative (all the details in their Hive Power Up Day - Let's grow together! post).

"Bee" sure to follow @hivebuzz on Hive and Twitter so you don't miss out on future announcements, and let them know how much you appreciate everything they've done to add more fun to Power Up Day so far! I can't wait to see what they have planned for this year!

One last thing, and speaking of the new year, please consider checking out the HiveBuzz project proposal renewal for 2021 & supporting it with your vote. I'd wicked appreciate it if we could all support the HiveBuzz team the way they've been supporting Power Up Day!

Timeline Reminder

Power up Hive on January 1st 2021
Post about your power up on January 1st 2021
Unofficial winners list will be posted January 2nd or 3rd (allowing time to correct for errors/omissions)
Official winners list will be posted on January 5th, after which sponsors will disperse prizes

That's it for now!

Shout out to the new-ish (still in Beta) UI from @leofinance (check out @khaleelkazi's post, LeoFinance Beta UI Live Demo | Improved Content Discovery, HiveOnboarding, Themes for more info) which is what I used for creating this post. Nicely done, Leo Finance team!

Thanks to everyone for all you do to make our new blockchain space a home! Special shout out to @abh12345 for graciously agreeing to help me again by pulling together the data when the time comes - Asher, you're a ROCKSTAR! And here's to another awesomesauce Hive Power Up Day - I know we're doing @streetstyle proud!

Image Credits: blog thumbnail created on Canva, using a graphic created by @nateaguila in his Free HIVE Social Kit post. #HivePUD GIF created using both Giphy and ezGIF.