This information is not current as the MCC badges are provided within the first week of the award cycle once the MCC claims the award.
It's strange that they would say to you the part about "once the mcc claims the award", because in my opinion the initial email makes it clear that no actual "claiming" on the part of the mcc is even necessary.
This is the way my award email read:
Congratulations! We are pleased to inform you that your contributions to Microsoft online technical communities have been recognized with
the Microsoft Community Contributor badge.
This recognition is reserved for participants who made notable contributions in Microsoft online communities such as MSDN, TechNet and Microsoft
Answers. The value of these online resources is greatly enhanced by participants like you who voluntarily contribute your time and energy to improve the online community experience for others.
What does this mean to you?
First, in the next few days, you’ll notice a "MCC" badge appearing next to your name. This will appear automatically and will remain
there for the next three months. At this time we will reevaluate your contribution levels to see if the recognition will continue on a quarterly basis.
Additionally, we would like to highlight you on our official badge website. Simply respond to a few questions and we’ll share a little about
you with the larger community, including your blog URL, Twitter handle and more. This step is completely optional but will give you some great exposure.
If you want something you've never had, you need to do something you've never done.
Everyone(not just the thread starter) should take the time to mark helpful posts, propose answers, and mark answers to questions.
