Philippine Blog Awards 2011 Winners

On December 3, 2011 at the RCBC Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium in Makati City, Philippines, the Philippine Blog Awards announced the 2011 winners for their respective categories.

Before I go on to enumerate the winners, just what exactly is the Philippine Blog Awards? This is actually an annual event organized by the Philippine Blog Awards, Inc. (a non – stock, non – profit organization). The goal is to recognize the outstanding blogs in (but not necessarily limited to) the community of Filipino bloggers. Topics range from the arts and culture, technology, politics, humor, entertainment, lifestyle, beauty and fashion, hobbies, literature, etc.

The first Philippine Blog Awards was held in 2007 and was attended by over 200 bloggers and participants. The second was in 2008, where about 30 awards were announced. The third was in 2009 and this was the year when awards were also given to bloggers in Visayas and Mindanao.

This hub basically describes the awarded blogs in the Main Awards category. There are 26 sub – categories under the main awards and I will endeavor to describe all of them in 2 hubs or more. So here are the first 9 sub – categories:

Best Personal Blog – I am Fickle Cattle

This blog is owned and maintained by Von Bryan Cuerpo. He started the blog only in 2010 and had, since then, gained faithful readers and followers. He described his blog as for those people “who are crazy and sane and stupid and smart and gorgeous and ugly and freaky and conservative and human and divine all at the same time”. In other words, his blog is for everybody. His goal? To show everyone that, at the end of the day, we are all, essentially, the same.

Best Humor Blog - The Professional Heckler

This blog may be a humor blog but it is definitely more than that. The P in ‘Professional’ actually stands for Political as he loves to heckle political news and issues. The entertainment (read: showbiz or show business) is also one of his favorite topics. This blog is a multi – awarded one. It has been recognized four years in a row by the Philippine Blog Awards. In August 2011, he won the (first ever) Globe Tatt Awards for the WordSlayer plum.

Best Photo Blog – RosariOko

As the award sub – category implies, this blog is all about beautiful photos. The blog owner is Niña Sandejas, who has been taking photos since 2004. Her forte is music photography and you can see from her blog the various pictures she had taken as she joined or watched the concerts or performances of various artists not only from the Philippines, but also from other countries as well.

Best Home and Parenting Blog – Dainty Mom

Started in March 2010, this blog is owned by a mother, a wife and a career woman who wants to show other moms that mothers can still be pretty and can still be relevant even if they are work – at – home moms. The blog features tips from this working mom, guest posts from other moms, daily inspirations and life of a working mom, in general.

Best Sports Blog – CebuRunning

This blog (ceburunning.com) is actually an online magazine featuring running as a sport in Cebu City. The posts are about races, fun runs and individual runners. This blog is still in development stage and they are still setting up its sections and adding contents but it had already garnered recognition, as evidenced by its award as the Best Sports Blog.

Best Beauty and Fashion Blog – Jenne Chrisville

This blog is owned by Gervin, a Filipino who lives and works in Tokyo, Japan. He is an English and dance teacher in a kindergarten school near Tokyo. His blog contains posts about the things he loves like fashion, photography, art, theater, music, dancing, reading, etc.

Best Lifestyle Blog – Geek Girl Manila

This is the blog of Lia Espina Lopez and she blogs about her life and the things she likes and finds interesting. Looking at the topics, one can see that she writes or blogs about almost anything – like gadgets, technology, anime, games, movies, TV shows, books, fashion, shopping, food and events she attended. The blog owner is an experienced writer who had various paid blogging gigs in the past.

Best Technology Blog – LS Geekster

This is another multi – awarded blog. It features blogs about SEO, social media marketing, information technology updates, blogging technology and geek stuff. The blog owner, Kira Permunian, as an experienced blogger and he has been blogging since 2009, even before he graduated from college.

Best Travel Blog – We are Sole Sisters

Last (well at least for this hub) but certainly not the least is the best travel blog: We are Sole Sisters. No, they are not sisters but they share a passion for travel and adventure. When they started this blog, they basically quit their jobs, built their itinerary, saved up their funds and began their 6 – month trip around SouthEast Asia. They have also created their 30 before 30 list or the list of things they want to do or achieve before they reach the age of 30.

Well, there you have it. The first nine winners in the Main Awards category. If you want to read their blog posts, feel free to click on the links provided below the pictures. Stay tuned for more in my next hub!