2009 Philippine Blog Awards Visayas Leg

MANILA, Philippines - The onset of blogging in the virtual community has caused traffic in the information highway. Blogging is no alien practice for a regular techie or an internet savvy. It’s a staple online bustle considered as a potent tool in influencing and educating the minds of the youth and the old, alike. It can be an addiction, while others say it’s a pill to kill boredom. Certainly useful! 

A blog, being a virtual journal and a website, is a hit because of its interactive format. It gained popularity over the years and has a lot of converts called bloggers.

The Philippines also has a fair share of bloggers and it is but fitting to mount an awarding event that recognizes the country’s best blogs – the good reads, at that! The Philippine Blogger Awards, Inc., organizers of The Philippine Blog Awards, has laid the criteria in choosing outstanding blogs: 80 percent content (that includes style, uniqueness, and grammar) and 20 percent design & usability (user-friendly, easy on the eye, easy to navigate).

Now on its third year in giving recognition to eligible influential bloggers, PBA is no longer limited to Luzon but has broadened its reach and has decided to award bloggers in the Visayas and Mindanao.

 Bloggers as Journalists

PBA chair Juned Sonido said that bloggers are journalists, as well. These are those whom he pointed out as opinion writers and are those who act as reporters, giving blow by blow accounts on current events.

Last October 18 at the City Sports Club, the Visayan bloggers convened for the first-ever PBA Visayas leg.