{ 2007 03 07 }

The Daunting Task That Is The Philippine Blog Awards

It’s quite admirable that a handful of already busy individuals would organize an event to reward the best blogs that the Filipino blogosphere has to offer. The nomination period ended last Sunday and as expected, the turn out was ridiculously strong. On the Personal category alone, it seems clear that more than one hundred blogs are in the running for the top prize. I just couldn’t help but feel concerned for the judges considering the time crunch that this category could deal them – and we’re not yet even talking about the fourteen other categories featured in this year’s Philippine Blog Awards. Needless to say, it’s going to be one helluva ride for the judges and for the nominees.

I think it would be a better idea to somehow further subdivide Personal blogs into two or more sub-categories to decongest a category that receives almost five to ten times the number of nominees of the other categories.

How?

Beats me. But for some reason, I find it very hard to fathom that judges will have to pit a very personal blog filled with well-written personal accounts with an impersonal and insanely entertaining humor blog.

Could we really compare “content” (40% of the criteria) and tell that one blog has superior content even if they’re blogging on two totally different things? Is it humanly possible to check a year’s content to gauge a blog’s real content rating?

I’m thinking out loud and I sure hope I’m not stepping on anyone’s toes. I’m sure people have been thinking about this – well, I know that people have.

Make no mistake about it though, I know that organizers and judges will make sure that this year’s Awards would be well-executed and I’m sure they won’t put their names on something short of the best. They’re doing a thankless job for the rest of the Pinoy bloggers around so I can’t really say enough praises and appreciation for the things that they do.

I won’t be a hypocrite, I want to win.

Criteria for Judging

Content – 40%
Content serves as the bulk of the criterion. In the same way that good publications are read for their content, good blogs are read because they are informative, relevant and well thought through.

Design – 10%
This refers to the blog’s design in relation to its content. Design takes into consideration the look and feel of the blog, from the placement of links, use of images, feeds, headers and ads.

Appeal and Context – 15%
If content is the cake, appeal is the icing. This refers to the blog’s engagement factor with readers. There may be several blogs that talk about technology for instance, but for some reason, this blog is highly visited not just for the information, but for the personality behind the blogger. This is how much star power your blog has.

Consistency – 15%
This refers to the posting frequency of content. This does not necessarily mean that the blog has posts on an everyday basis. This means that a blogger has the diligence of updating the blog on a regular basis be it once a week, twice a week or every day.

Mileage – 20%
Mileage refers to the blog’s circulation throughout the blogosphere. Trackbacks, special mentions and the number of outgoing links are taken into consideration to determine if this blog is truly an authority in its niche.

 

Here are the blogs that I nominated:

Noisy Noisy Man – Personal – I’m quite sure I’m not the only one who nominated Ade Magnaye. It’s one of the most genuinely funny blogs I’ve ever visited and to this day, I’ve never seen a typo or a glaring grammatical error. His blog is a total 180 of my blog content-wise and tone-wise, and guess what – we’re competing against each other! ha! I also nominated this blog for another category but the list of nominees have yet to be updated.

Chances Of Winning: I’d say this blog is a dark horse for both the Personal and Entertainment categories. Both content and design are slam dunks. This blog probably deserves perfect marks for Appeal and Context considering how riled up and amused the visitors of this blog get. The only thing that stands between him and the award is “mileage”. Man, that would suck to lose the award that way, eh? Sorry, Ade.

Whoas and Woes – Personal – Come to think of it, I should have nominated him for Travel instead. Ron Gatbonton’s blog is one of the best blogs you haven’t been to. He’s a blogger who blogs for blogging’s sake and he has yet to be corrupted into the world of Google Ads and Blog To Profit.

Chances For Winning: He’s not known in the blogosphere and doesn’t know a lot of people in the scene. Translation, mileage, appeal and context are probably not going to be the strong suits of this blog. The contest is as good as any so this blog definitely deserves a mention.

Sidetrip With Howie Severino – Photoblog – Without a shadow of a doubt, HOWIE is the coolest Filipino ever! He is God (yes, GOD – you’re hearing that from me – the type that actually exists) when it comes to making investigative journalism documentaries and the photos are just as good. The blog layout’s pretty good and when you’re a GOD like Howie, there are always lackeys at your doorstep waiting to comment on your latest entry.

Chances Of Winning: I’d say very high. If he was good for the award giving bodies outside the Philippines, I’m sure he’s more than good enough for us. ;)

 

Other sites I nominated (not yet updated)

Ederic@Tinig – Personal

Starry Starry Nights – Personal

Noisy Noisy Man – Bloggers’ Choice

Aaron Roselo : Teenage Angst Regression – Bloggers’ Choice

PinoyXpat – Socio-Political

 

Link Love: The Rest of the Nominees (Personal Category)

 

 

 

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Posted by benj on Wednesday, March 7th, 2007, at 3:07 am, and filed under blogging, philippine blog awards.

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