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The finalists for the Philippine Blog Awards were released earlier today. Each category was whittled to a very short list comprising of five entries and to the utter shock of everyone (yes, yes, play along), Atheista.net was snubbed out of contention. The judges obviously hate rockstars because Noisy, Noisy Man – a well-written and witty blog I nominated — was also not included as one of the finalists.

Ok prepare for a little bit of sincerity.

If it’s any consolation, all the five blogs who made it are all well-written. The choices that the judges made reflect the main thrust of this Philippine Blog Awards – diversity. Despite only having five finalists, the Personal Category definitely features five very different blogs. If anything, this shows that The Powers That Be didn’t go with a certain type of blog in deciding who gets to be in the running for the March 31 Awards Night. And please, don’t flood the judges’ inboxes just because they snubbed me. Seriously, stalking them and harassing them will not be necessary. But if you really want to, go ahead. I know I can’t stop my fans. I’m still up for the Bloggers’ Choice award so you guys can still help me out with that one. I’m still wondering who nominated me. I would really appreciate it if you would show yourself. C’mon, I’ll treat you out to dinner.

Here are the five blogs that will be vying for the top prize for the Personal Category (in alphabetical order).

• Bikoy.net is one of the few blogs that I’ve been visiting since I started blogging last year. He has been a blogger for 2001 – that makes him a blogging veteran at the ripe old age of 18. In a previous entry, I even noted that his blog is still very personal in an almost Pinoy Big Brother/ EDTV kind of way. Nowadays, he adds a significant amount of public commentary to the daily dose of his everyday life (and we hardly agree on any issue). There’s something about the way he writes that makes me think that he will be someone special in the future – think this guy. He hasn’t had any recognition from an award giving body since he started blogging so this year could probably be his year. Good luck, Bikoy.

• People blog to share their stories and hopefully reach out to other people. Coupled with superbly written pieces, their message and stories become so powerful that in inspires people into action. We’ve seen it with Noemi Dado’s blog and now, we’re seeing it in Fight Pompe. Just like Atheista.net, Fight Pompe is meant to chronicle the life of someone who lives under unusual circumstances. Juan Magdaraog’s website is aimed to educate people regarding the realities of Pompe Disease – a rare genetic disease due to the lack of specific enzymes for cellular metabolism. Aside from educating readers, Dikoy also shows that he’s just like everyone else despite his disease. He usually gushes about the latest news in technology and his faith among other things. The guy is a well-accomplished individual who gets to write for tech magazines – how’s that for star power?

• Speaking of star power (and yes, it is part of the criteria), no one on the list even comes close to THE Jessica Zafra. She’s written a lot of columns for a popular broadsheet and the same columns still sold like pancakes when they were compiled in several volumes of books. Her site is down right now so it’s hard to make a good appraisal of her online work. If there were bookies working for the Philippine Blog Awards, Jessica Zafra is clearly the odds-on choice. In terms of street cred, crit cred and seniority, no one can really question the judges decision.

• Admittedly, Lastleaf.org is the site on the list that I least frequent. Aside from the entries, the best thing about her site is the layout. I think she picked the right color scheme to make her theme work for her.

If you have the guts to call Manny Pacquaio a monkey, you’ll definitely be an overnight sensation – with dozens of adoring fans and probably thousands of haters. Shari Cruz comes across as a very genuine, vulnerable and self-deprecating woman in her late teens who seems to find humor in adversity. Instead of wallowing in her personal issues, she links them to bigger national/international issues that everybody can relate to. Just like with Bikoy, we almost never agree on anything (lol).

Those are the five nominees for the Personal Category!

If I were to place my money on any of these five great people, I think I’ll be bent on saying that it’s going to be Dikoy and Bikoy for the win – with Shari as the dark horse.

I’ll take this opportunity to pimp finalists for the other categories!

If I had no conscience, I would steal Ironwulf’s theme and claim it for myself. Ironwulf’s site is probably the best looking page I’ve seen. It looks it has been thoroughly thought of and well-executed – I’m not a designer so don’t kill me if you think otherwise. He’s nominated for two categories – Travel and Best Blog Design. I wouldn’t be shocked if he wins both. I think he deserves every possible award. He easily takes the best pictures and it really seems that he’s the traveler who would venture off the beaten path.

JaypeeOnline is the only Techblog that I go. The best thing about it is that it’s very user-friendly and non-threatening- you wouldn’t have words that would zoom past your head when you read his works. That could work against him (some judges might dig geekery, haha), but what the heck, I hope he wins.

And yup, Atheista.net is up for the Bloggers’ Choice Award. I’ll keep you guys posted on how you can show your support for my site.

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