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The date has been set – it’s October 9 2009. After holding it at Makati and Pasay, the Philippine Blog Awards now moves to Pasig (Megatent Events Venue 30 Meralco Avenue, Bgy. Ugong, Pasig City). No other details have been released as of posting, but you may check the PBA official website for official updates.

Last year’s edition of the Philippine Blog Awards – despite the usual fare of controversy — was arguably a well-executed affair that allowed bloggers to at least get together and interact on a non-virtual level even if you one didn’t exactly agree with the decision. I don’t think there could ever be a solid consensus, so I guess the lesson behind this exercise is that a grand event such as an awards night at least starts the conversation about gives the non-blogging, unwashed masses a chance to peek into our online lives/ pageant of warthogs.

I’m attracted to the prospect of competition. I’m a huge fan of sports – whether as a participant, spectator or arm-chair coach-cum-expert. I am drawn to reality shows that pits people into unnatural situations just to see who is most fit to run a company or win enough money to start a restaurant. Awards are also a competition, but the nature of the judging and the objective-but-still-arguably-subjective way of assessment makes it a lot more interesting and open to a lot of discussion.

The organizers did fairly well last year, but if I were to be nitpicky about it, it would’ve helped tremendously had the list of finalists been released at least a week before the actual awarding. That would’ve started a discussion and created buzz and hype for the event – similar to how the anticipation builds up pre-Oscars. If there’s one change that would be done for this year, I sure hope it’s this one.

Just like in year one, I am approaching this awards season with great excitement to see who the nominees and finalists are.  I was fortunate enough to have been shortlisted for three categories last year so I am no stranger to the feeling of anticipation and anxiety. It’s easy to say that you don’t care about who wins, but when you’re competitive as I am, it doesn’t really matter if it’s an award or a finger-wrestling match. If you have a chance to win, you might as well give it your all and see if it works out for you.

It’s clear that for the third year running, the Personal and Travel Blogs category would certainly be the most competitive groups. The two earlier editions of the PBA have seen the who’s who and the consensus behemoths of both niches vie for the top prize. My extremely biased opinion is that at the very least, the judges have gotten the shortlist right. Last year’s finalist batch was a very long list of accomplished bloggers and there are still a few of them there who are just as deserving of winning this year.Everything’s up in the air, really.

Can Ironwulf pull it off again, or is it Byahilo’s year? Maybe Lakwatsero can play the part of the dark horse and the spoiler and be this year’s surprise winner.

For the Personal Blog category, it would be heart breaking to deny Helga and Bikoy – two bloggers who could have easily won last year — the top prize just because of the inconvenient rule that there has to be only one winner. I still think that the Personal category should be expanded to have multiple winners since most blogs are personal anyway. Some niches are NOT even that well-established to have some semblance of competition going.

There are so many questions that could pique your interest for the upcoming PBAs and it’s definitely filled with uncertainty. But one thing’s for sure – I won’t be winning this year.

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