This post is a little bit delayed and I’m sure most of you guys already know about it by now that JaypeeOnline won the Best Technology Blog award in the recent 2009 Philippine Blog Awards. I wanted to take my time in publishing this post not because I was preparing to write a very lengthy post but because up to this moment, it still feels surreal. I still can’t believe it. Its probably because I wasn’t at the PETA-PHINMA Theater to receive the trophy and that I still don’t have the trophy with me or maybe because I wasn’t expecting to win?

Anyways, I first found out about it on Twitter, when I read the tweets sent by Ate Noemi and Tonyo Cruz. It should’ve been enough for me to believe it but it was about 5 AM and I only had a few hours sleep so I was thinking that maybe my eyes were deceiving me. I logged in to Flippish.com to watch the live stream and from there, Ambo told me that I won. I thought I was still dreaming. I still wasn’t 100% convinced because I didn’t get to see or hear the presentors calling out my blog’s name. I wanted to see and hear it for myself before I believed it was true.

Later that day, I went back to Flippish.com to watch the video recordings of the event. After sifting through several videos, I was able to find the one that had Technology category and watched as Jayvee Fernandez and Erika Tapalla presented the award. It felt really good and I was very happy when I heard the name “JaypeeOnline” announced as the winner.

Here’s the link to the video where the award for the Technology Category was presented. Fast forward to 5:20 for the Technology Category and then 8:46 where Jayvee greets me and mentions that I was online watching the live stream. Thanks Jayvee!

I’ve been wanting to attend the Philippine Blog Awards since its first year and I really wish I was there this year. It would’ve been a great experience to meet my online/blogging friends and meet other Pinoy bloggers and see faces behind the blogs. Of course, this award would’ve made it extra special. Btw to the winners of the other categories and special awards, if you’d like a banner like the one I have here on this post and on my sidebar, just leave a comment below or send me a message via the contact page and I’ll gladly make one for you.

Now its time to give thanks. First and foremost, I’d like to thank God for giving me good health, strength and wisdom. Next, I’d like to thank my family for their support, they are my inspiration. To Jan Geronimo for nominating me to this year’s Philippine Blog Awards. My friend MM Fernandez for introducing me to the world of websites and blogging and inspiring me to start my own personal website. I’d also like to thank you, my dear loyal readers, visitors, the Jedi bloggers, the Power50 group, fellow bloggers and online friends for your support. Thanks to everyone who left congratulatory comments on my previous posts and also on my Twitter and Facebook accounts. Btw, I’d also like to thank Arbet for accepting the award on my behalf. Hehe Last but not least, I’d like to thank the organizers, staff, volunteers, judges and sponsors of the Philippine Blog Awards. I feel very honored and at the same time humbled by this award.

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas at ang Pinoy bloggers! One Blogging Nation!

Was supposed to publish this last Friday, but I wasn’t able to do so because I had to do some personal errands and spent the rest of the day preparing materials, slideshow presentation, etc for a Saturday afternoon children’s program in church. Anyways, I found out last Friday that the finalists for the nationwide categories of this year’s Philippine Blog Awards were already announced and the complete list posted on the PBA official website. I was happy to find out that JaypeeOnline is once again a finalist in the Technology category.

It’s quite a long list, but I just wanted to share it with you guys:

Best Technology Blog
JaypeeOnline // Blogging News & Reviews
MMO GrindHouse- fueling your daily grind on MMO Games
My Asus Eee PC
Orangeinks
sasa java
Software Critics
TechPinas : The Philippine Technology Blog
The Mike Abundo Effect
The Rookie Blogger
trashman

Best Travel Blog
A Pinay in Europe
BYAHILO: Ito ang Trip Ko!
eskapo
Explore Iloilo
Just Wandering
lagal[og]
Langyaw – Sojourns and Off-the-Beaten Path Travels
Making Things Happen
Nomadic Experiences
sagada tourism guide

Best Entertainment Blog
CONUNDRUM
Film-Otaku
Lessons From the School of Inattention
Music Picks
PH Stars
Pop Reviews Now
Reel Advice Movie Reviews
SHELU89
SHOWBIZCHISMAX
Starmometer
SUGARFREE

Best Personal Blog
ai’s cracker
Baddieverse
bikoy.net
Brief Stories
Cerebral Insights
citybuoy
Excuse My French
fritzified.com
Funny is the New Sexy
Life with Ria
Nursecissism
Platonic Trip
RALPHGUZMAN.ORG
room for squares
Succulence Unleashed
The Casual Observer
The Digitizer
The Free Lancer
writing on air
xtnpl.blog.friendster.com

Best Food & Beverage Blog
A Scientist in the Kitchen
Cebu Restaurants
Flipflopping my way around Town
hungrynez
Kitchen Cow
Our Daily Blog
Overseas Pinoy Cooking
Table for Three, Please
The Thirsty Blogger
Yedylicious: In Between Bites

Best Family & Living Blog
Absolute Cousins
Animetric’s World
BEYOND TOXICITY
Make or Break
MommyCow
occupation: SAHM
Viva La Vida Mama
What is a Progressive School?

Best News & Media Blog
Cagayan de Oro News Online
Daily Contributor
iNews Philippines
Paulnatic
PINOYWORLD
RePress
Virtual Journals

Best Business Blog
BusinessAccent.com
Millionaire Acts
MisOrJobs
Negosyo Ideas
Owning a Café
Pinoy Money Talk
Ready To Be Rich
The Sagada Lemon Pie House

Best Sports Blog
Buhay Basketball
Fire Quinito
i2runner
Lakers Today
Philippine Basketball Blog
Philippine Boxing
Sports and Tech sa Pilipinas
The Duffer

Best Hobby & Recreation Blog
Bearbrick Love
Bored & Crafty
Comicgasm
Comicology: The Study of Awesome
Dance Manila
Flying in Crosswinds
Mad Labs and Hug Dogs
Pinoy Experience Mountain Biking and Outdoor Philippines
Pinoy Mountaineer
The Singing Blogger

Best Fashion Blog
I LVOE LV
My Fashion Juice
Runway2Reality
Style and Relax
StyleAnywhere
THE UKAY QUEEN:Ukayshopping101
Ukay-ukay Escapades
who is elyoo?

Best Photo Blog
Asin at Paminta
dennisvillegas.blogspot.com
Didang Alvarez
Distilling Thoughts
I Am a Documentary Photographer
Lantaw
lawstude.blogspot.com
Lino Photography
My Manila
www.derpinsel.com/noone

Best Culture & Arts Blog
Art in Action
Bookmarked!
Coffeespoons
magnetic-rose.net: Japanese Pop Culture for Filipino Fans
Perlas Design Studio
PinoyTattoos.com – Filipino Tattoo Source
SA GUBAT NG NAMIMINTOG NA PATALIM
Sari-Saring Sineng Pinoy
The Spy in the Sandwich
Views from the Pampang

Best Commentary Blog
ad maiorem Dei gloriam
Alleba Politics
J. R. Ramos Go
Matinong Ehemplo Ng Youth Ehemplo ng Kabataan
Me and My Big Mouth
myepinOy’s bLOG
Pencil Pusher/Number Cruncher
pinoybuzz
riknakem
Splice and Dice
Staedtler
The Marocharim Experiment
Third Wave
Zzaragoza’s Weblog

Best Videocast
Digiputz.com
DoctorDude – Fun Vlogs on Health and Wellness
Entrepbuff.com
Komikero BIDJO

Best Podcast
Brink Notes Entertainment Daily
PINOY POPCAST PODCAST
World 3

Best Humor Blog
Basta…
Chiksilog
Good Times Manila
Hay!Men!
Indolent Indio
Kwentong Barbero
manik makina
Noisy, Noisy Man
Oi! Greenpinoy!
The Professional Heckler
tuyong tinta ng bolpen

Best Gaming Blog
ExcEsc
gameshogun
Mike Got Game!
Pinoy Gaming Network

Best Advocacy Blog
Autism Society Philippines
CyberRon
discourses of a free mind
Fide Quarens Intellectum
Filipino Deaf from the Eyes of a Hearing Person
Filipino Freethinkers
Foreclosure Philippines
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo RESIGN!
Greenpeace Southeast Asia
Nurses Notes

Best Beauty Blog
Candy Blush Beauty Blog
Shen’s Addiction
The Doctor Is vaIN

Below are the finalists for the Special Awards.

Special Award: Best Blog Design
Design was here
DigDesignz: Blog of a young Filipino Web and Graphic Designer
GraphiCult
Loy Meets World
Pink is Fab!
Pink Notes Diary
Simon Ong | Personal Blog and Portfolio
The Rookie Blogger
The Site Guy
The Vignette

Special Award: Best Foreign Blog
BakitWhy.com | Filipino American Lifestyle
koji ryan
My Sarisari Store

Special Award: Best Filipino Abroad Blog
AS IS
Baul ni Noel
Digifotoblog
Funny Side Up
IsladeNebz
Lilypad
myepinoy’s blog
Palipasan
PinoyBro
THE MONOLOGUES OF A DESERT DUDE
The Warped Zone

Special Award: Best Filipiniana Blog
Filipino Librarian
pamatay homesik
pilipinokomiks.blogspot.com
Simbahan – Philippine Heritage Churches and Related Structures
The Philippines and Beyond

Just being recognized by the Philippine Blog Awards is already a great honor for me, especially when you’re listed among other great Pinoy blogs. It also makes all the effort I put into this blog worthwhile. Congratulations to all the finalists in the different nationwide categories!

UPDATE: Nominations for the 2009 Philippine Blog Awards has been extended to August 21, 2009, Friday, at 11:59PM Manila Time.

Once again, its that time of the year to recognize the Philippine’s finest and best blogs and bloggers. The 2009 Philippine Blog Awards with the theme “One Blogging Nation” was officially launched last July 8th and together with that, the PBA staff also unveiled the fresh new design for the Philippine Blog Awards website.

Screenshot:

If last year’s design was nice, this one is much even better. Another great job by Gail Dela Cruz and the folks from Sheero Media Solutions.

This year’s Philippine Blog Awards will be a bit different from previous year’s events because for the first time, it will be held not only once but three times, two of which will be held in selected venues in the Visayas and Mindanao. I’m glad that the organizers did this because this gives bloggers from Visayas and Mindanao to participate and experience a special blogging event like this. I’m sure our blogging friends from those areas would be very happy about this since many of them weren’t able to attend the past two events because the event was held only in Manila. Aside from that development, there are also a few new awards/categories and special awards that have been added to the lineup:

New Awards:

• Videocast – The blog that moving images: videocasts or vlogs. These are the items we download from the blog or delivered to us by RSS. They may span from one minute to an hour.
• Podcast – The blog that posts sound: podcasts and videocasts. These are the items we download from the blog or delivered to us by RSS. They may span from one minute to an hour.
• Humor – A blog that focuses on putting a smile on a readers face and/or a series of giggles of ha ha has from its readers. It is hard to do comedy whether it be witty or just being plain pleasantly silly.
• Gaming – A blog that focuses on games both online and offline: Whether the game is played on an actual chess board or a virtual one.
• Advocacy – A blog that activelt supports a cause, causes or an idea. A blog that champions, advocates, argues, support, looks for support and even pleads for a cause whether it be social, political or ecological.
• Beauty – A blog focuses on beauty. It talks about; gives advise; and shows how beauty is taken cared of and even accenuated in order to look more pleasant to the eye.

New Special Awards:

• Filipino Abroad – This award gives due recognition to the Filipino blogger or blogger of Filipino ancestry who has contributed significantly to the community and the country through blogging.
• Foreign Blog – This award gives due recognition to a foreign owned or foreign blog that has focused and blogged significantly about the Filipinos and the Philippines.
• Filipiniana Blog – This award gives due recognition to the blog that has focused and consistently blogged about the Philippines whether it be social, political, historical and cultural. Everything Filipino: Everything Filipiniana.
• Blog Application – This award gives due recognition to the best blog application developed for 2009.
• Bisdak Blogger – This award goes to the blogger whose blog showcases his talent in blogging in the Vernacular (Bisaya). The word “Bisdak” comes from the words “BISaya” and “DAKu” which literally means Bisaya (the vernacular) and Big. This award will recognize our bloggers who blog with passion with their native tongue.
• Visayas Bloggers Choice – The Visayas is now a growing community of Bloggers from Cebu, Bohol, Iloilo and more. There are a good number of impressive blogs but some stands out above the others. This awards goes to the blogger whose blog is the talk of the town—the influential blog, the inspirational blog and the example. This award will recognize the blogger who is well respected in the Blogging communities in Visayas.
• Best Visayas Locale Blog – As we have different travel blogs showcasing the different beautiful places a travel blogger goes to, this next award focuses on a Visayan blog which will promote one’s hometown or city here in Visayas. This award goes to the best blog which talks about a certain blogger’s hometown or city.
• Best Visayas Nature Blogger – When one comes to Visayas he/she may have the different choices of experiencing the Life of nature. We cannot deny the white sand beaches, the rare virgin forests filled with exotic wild life and the beautiful waterfalls that are located in this region. We recognize the blogger who best presents these best things in life found in Nature.

Nomination Period is from July 8 until August 13, 2009 at 11:59 PM Manila time. So if you wanna join and register your blog or would like to recommend or nominate your favorite Pinoy blog/blogger, you still have about 2 weeks time to do it.

Again, the Philippine Blog Awards organizers are looking for volunteers and sponsors for this year’s event. If you can’t do that, you can also help spread the word about the 2009 Philippine Blog Awards by blogging about it or by displaying the official Philippine Blog Awards banners on your blog or website.

For more information regarding the eligibility & guidelines, nomination process, criteria for judging and other inquiries, please visit the 2009 Philippine Blog Awards official website.