THIRTY–SEVEN blogs by overseas Filipino workers made it to the finals of the 2009 Pinoy Expats/OFW Blog Awards (PEBA). They are:
Asia and the Pacific
DUNGEON LORD, KOROR, PALAU
WITS and SPIRITS, BANGKOK, THAILAND
HULASCOOP, MISAWA, JAPAN
MINDDETH, BUKET PANJANG, SINGAPORE
A PIECE OF CAKE, YISHUN, SINGAPORE
STYLE SHANGHAI, SHANGHAI, CHINA
CHOOK-MINDER’S QUILL, S.A., AUSTRALIA
FLAMINDEVIL, KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA
LYZIUS, SINGAPORE
GUMAMELA SA PARAISO, TAIPEI, TAIWAN
AS IS, HONGKONG, CHINA
PINOY BRO, Tahiti, French Polynesia
Middle East and Africa
WITS EXPRESSION, DUBAI, UAE
POGING ILOCANO, ABU DHABI, UAE
PERFECT SQUARE, DUBAI, UAE
ANINO AT LIWANAG, DUBAI, UAE
TAMBAY SA DUBAI, DUBAI, UAE
CLASSIC MUSINGS and ECCENTRICITY, DUBAI, UAE
ISLA DE NEBZ, AlKhobar, SAUDI ARABIA
PINK TARHA GIRLS, Riyadh, SAUDI ARABIA
BONI STATION, DAMMAM, SAUDI ARABIA
KLASRUM NI PAJAY, QATIF, SAUDI ARABIA
LIFE MOTO, AL KHOBAR, SAUDI ARABIA
UTAK NI DRAKE, RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA
ANG BAUL NI NOEL, JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA
KABLOGIE, DOHA, QATAR
BIZJOKER, KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN
PALIPASAN, DOHA, QATAR
Europe
CARLO BUTALID’S BLOG, Tilburg, the Netherlands
MY LIFE’S JOURNEY, Fabriano, ITALY
Travel & Explore Germany, Bavaria, Germany
ANGHEL NA WALANG LANGIT, Madrid, SPAIN
MY WORLD IS GETTING SMALLER, Northern Ireland, UK
FRANCESCA IN FRANCE, NICE, FRANCE
Canada and the US
TOPEXPRESS, NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA
MY ORANGE VEST, CALIFORNIA, USA
BABEBIBEBING, GEORGIA, USA
Awarding ceremonies will be on Dec. 26, 6 p.m., at the Bahay Alumni at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.
Conceived to recognize and honor exemplary work of Filipino bloggers abroad, this year’s theme is Filipinos Abroad: Hope of the Nation, Gift to the World.”
Kenji Solis, one of the prime movers of the contest which is on its second year, said there are more than “a hundred thousand” OFW blogs all over the world but contest organizers had to make sure that the authors are based outside the Philippines. Seventy-three blogs from 21 countries (Hong Kong is counted under China) were nominated for this contest.
Winners will be determined by judges’ scores, visibility and metrics (to be provided by Alexa, Technorati and social networks) and popularity (visit http://pinoyblogawards.blogspot.com)
Criteria for the judges are overall content, blog elements (layout, frequency of posts, headers and taglines) and blog entry article.–-Ellen Tordesillas