Eligibility
* The Competition is open to everyone with a blog
* Bloggers who wish to compete should be writing in English or Filipino.
* The blogger should have a minimum of five entries in his blog to be eligible
* The Blogger should write an entry in a challenge s/he wishes to compete in
* Entries submitted after the set deadline will not be honored
* The judges and eliminating panel reserve the right to exclude any entry for whatever valid reasons
* Judges and guest judges are disqualified to join the present challenge.
* Ex-judges are qualified to join future competitions
Voting
* To promote peer-to-peer recognition and respect only bona fide bloggers can vote for the competition. Anonymous voters without a valid blog will not be added to the tally of votes.
* Voters must be blogging for at least three (3) months with a minimum of thirty entries in his blog prior to his voting in the competition. This will eliminate phantom voters and reduce incidence of cheating.
* One vote is tallied as 100 points. A voter is allowed to pick three best entries among the finalists.
* The votes are added up and the winner is declared with a Reader’s Choice Award citation.
* The total number of votes (converted into weights) are added to the other weight points as set in the Winner Selection Criteria: (see criteria below)
Competition Rules and Posting Guidelines
01. Once a month a Challenge will be posted for bloggers to write about. Along with the challenge is a deadline covering the date and time for submission and voting. Submissions after the set deadline will no longer be honored and the blogger is encouraged to join the next challenge.
02. Bloggers can write in either Filipino or English in any style s/he wishes to write (humorous, sentimental, romantic, argumentative etc).
03. Blog entries should be having a minimum of 700 words and a maximum of 1,500. (Longer entries will only be considered upon judges discretion, or if it really upholds the caliber of excellence to merit consideration.)
04. Bloggers who wish to compete may leave a message of intent to join the particular challenge and an exact link/URL to the entry in the comment section (please do not use the chatbox to submit you entry link). Entry links will not appear in the comment section until the deadline date to prevent idea theft.
05. After the entry submission is closed a core panel of 5 regular judges will select and nominate the best entries as Finalists for the said challenge.
06. The list of Finalists will be posted in the Blog Awards Challenge website. It will be open for peer voting. Fellow Bloggers can vote for their favorite entries from the list of Finalists by leaving a comment in that particular Challenge’s Comments field. To prevent Pollhost cheating we’d rather count the valid votes manually. Votes should be posted WITHIN the voting period. Votes cast after that period will not be honored.
07. After the voting is concluded the judges will enjoin three (3) guest judges to help determine the challenge winners. The three guest judges will ensure objectivity and bring in fresh/outsider’s perspectives into the winner selection.
08. The identity of the five regular judges will be kept confidential to preserve the integrity of the competition. The identities of the three guest judges will be revealed with brief write ups and link to their blogs alongside the declaration of winners.
09. Each blog challenge will have three major winners and 2 merit winners to be selected from the set of nominated finalists. The distinctions will be recognized as follows:
a. The Blog Challenge Winner (Excellence)
b. The 1st Runner Up (Distinction)
c. The 2nd Runner Up (Achievement)
d. The 2 Finalists (Merit)
Check out the winners' badges.
10. Criteria for selection will be as follows:
a. quality/content - 30%
b. writing style - 25%
c. point of view/insight/logic - 15%
d. grammar skills 10%
e. non-competing blogger votes 20%
f. parameters a-d are exclusively judges discretion; parameter e are blog voters choice
11. Bloggers can join as many challenges as s/he wants. S/he will only be disqualified from the competition if his entry does not conform to the set parameters for eligibility or in the case of him/her already winning the Hall Of Fame distinction.
12. The competition is open to everyone regardless whether s/he was eliminated/not included in past set of finalists or lost in previous challenges.
13. Hall Of Fame Achievement is awarded to the blogger who won five challenges.
14. Bloggers through participation in this competition allows the organizer the right to publish or use the entries in any way they deem fit with full credits and recognition due to its author.
15. Judges decision/s is/are final.
We welcome concerns, questions, and comments. Please send emails to blogchallenge [at] gmail [dot] com.
Cheers!
The three (3) major winners and two (2) merit winners will have the chance to post these badges on their blogs.
For the 2 Finalists (Merit):
For the 1st Runner Up (Distinction) and 2nd Runner Up (Achievement):
For the Blog Challenge Winner (Excellence):
For the Hall Of Fame Achievement:
Read the rules on how to win these badges.
More badges designed for the sidebar [ 150px by 150px ]. Feel free to use the badges below on your blogs.
Blog Awards Challenge 1 Finalist: hulag
Winning Entry Title: Reasons Why I Love Drowning into Blogging [original link]
Winning entry is reprinted below.
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I Blog Therefore I Am
Off the net proved bootless ideas to my personal campaign against procrastination, thus I started to check life solutions in the Cyber Ocean and luckily discovered the blogosphere. I got intrigued by its collection of elastic self expressions and come-see-this-way opinions fighting for attention over a public space. At first, I thought blogs are diaries necessarily to be filled within 24 hours. Later, I understood posts were not always personal and most blogs were closer to a regularly updated, interactive, educational, online book rather than to a mute daily blubber. I found the blog both as a play space for my literary soul and as a deadline timer for my procrastinating ego. Perfect solution so, I plunged into blogging.
For almost half a year I am still into blogs despite procrastination reminds me then and now that it still exists in the peripheral fringes of my behavior. One more wonder why I am still blogging is that I, since childhood, enjoy the ningas-cogon attitude which like cogon grass quickly catches fire, burns heavily and puts-off quickly. Actually, I found the reasons why I loved drowning into blogging beyond 3 to 5 posts more startling than why I started to blog. I am currently having pearl finds as I discover what are in me which made me blog.
I am a Procrastination Combatant. My post-now - or-never attitude blogging becomes my real life guide to manage procrastination. I copied the capability of being prompt in posting to real life work to oblige myself to perform on time. My posting rings a bell on me not only on compelling deadlines but also on doing things at the right time. Blogging therefore is a cure to my time abusive self.
I am an Experimental Artist. Boredom of things not getting new made me rely to the progressive world of blogging as stable resource of novel perspectives. The art of blogging sustains my inner desire for something new most of the time. I enjoy accumulating and testing updated effective strategies for better blog analysis, optimization, publication, design development and monetization. Blogging therefore feed my hunger for discovery.
I am a Literary Acrobat. Flexing and stretching words and sentences to get readers interest excites my writing muscle mass and adepts my vocabulary. It recollects my literary pool which is wasted in my life before. Knowing I can write better than I used to, which attuned my writing to a spiritual rhythm, is the most gratifying gift of the blog to me. Blogging therefore serves as my language gymnasium.
I am a Hermit on the Loose. Rare was it for me to have a life beyond my skin but my blog displays proved more than just few square inches of exposure of the weird, wild, weed me to the blogging collaborative, cross-border community. It sent me reading friends and enlightened me with networking, commenting, and socializing skills. In fact I learned valuing others more from blogging than from the contact world - honestly stated. Blogging therefore generates my somewhat-called social life.
I am a Lecturing Learner. As a procrastinator who learns to move, I love to share my life discovered solutions for any distraction, through language plays, and against my hermitage. All these being delivered through my first ever blog - Hulag, a blog for those who lagged. It is so fun to learn and share what I have learned at the same time.
Blogging therefore serves as one of my media for altruism. Just five pearl dives for now. Although I know that there is more to my person which clicks well with blogging so I remained a blogger. Worth discovering and elaborating so long as my eyes, fingers and soul are willing to be drowned into this cyber ocean against the pressure to procrastinate. Whenever this blogging experience ends soon, the part of my life that I became a blogger will always be treasured. I blogged therefore I was blogger. And I am still now.
To Provoke the Senses
It is not easy to dive for reasons in life actions but simply start achieving it and you will get hooked to it. Do the same in achieving any action - just begin and you will find yourself crossing through. There might be pirates to hamper you but just keep going.
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Visit hulag blog.
Blog Awards Challenge Finalist (Merit): Pinoy Lotto Winner
Winning Entry Title: Blogging and Loving It [original link]
Winning entry is reprinted below.
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Friends ask,
“Why blog?”
I answer,
“Why not?”
They all say,
“That’s not a valid reason.”
And then I say,
“Read my blog and you’ll see.”
Head scratches. Disappointed looks. Piercing eyes. Silence.
Are you one of my friends? Yes?
Hi!
Welcome to my gambling site!
Look around first and read the mess that's in here. Much like the mess in my room, right? This is my squatting place in cyberspace. The domain that replaced my moleskine journal. The reason why I'm sometimes not in the mood to go out.
Anyway, I know you came here for a reason. And I promise not to disappoint and give my honest answer.
Are you ready?
I blog because I need to. It’s an itch I need to scratch. It’s a thirst I need to quench. I blog because I want to. It’s a world I want to explore. It’s a life I want to discover. Do you get my drift?
No?
Should I drop the BS and be more like… me in real life? Nah, I don’t think so because I want you to see another side of me. A part which you don’t know and a character you haven’t met. And no, I’m not schizophrenic. I’m just, should I say, greedy with my personality.
But that changes now, because I owe you my explanation, now that you came here to my domain. But first - THANK YOU. Don’t forget to play the lotto. Who knows if you’d win and treat me to a trip to Boracay, Palawan and Cebu… and so I digress.
So why do I waste spend hours in front of the computer instead of watching Marimar? What? That soap already ended? Sorry.
NETWORK
Blogging leads to blog hopping. Blog hopping leads to bloggers. Bloggers lead to friendships. Friendships lead to connections. Connections lead to… you know where I’m going.
And no, I’m not replacing you, I’m just upgrading my social life. Remember the time when I got rid of my 4GB iPod Nano for an 40GB iPod Classic because I want to put more songs in? This is my new iPod Classic, and you’re in my old loyal friends playlist. While this guy who sells original but cheap Havaianas on his site is in my people-to-call-for-birthday-gifts playlist. Get it?
KNOWLEDGE
When I blog, I discover and learn things about myself. Such as:
1. I can still type fast with one hand while the other is holding a sandwich.
2. I discovered that I’m more efficient at work because I want to blog as soon as possible.
3. Writing my thoughts stops them from running aimlessly in my head.
4. Good business ideas often come to me when I’m half-awake typing gibberish on my draft.
5. My expenses are lower because I blog instead of going to Starbucks to write in my journal.
FAME
Visitors. Readers. Fans.
Attention. Buzz. Awards.
Megalomania. World domination. Jessica Zafra.
‘Nuff said.
ESCAPE
Why do you watch movies? Read those novels? Drink at bars? Window shop at SM City? It’s because you want to forget about your duties and deadlines. Wait, I should restate that –
It’s because you want to temporarily forget about your duties and deadlines (better?).
You and I do not function with an unlimited source of power. We need to recharge emotionally, psychologically and actually. (snickers)
Blogging is a good escape from reality. It lets the subconscious sort out the stuff in our head while we ramble into cyberspace with all our nonsense. (I see niche bloggers smirk with that statement.)
So the next time I’m not replying to your texts and you see that my Yahoo Messenger is offline. I’m probably spaced out here in my blog.
MONEY
Give me a D
Give me an O
Give me an L
Give me an A
Give me an R
Give me an S
What do you get?
A wrong spelling of dollars.
Yes, this is why I’m constantly asking you guys to start a blog. So I can have back links and improve my Google Page Rank. So I can increase my Technorati Authority. So I can have more Blog Juice. So I have a friend to learn Search Engine Optimization with. So I can get help in grabbing "Opportunities".
So I can earn more money and I won’t need you to treat me to Boracay, Palawan and Cebu when you win the lotto. So I can buy every Havaiana flip-flop color from that guy as your birthday gift. So I can upgrade my 40GB iPod Classic to 160GB. So I can meet Jessica Zafra.
Wait, I don’t need money to meet her. I’ll just spam her blog until she agrees to meet me.
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Visit Pinoy Lotto Winner blog.
Blog Awards Challenge 2nd runner-up (Achievement): Mikelcleus
Winning Entry Title: i blog [original link]
Winning entry is reprinted below.
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when state-sponsored repression--political, personal or otherwise--reaches unprecedented levels, the world wide web has become an avenue, a sort of last resort, to voice out, problematize, and process pesonal narratives, which, in turn, is part of a bigger meta-narrative of cultures. free blog hosting, like that of google's blogger, contributes to the mainstreaming of the politization of a greater mass of people.
personal is political
blogging is not a mere diurnal account of the writer-artist-activist-businessman. blogging is an assertion of being. it is an assertion against the demands of highly evolved structures of rules which govern our everyday existence. blogging, in its self, is a political statement which says "hey, listen to me! i breathe. i feel. i am human." and blogs are people's personal political spaces.
with this assertion of existence comes our being, our need to be different. yet the need to be connected.
for many bloggers, blogs and blogging have been a medium to vent out their emotions, thoughts and tendencies which, because of societal pressure, both real and imagined, are difficult to articulate outside the blogosphere. here they find not just personal space to broadcast and assert individuality, but also audience who affirms them.
politics in practice
many misconstrue politics, defined loosely as power-structure-people relationships, to be only that as expressed and practiced in the formal political structures. but to box out personal narratives as separate from mainstream politics, to be neutral and unaffected by power relationships, therefore unpolitical, is to put a blind eye on the many problems of the world: poverty, food and energy crises, environment degradation, women and children abuse, racial and ethnic discrimination, the capital crunch, many of which affect us. this is not to say that people blog because they are members of a particular sector of society directly affected by these problems, but to say we blog because we are humans. and as human beings, we are affected in many (direct and indirect) ways. quoting terentius, "homo sum; humani nil a me alienum puto (i am a man; nothing human is alien to me)."
others in my self
i blog about my life. when i feel trapped because of societal expectations, i know it is not because i am, but because i was forced into, and that i am not the only one in the same predicament. when i can't buy necessities in the market because of their prices, i know that such state of affairs is not particular only to me. when i am pissed because of the long queue of people who wants to ride the train to god knows which unnamed cubicle in one of the buildings of makati or ortigas, i know i am not the only one pissed in the queue. when i blog, i do not only blog about my self therefore, but i blog of other people as well.
the personal human interest blog is not so personal after all. through blogging, people find connection with other people. and through thus, bloggers are able to regain their humanity, a rejection of the alienating tendencies brought about by a rigid system of economic accumulation.
blog is power
the near impossibility of formal institutional censorship of blogs makes it possible for individuals to tackle more varied themes and interests than in mainstream media. this makes blogging powerful. personal human stories which are not "acceptable" for the mainstream market finds alternative outlet through blogs. tiny voices may resonate across the web and the world over, as long as the writer has the skill and the passion to tell the stories. through blogging, the individual is able to dictate, free of censorship, what is important and what is not. not everyone blog. but, increasingly, technology has made access to the internet more affordable and more convenient, allowing more people an avenue of space to speak out and be heard.
those who blog yields power at the tip of their fingertips. and with any power comes responsibility.
i therefore am
to tell our stories, that is what blogging is all about. indeed, blogging has become an articulation of a nation's consciousness formed from personal narratives. and narratives are experienced in the real world. to say that bloggers are devoid of real interaction is plain ignorant of reality. stories, after all, are better lived than just imagined.
i live. i blog. therefore i am.
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Visit mikelcleus blog.
Blog Awards Challenge 1st runner-up (Distinction): 2Fourteen
Winning Entry Title: Blog: a nonsense business? [original link]
Winning entry is reprinted below.
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My summer sunburn is agonizing! It’s stinging me as I write this blog entry.
After spending two seconds of your lifetime reading the two sentences above, you ask yourself: WHO CARES? If you worship me as your idol or if you have a head-over-heels crush on me, I would understand if reading it excites you.
As Malu Fernandez in her Manila Standard Today column puts it…
“But blogging, aside from Perez Hilton and the other big time bloggers (you know who you are) is for me a slacker job or a medium and pastime for lonely people to connect. Unless you’re in bloody Siberia or in a Gulag prison, try stepping outside your comfort zone and turn off the laptop or pc, you just might find some real live people to talk to instead of typing away in cyber space.”
Perhaps Malu has a stereotyped notion of what a blog is. When blogging began, most people described it as an online diary, some sort of a tunnel in which people channel their frustrations and depressions. I myself was introduced to blogging as such. The blogging and online diary thread in pinoyexchange.com forum was merged, making it seem like there is no difference between them at all. I remember inviting my friend to write his own blog and he responded: “Who would be stupid enough to broadcast everything about his self online? Not unless you are Manny Pacquiao or what”
But when you actually started to participate in the blogosphere, you will learn that blogs are more than just a diary. Diaries are personal accounts of a person while blogs can do the following:
People blog to...
To impart information
The internet is not called the information highway for nothing. Blogs have become an avenue for people to document their mastery in their fields. Some bloggers learn by the book, some learn by experience and some learn by both. A blogger may share something about passing the college entrance test of a university. Another may write about the latest technologies, cars or political events. The topics are limitless
EXAMPLE:
To avoid sunburn, apply a generous amount of lotion with skin protection formula against the rays of the sun whenever you go out on a beach or an open field concert.
To generate income
Humans as we are, we are drawn to the idea of making a fortune out of something. People soon began noticing that blogs are a feasible source of cash. There had been testimonies that people earn a few hundreds of dollars by blogging. Placing ads in their blogs sound like a passive money maker, however, there are aggressive approaches as well. Numerous sites offer a pay-per-post program. Some companies contact bloggers to write about their product for financial compensation.
EXAMPLE:
Click the advertisement on this blog for me to generate income and buy a sun block.
To Advocate
Save the Earth, No to Pornography, Oust the President and Save the Penguins are few of the resounding tones blogs have if their purpose is to advocate. Their blogs are committed to realize an advocacy. They build communities of bloggers to increase their potency. They write their thoughts on a topic and aren’t afraid to debate with people who doesn’t have the same perspective.
EXAMPLE:
No to CFC-emitting products! Let’ save our children from the harmful UV-rays!
To Promote
The 2008 earth hour gained a considerable amount of attention worldwide from the efforts of concerned bloggers. They promoted the event on their blog. Concerts and products can be promoted in the blog as well. The Blog Awards Challenge in which this entry was written for invested much in making the bloggers promote the event in their respective blogs.
EXAMPLE:
Skin Light papaya lotion is effective against the sun rays and will leave your skin impenetrable against it. It is available on all major pharmaceuticals worldwide.
To Share/Reflect
This is what majority of bloggers do. They tell you what had transpired during their day. Be it their love life, college life, unexpected event or a miracle, they share whatever had caught their imagination. If a thought sparked out after minutes of reflections, it is but wiser to immortalize it in texts so as not to be forgotten.
EXAMPLE:
This sunburn reminds me of my poignant love story. Each time it stings, my heart responds accordingly.
These are few of the reasons why bloggers do their thing and there will be new niches for millions of bloggers to take up in the future. A diary can’t do that.
The Driving Factor
Who wouldn’t want a few bucks out of nothing but an internet connection and a computer? When I began blogging, I was profit-driven. I went to numerous sites telling me how to earn money while blogging. I resorted to pay-per-click ads, pop-ups, and pay-per-posts.
Generating humungous amount of traffic brings excitement to me as well. I practiced aggressive approaches in promoting my blog in the pinoyexchange.com forums. I enjoyed a sharp spike in my visits graph in Google analytics but the very next day, the number of visitors dropped heavily.
I did everything I was told to do to get heavily trafficked and to earn money but it doesn’t just seem right. I grew impatient, tired. Money’s fueling mechanism does not appeal to me anymore and when I looked back at my first blog, I realized that I wouldn’t want to read it myself! It looks like a frustrated high school collage project directing to nowhere because of all the ads, pop-ups and pointless blog entries.
And soon, I learned that I have to work backwards. The desire to generate income from this blog is still present but I have to get people reading my blog. This time, I practiced an internal approach. This blog has a target audience so I know to whom I will be writing for. I ensure that all my blog entries make sense that if I would be the reader, I would enjoy it myself. It leads me to my conclusion that a blog’s success is measured by its quality of readers not its quantity of readers.
Knowing that I have real readers provide a steady stream of compelling force for me to write. It keeps me thinking throughout my day what my readers would want to read about.
The apotheosis of your blog is when you notice that people can relate to you. They start to leave a comment or reaction to your entry. When I received my first comment, it brought me a fulfilling sensation and it fueled the passion to write further.
Why let the public read your personal entries rather than keep it to yourself in a diary? Sharing is a thrilling element in blogging. If you don’t want to share, you write your personal accounts in a diary but if you want to share you life story and hope to relate to others, blogging is one of the best avenue for that. If they don’t agree with your views, the internet is a free man’s territory. You could debate about the topic for eons. Blogging is a test of conviction as well.
But does looking for some people over the blogosphere for personal accounts imply that bloggers are short on true vis-à-vis friends to confide to? Blogging is an advanced form of communicating and that advancement cannot be possible if the basic foundation is not solid. Bloggers that make sense online is unlikely not to make sense in the real world so it is unlikely as well that bloggers who have superb communication skills have poor social skills.
The invention of blogs is a great blessing for it enables people to express and share their selves side-by-side with the influx of information over the internet. It has grown gradually that non-bloggers misconstrue it. For the bloggers who may happen to pass by this blog and read this entry, take it as a personal mission to let the world know that a blog is more than just a diary, it is a newly found democratic power.
My sunburn still aches at the moment.
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Visit 2Fourteen blog.
Blog Awards Challenge Winner (Excellence): Caustic Thoughts
Winning Entry Title: I Blog Therefore I Am [Original Link]
Winning entry is reprinted below.
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“But blogging, aside from Perez Hilton and other big time bloggers (you know who you are) is for me a slacker job or a medium and pastime for lonely people to connect. Unless you’re in bloody Siberia or in a Gulag prison, try stepping outside your comfort zone and turn off the laptop or pc, you just might find some real live people to talk to instead of typing away in cyber space.” ---Malu Fernandez in Manila Standard Today
Why do I blog?
I blog because
despite certain circumstances showing otherwise, the constitution says this is a free country where freedom of expression is allowed. I have a right to discuss, to debate and to have a say about the things that matter to me and that affect me. Blogging is as legitimate as gathering in the streets to bang on the palace gates and clamor for change. It is as legitimate as speaking from a podium to rouse the sleepy masses. It is as legitimate as writing for a national publication to prompt awareness into action and because we can’t all be fortunate enough to become high society columnists who get paid even for spewing nonsense, I chose to blog. I have the right to my opinion whether you will read it or not.
I blog because
I recognize technology and respect its rightful place in an inevitable future that will improve and reinvent the past but will not repeat it. Although some things will never change, those that will change in the realms of business, communication, education, science and art shall embrace the digital and virtual era as a part and a complement of who and what they are. The virtual world is real and alive. Only those who refuse to broaden their horizons, explore possibilities and leave the comforts of an old age will be left where they are.
I blog because
it is a powerful tool with which to discharge my social responsibility. I know that there are social, political and environmental ills plaguing our reality. I know that there is a need for responsible leadership, social revolution, environmental accountability and activism within oneself. What shall I do with this knowledge? Aside from acting on it, I also have the duty to tell others of what I know and push them to act. Even if only one person realizes some form of truth because of me and decides to be moved, then I would have been justly rewarded. I would not exchange this opportunity to influence for more money than I can count.
I blog because
I have substance. I have a richness of experience that I cannot keep to myself and that cannot possibly be borne out of nothing or out of a false and lonely existence. Writers can only write from experience. If I had lived in the loneliness of virtual isolation, I would have nothing to write about, but even some of those who do live apart from vibrant society, have far clearer insights into life truths than those who claim to own the attention and admiration of legions.
I blog because
I can. I have a skill possessed by many but not by everyone. I will not waste it but far from using it to enrich myself, I will use it first for no other reason than because it is what I do best. I would be a fool to attempt to chart other waters that I do not love when I have been given the gift of words which I do love and the skill to weave them. I am only guilty of using a gift in the only way that it can see the light of day, even if it is only a virtual light. It would be a greater sin to let it rot in my breast because I cannot hawk it in the streets. If by chance I do grow rich because of this skill, it is merely a bonus.
I blog because
I am driven by my creative spirit. Although I respect structure and conventions, I do not have to survive yet under their restrictions. My online passion is yet to be studied, understood and categorized for the benefit of those who must define or those who comprehend only through structures. Today I am free.
I blog because
I bloody hell just want to. It is an interest, an inclination, a desire. It is not a defect or a sign of social retardation. I have nothing against those who stitch crosses all day, those who drink coffee while swapping their neighbors’ dirty linen or those who walk their feet sore going from one window display to another. People should have enough respect not to mind me if I choose to bleed my brains dry over my virtual parchment.
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Visit Caustic Thoughts.
