1. Nomination and Categories for the 2010 Philippine Blog Awards
2. The 2010 Philippine Blog Awards
3. The 2010 Philippioe Blog Awards and the European Union Music Video Award: Ang Aking Europa

1. Nomination and Categories for the 2010 Philippine Blog Awards

Here are the categories for the 2010 Philippine Blog Awards. Nominations will start August 22, 2010.

MAIN CATEGORIES
Technology
Travel
Entertainment
Personal (Diary/Journal)
Food & Beverage
Home and Parenting
Lifestyle
Business
Sports
Hobby & Recreation
Beauty & Fashion
Photoblog
Culture and Arts
Society, Politics and History
Science and Nature
Videocast and Podcast
Literature
Pets
Advocacy
Filipiana
Filipino Abroad

SPECIAL AWARDS CATEGORIES

Best Blog Design
Top Three Post for 2010
Top Three Video Post and Podcast for 2010
Top Three Photo Post for 2010
Top Post for 2010
Bloggers’ Choice
Readers’ Choice

Further updates on this as the week progresses.

2. The 2010 Philippine Blog Awards

The 2010 Philippine Blog Awards will be held on three different dates and venues in Mindanao, Visayas and Luzon. This has been made possible with the partnership of the PBA with bloggers across the country the Awards Night will be held alongside the Visayan Blogging Summit in Iloilo City and the Mindanao Blogger Summit in Zamboanga City.

Further updates on this as the week and months progresses.

3. The 2010 Philippioe Blog Awards and the European Union Music Video Award: Ang Aking Europa

CONTEST : CREATE YOUR OWN MUSIC VIDEO ABOUT THE EU “Ang Aking Europa” (“My Europe”)

GUIDELINES FOR THE CONTEST:

1. WHO MAY JOIN:

The competition is open to all Filipinos, except for officers and staff of organisations and institutions implementing projects and programmes funded by the Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines. Staff of the EU Delegation, or of EU Member States’ Embassies or cultural institutes.

2. THEME :

Music video entries should address the theme “Aking Europa” (“My Europe”) taking into account participants’ perceptions of the role of the European Union in the Philippines.

References including video illustrations of the European Union in the Philippines are available here.

General information on the EU is available here.

In creating their music videos, participants should draw upon their own perceptions / impressions about the European Union and its role in the Philippines .

These impressions might for example be drawn from the following:
- What the EU is, what it means to you?
- The European Union’s bilateral relationship with the Philippines, for example through EU-funded co-operation programmes (eg in areas such as human rights, good governance, environment, health, peace-building, sustainable development), humanitarian assistance, trade and investment links, social or educational links, etc.
- The rich and shared cultural values linking the European Union and the Philippines, or the cultural heritage and legacy of the European Union in the Philippines. Music videos may also draw on past and current EU cultural activities in the Philippines, such as “Europe Month celebrations including events and activities attached to the celebrations, for example, “Lakbayin Natin ang EU”, EU Choral Competitions, “Bersong Euro-Pinoy”
Cine Europa, Amazing EU Christmas, Europe Ko To and and “Linggo de Lingua Europa 3″.

3. TECHNICAL AND LEGAL REQUIREMENTS:

a. Any format, camera and/or video editing or authoring software may be used. When selecting the system/s to use, participants must be aware of the need to produce a quality suitable for internet viewing.

b. The video must have a maximum total running time of two and a half minutes, including opening and closing credits.

c. The video must either be:

- uploaded in megaupload.com (free account) 1024 MB per file
- submitted to the Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines in CD format;

d. . The video must not contain materials (music, images, etc.) which have copyright restrictions, and all materials used must either be original or copyright-free. Any entries which breach this rule shall be automatically disqualified, and legal responsibility for any such breaches shall rest entirely with the person/s who submitted the entry.

e. A maximum of five entries per participant is allowed.

f. The video must not have been previously submitted to any video contest.

g. Participants must fill in a form which can be found here

4. SUBMISSION OF ENTRIES

The naming format should contain the following tag:

AkingEUTitleoftheMTVInitialsoftheauthor”, for example
Aking EU, EU at Ako, JS

Entries may be submitted to either of the following:

akingeu@gmail.com.
DELEGATION-PHILIPPINES@ec.europa.eu

Others may submit, both video and details:

via snail mail or courier to
The Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines
30th Floor, Tower II
RCBC Plaza, 6819 Ayala Avenue
Makati City

5. JUDGING AND CRITERIA

a. The Board of Judges will comprise respected film and music industry professionals as well as representatives from the academic sector, and officials of the Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines

b. Criteria for Judging:
- clarity in exposition / showing of EU role/s in the Philippines (20%)
- originality of interpretation of EU role/s, programme/s and/or involvement in the Philippines (25%)
- relevance of exposition / interpretation to theme “Aking Europa” (15%)
- creative choice of imagery / subjects / locations in exposition / interpretation (15%)
- technical quality (25%)

6. DEADLINE AND SCHEDULE:

a. All entries must be submitted on or before 12 noon, 15 October 2010:

7. OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

a. The copyright to the music videos entered to the competition shall remain with the author, except that the Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines, and the European Commission, shall have the right to use any such material free of charge for a maximum of two years from the date of awarding.

b. Awarding of prizes will be accompanied by a special screening of the winning music videos.

c. Five winners will be chosen. Winners will each receive a trophy plus, in-kind prizes as follows:
First Prize € 1,000
Special Prize for Original Music Scoring € 800
Second Prize € 800
Third Prize € 600

d. The top 15 finalists will be notified one week prior to the awarding ceremony. Prizes not claimed within 30 days after the awarding ceremony shall be forfeited.

e. Copyright-free sources for music can, for example, be found at :
www.stockmusic.net
www.cssmusic.com
www.royaltyfreemusic.com
www.freeplaymusic.com
CDs featuring Romanian music are available on loan from the Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines through the courtesy of the Embassy of Romania

f. The Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines, and the European Commission, and their partners in this competition, can under no circumstances be held responsible for any failure of participants to observe their own obligations in relation to intellectual property rights.

Further information:

Thelma Gecolea
Public Affairs Officer
Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines
Phone 8595124; Mobile 09209441371

Dear Friend,

Back in High School we had a class that tried to teach us about calligraphy and one of the exercises was to write on an oslo paper in cursive the following quotation:

I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again…

It was supposed to have been said by Mahatma Gandhi. In our present time and by reading a number of articles and posts in the different media – print, electronic and digital – it would be easy to be pessimistic and jaded. Often times one hears a collective sigh when things happen. A tearing of hair and a wailing that is the herald of mass or group depression.

And it is during times like this that I remember a line from a book written by Will and Ariel Durant. Within the pages of that book you will find something written that history is like a river between two banks. On one side there is the sensational and more than the ordinary events happening. This is what might be called the exciting bank. On the other hand and other side of the river lies the mundane bank. This were your ordinary things happen. Those things that often do not count to a number of people as worth mentioning. And they do happen and exist. The ordinary life of the Peter, Paul and Marias of the world that is not often reported in the news and not often talked about.

In fact all of us live on both banks of history. And we can find noteworthy things on both banks. But I digress too much. I apologize. Going back to Mr Gandhi and his quotation.

A few days ago was World Blogging Day. And as I looked upon it I remembered this passage: this quote from Gandhi. You see I enjoyed and liked being part of a number of blogging-related project these past months . And with your permission let me share it with you – without agenda – just sharing..

TECH TANOD

http://techtanod.com/

Tech Tanod Day 1

This project was born out of the Bangon Pinoy initiative of Globe Telecom, Rock Ed and the Philippine Blog Awards. Money was raised through a twitter campaign and the fund was used to build a digital community for disaster preparedness and management; And for information sharing and advocacy.

Tech Tanod got its name from the desire to use technology to improve and safeguard the baranggay – hence Tanod.

Twenty individuals, Seventeen years old and above were recruited and selected from communities and neighborhoods in Cainta and Marikina. The students were then schooled in the ways of writing articles and news; information creation and the use of technology.

The teachers and mentors of Tech Tanod came from different backgrounds – there were news reporters, TV reporters and bloggers. All came to share what they could share.And … also to learn.

Tutors, Mentors and volunteers:

Karla Redor
Sha Ang
Nina Fuentes
Marck Rimorin
Winston Almendras
Coy Caballes
Gail Dela Cruz
Mark Villanueva
Markku Seguerra
Hana Bello
Rochelle Dumlao
Arpee Lazaro
Aileen Apolo-De Jesus
jay De Jesus
TJ Manotoc
Arlene Burgos

TEN TACTICS

http://www.informationactivism.org/

Part of the education or curriculum of the Tech Tanod scholars was to teach them Information Advocacy and this was made possible with help of Ten Tactics. A video that shared how Technology can be and was effectively used for campaigns and advocacies all over the world.

10 tactics for turning information into action (Trailer) from Tactical Technology Collective on Vimeo.

HANDS ON MANILA GALING MO KID (GMK) PROGRAM
www.handsonmanila.org.ph

This is a program that tutors and mentors thirty high achiever students – ten each from Grades IV to VI – from partner public schools. We, Arpee , Jane and myself, gave a talk to the scholars of Pembo Elementary School.

It was one of those humid Saturdays that will be remembered for after 2010 would have passed and gone. Starbucks hosted a talk between bloggers and the scholars of hands on Manila. The talk and discussion lasted nearly the whole morning and what came out a few weeks later was the group blog – Magaling Tayong Kids v

BLOG NA PINOY

http://www.blognapinoy.com/

Behind the Scenes – Sha and Bambi

Is a portrait blog directory of Filipino Bloggers. A project of photographer Mike Yu, Bambi Dela Cruz, Arpee Lazaro and other bloggers. It aims to build a directory of Pinoy Bloggers. Actually, a portrait directory of Pinoy Bloggers. And like a brick house it is being built brick per brick.

GOOGLE PRECINCT MAPPING PARTY

http://www.findyourprecinct.ph/

The election is just around the corner and last Saturday a number of bloggers from Tech Tanod, yabang mo kids, and from all over, met at Krispy kreme. To help in the tagging of precincts for the Google Precinct Mapping Project.. This was o course just one of many mapping parties held across the archipelago.

Interview: Ailen Apolo-De Jesus, Google Country Rep

Pictures from the Precinct Mapping Party

How to find your precinct and how to help – check this

The effort is still on-going and it would be great to be able to help in this project. In fact there is going to be another round of mapping party this coming Saturday.

SUNDAY SILENCE FOR CLEAN, SAFE & HONEST ELECTIONS

Sunday, May 9, 2010
Time: 5:00pm – 7:00pm
Location: Baywalk stretch across Malate Church, along Roxas Blvd., Manila

This Sunday the 9th of May 2010 at 5:00 in the afternoon, Rock Ed is inviting everyone to join the Sunday Silence for a peaceful and honest elections for 2010. All participants should wear white shirts or polos or dresses – no political colors.

And aside from that there will be book sharing that will be happening If you want books or want to pass on your books Manila Bay in front of the Malate Church is the place to be in this coming Sunday.

Well I guess that is the gist of it for now.

Thank you for allowing me to share with you these projects – alongside with the Philippine Blog Awards, IBLOG, The Blog & Soul Movement and a number of upcoming events like the Cebu Bloggers Camp 2010 and some in the early stages of development. It took some work and a lot of help from different individuals and groups to make it happen but it was worth it. And this post is part Thank You and part sharing of the experience – it was and is one of the more enjoyable aspects of blogging that I have come across. It was and continues to be a like able experience. Thanks.

It is about you.  It is about Me. It is about everyone and everything.  Tech Tanod is you and me.

The project started when it was decided not to use the budget for after party of the PBA. And instead use it for relief and.or rehabilitation efforts after Ondoy and Peping. And what came next next was the BangonPinoy initiative which tried to raise P400,000 and perhaps more. And when the end day did come in the community was able to raise 409,0000 pesos. And because of this we have TechTanod: Digital Barangay – a collaboration between Globe, The Philippine Blog Awards, RockEd, the Philippine Blogging Community, other groups and you.

So what is TechTanod? It is rehabilitation, It is preparedness. It is about participation. It is about learning. It is about teaching. It is about us the community – the Digital Barangay. We will have our first meeting this Saturday so please join us by being there or if not by being on-line.