In my last column, I wrote about the onset of the blog awards season, and the next one to be held will be the Nuffnang Regional Blog Awards to be held in the sunny island state of Singapore. This one is going to be very exciting since the select Filipino bloggers competing in the said awards will be treated to a three-day, two-night trip to Singapore, with free hotel commodations to boot.

They will also walk the red carpet on awarding night while being entertained by top celebrities and enjoying a scrumptious dinner in a five-star hotel. Aside from all these, they will be treated to a tour of Singapore's top attractions to be sponsored by the Singapore Tourism Board.

Simply irresistible, don't you think?

So yeah, we will be rooting for our kababayans vying in the Nuffnang tilt like top blogger Jehzeel Laurente of Jehzlau Concepts who will be pitted against other well-known bloggers like Kenny Sia of Malaysia and Xia Xue of Singapore for the Most Influential regional blogger award.

The seven other bloggers to represent the online Filipino community are Singapore-based octwelve.com (nominee for Best Original Blog Design), Toni Tiu of Wifely Steps (Best Parenting Blog), Chrissie Mata of kitchencow.com (Best Food Blog), Ferdz Decena of Ironwulf: En Route (Best Travel Blog), Jim Paredes of haringliwanag.pansitan.net (Best Celebrity Blog), Bryanboy of bryanboy.com (Best Fashion Blog) and Australia-based Mr. Gadget (Best Geek Blog).

Because the Filipino blogging community is a tight one, we do know some of these bloggers and majority of them have already been featured here in Blog-O-Rama. We know that in terms of the quality of their posts and the blog design, they've got what it takes to compete with the best of their Asian counterparts. Good luck to all of them!

In other news, the Luzon edition of the Philippine Blog Awards was successfully held last October 9 at the PETA Theater in Quezon City. Yours truly had the honor of judging finalists in a few categories, and it was fun discovering a few outstanding blogs again. Congratulations to the PBA led by Juned Sonido, the organizers, volunteers and of course, the winners. Here they are:

SPECIAL AWARDS

Best Blog Design – The Site Guy
Best Filipino Blog Abroad – The Warped Zone
Best Foreign Blog – My Sari Sari Store
Blogger’s Choice – Micamyx
Best Filipiniana Blog – Pilipino Komiks

BEST BLOGS

Best Technology Blog – Jaypee Online
Best Travel Blog – Langyaw – Sojourns and Off-the-Beaten Path Travels
Best Entertainment Blog – Lessons From the School of Inattention
Best Personal Blog – Writing on Air
Best Food & Beverage Blog – Table for Three, Please
Best Family & Living Blog – Make or Break
Best News & Media Blog – Virtual Journals
Best Business Blog – Negosyo Ideas
Best Sports Blog – Fire Quinito
Best Hobby & Recreation Blog – Bearbrick Love
Best Fashion Blog – Who is Elyoo?
Best Photoblog – I Am a Documentary Photographer
Best Culture and Arts Blog – magnetic-rose.net: Japanese Pop Culture for Filipino Fans
Best Commentary Blog – The Marocharim Experiment
Best Videocast Blog – Entrepbuff.com
Best Podcast Blog – Brink Notes Entertainment Daily
Best Humor Blog – The Professional Heckler
Best Gaming Blog – Blog Mike Got Game!
Best Advocacy Blog – Autism Society of the Philippines
Best Beauty Blog – The Doctor Is vaIN

TEN BEST POSTS OF THE YEAR

Karnabal by Tuyong Tinta ng Bolpen
Finding Your Soul Mate: A Statistical Analysis by Guttervomit
Lost Gems Of Philippine History: The 1896 Board Meeting by It’s true! It’s true!
The Diving Boys of Quezon Bridge by Dennis Villegas
Twenty Pesos by Lostphotograph
The way of the leaf by SMOKE
Portrait of a dramatic highlight in Nick Joaquin’s A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino by Gibbs Cadiz
Kaya Dumarami ang Bading Kasi… by Manila Gay Guy
The Parable of the Furry White Rabbit by Good Times Manila
The Amazing Bulul: A Story of Epiphany by The Cat Whisperer