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By now, some of my students and other colleagues have already congratulated me via Facebook even though I actually wanted to blog about my Otaku Fridge winning in the 12th Philippine Web Awards (PWA) first. I do appreciate all the congratulatory notes, of course. As in, super! All the finalists were asked (beforehand) to prepare a 12-word acceptance speech, in commemoration of the number of times the PWA have awarded various website owners for their creativity and ingenuity. I was not expecting to win. Truth be told, the fact that my students (Project Skyrocket) also made it into the finals felt like I had already won twice. So when I did my acceptance speech, I could only muster the 12+1 words: “Thanks to my professors for their guidance and my students for their support.”

But let me just expound on that. It has been 9 years since I entered The Otaku Fridge into a competition of this magnitude. (It placed into the PWA semi-finals in 2002. While one of my other websites, Disc13, placed into the finals in 2000.) It is only now, however, that I had gotten local support — mostly from my colleagues (fellow educators), my mentors and my students. They all inspired me to always keep honing my craft and aspire towards excellence. I actually saw the former APC Director of Information Management, Leo Querubin, during the event. The last time I saw him was probably more than a decade ago. He said he was so proud that I got into the finals and he repeated this again when I won. Thank you so much, Sir. You are actually my role model when it comes to business integrity and ethics. (Haha, I remember your anecdotes. Mygosh, I still laugh about them from time to time.) At this point, I would also like to thank my other mentors, Director Rhea Valbuena, former Director Gerard Cadlum and APC President Paulino Y. Tan for believing in me and encouraging me to spread my wings. My heartfelt gratitude also go to the students (you know who you are) that kept egging me to never forget my dreams while I helped them pursue theirs, as well as the colleagues/classmates that always stood by me no matter what. Yoohoo: Elvert, Luna, Cris and my high school (Cha, Tin, Rebie) and UP-CMC (Chitchat, Jenny, Rod, Nath) classmates! Again, you are all much appreciated. This victory is OURS. I could never thank you enough.

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12th PWA Image Gallery As for the Philippine Web Awards, here are the photos, as well as my observations. It is a lot different from the Philippine Blog Awards, which actually felt like a fabulous red carpet event. PWA, by contrast, is very business-like and methodical. The criteria for judging alone already felt like you were being evaluated for Quality Assurance: Content, Design, Functionality, Technologies Used, Originality. (I’m guessing rubrics have been used. Haha!) Despite the serious tone of the event, the hosts were quite fun and entertaining.

At first, I wasn’t sure if I landed in the correct location. The theme was Techno-Fiesta, so many of the organizers were in barong and terno.

The hallway was lined with sponsors, many of them giving away lots of gadgets via raffle draws.

These were the hosts that handed out certificates to the finalists. I also received a certificate for making it into the semi-finals. What did I say about being business-conscious? You can actually add those certificates to your portfolio. This wasn’t the case in the late 90s to the early 2000s.

Uh. I thought I was going to be able to grab a quick dinner from one of the fast food chains at the RCBC Tower, but I didn’t anticipate the traffic. By the time I got to the Carlos P. Romulo Hall, they were about to award the finalists’ certificate. These San Marino Tuna Paella spoonfuls had been repeatedly offered to me by the sponsoring booths. (They’re actually pretty tasty pala!)

Me and my sister’s colleague/roommate Eky.

With my former student Hsiang of Project Skyrocket. She made it into the finals. She looks so cute in this photo.

The PWA stage. It doesn’t look festive enough, but I was to find out later why.

Behold Michelle O-Bomb-A! The reason why we needed a minimalist stage. She (he?) was so amazing, she upstaged everything…including the  backdrops.

Michelle changed into this figure-hugging red gown. Bongga!

Then later, she changed into this elegant black formal wear.

Yep! He is one of my favorite performers, Noel Cabangon. I had recorded a short clip of him performing the classic Kanlungan, but perhaps I’ll just update this blog entry once I’m done editing it.

I just took a snapshot of my students’ website, Project Skyrocket, being announced as one of the finalists. Though the site didn’t win, I was so happy to hear her say she will try again. That’s the spirit, Hsiang!

Photo op of winners, by Daryl Silao. Click for a larger view.

Another picture of the winners, also taken by Daryl Silao. Click for a larger view.

Wasn’t able to pose with my trophy at the venue so we just took this picture at home. Forgive the eye bags. We got home at around midnight. More photos of the event, including the hosts and speakers can be found at the 12th Philippine Web Awards album of Skysenshi’s Hermitage. Excuse me while I LSS over Noel Cabangon’s Kanlungan. Such a beautiful song, really. I keep playing it over and over on my digicam Shin-Chan2.