Celebrating bloggers: 2nd Annual Pakistan Blog Awards & Unconference Camps
LAHORE: Blogging in the new media is one of the best ways to getting yourself heard and putting your views across to the general public, and in this regard, Pakistani bloggers deserve laurels for the excellent work they do. In view of this, the 2nd Annual Pakistan Blog Awards 2011, began nearly two weeks ago on December 22, 2011 with the first ‘Unconference’ session at IBA City Campus in Karachi. It concluded with an Unconference in Lahore the first week of January, 2012. The events, and the ‘Unconferences’ accompanying it, have been organised by the globally recognised PC World Pakistan, owned by IDG, USA.
The second Pakistan Blog Awards were brought about by YouTube/Google as presenter partners, Nokia Pakistan as lead partner, Djuice as the secondary lead partner for the event with Dell and Intel as tertiary partners. Media outlets such as the Express Group, TV One, Dawn Group (FM89), Newsweek and Digispace were also partners. Considering how many bloggers in the country have worked tirelessly to build an international image for Pakistan online, the whole event was dedicated to acknowledging the efforts of these bloggers.
Compared to 270 nominations in four months in the 1st Pakistan Blog Awards, almost 500 nominations were filed in 10 days of opening of the nomination forms with the PBA’11 and over 150,000 votes overall were registered in just three weeks. Almost a 70 percent increase in new blogs was noted with heavier participation from international and regional Pakistani bloggers this time on. Double the number of judges was brought on board this time related to the various fields of content being adjudicated across the categories. 475 people were in attendance across the Gala Awards evening with 350 people who participated in the Tri City Unconference camps, the strongest attendance at the closing camp in Lahore. To this end, the Unconferences at the Blog Awards featured a large number of workshops. Furthermore, at the PBA’11 Gala Night, over 48 bloggers from 350 final nominees, across a total of 33 different categories were recognised and awarded for their phenomenal work and constant blogging online.
Former Pakistan Cricket Captain Imran Khan was invited to give out a special award to the team that broke the Guinness world record for the national anthem for Pakistan.
Telenor supported the PBA strongly this year by co-creating a special blog award category, Djuice “Agents of Change” in which more than 15 nominations had been entered and two won. Telenor CMO, Aamir Ibrahim, was quoted as saying, “Telenor’s youth brand, Djuice is proud to have partnered with PBA this year to co-create an ‘Agents of Change’ category for Pakistan’s bloggers. The category is a reflection of Djuice’s Khamoshi Ka Boycott initiative. The bloggers community has worked tirelessly over the years, showcasing the best Pakistan has to offer. We hope to continue working with these talented bloggers in future too.”
The Tri City Unconference camps, held in Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore, a tradition at the Pakistan Blog Awards and have been used as an opportunity to ask bloggers to use their skills and online space to promote a more positive and realistic international image of the country. Themed as “Blogocracy” this year, they were created and hosted by bloggers and also provided a platform where crucial dialogue took place between participating bloggers and speakers at the event. The resulting interaction helped to uncover ways in which blogging has already aided, and could continue to build a better online image of Pakistan at the international level.
The enthusiasm of the audience, just as much as that of the bloggers, makes one realise just how much the Pakistan Blog Awards are appreciated, and just how necessary it is for us to acknowledge and recognise the bloggers and social media enthusiasts in the country.
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