wins Best Web Log (Blog) for Nature and Environment
"... We, the bloggers in Nature and Environment, are all winners in the great quest of saving our Mother Earth. We are pioneers in today's revolution - environmental revolution - the greatest movement ever that involves every citizen of the world to carry out all means of taking care of our only home - Planet Earth. Congratulations to other blogs as well for their support to this great cause; and to the organizers of this awards night."
- Abe V Rotor, quoted from an interview with inquirer.net
Blogs hailed as agents of change, relevance, hope.
(See story below)
Dr Abe V Rotor expresses gratitude to the judges, organizers and audience after receiving the award of Best Blog for Nature and Environment 2015 during the Philippine Blogging Awards night at the SMX Aura, Taguig last November 22, 2015. With him is program's dynamic master of ceremonies, Mr Cris Urbano.
Blogs hailed as agents of change,
relevance, hope
relevance, hope
By: Yuji Vincent Gonzales
@YGonzalesINQ INQUIRER.net
Whoever said that blogging is only
for the young?
For 75-year-old Abe Rotor, age is
not a hindrance to make the most out of the digital media. In fact, at his age,
Rotor is currently maintaining three blogs, and has a total of about 5,000
posts since he started blogging in 2008. “I tell you, I enjoy blogging even in
the middle of the night, or wake up early in the morning to finish a lesson or
two,” he said.
Rotor, who won the best nature and
environment blog in the Bloggys 2015 Awards for anvotor.blogspot.com,
told INQUIRER.net that
blogs should be used as instruments of compassion, interconnectedness and
universality.
“The blog is one avenue you can
express many things—you can express your creativity, your thoughts, your
feelings, and things we think that the computer may lack like love and
compassion. That’s not true. Use the blog and put your feelings there,” Rotor
said in an interview during the Philippine Blog Awards Night at SM Aura in
Taguig City on Saturday.
“Have compassion with people. Have
your advocacy, just don’t be moralistic. Blog is the modern way of publishing.
And you are always right when you blog on the condition that you are truthful
and you do your research,” he added.
Rotor, award-winning author of “The
Living With Nature” handbook and a former professor at the University of Santo
Tomas, said bloggers should be guided by “universal values” and channel their
emotions in telling their stories.
“You’ll see that the blog creates
universality. So you have to be guided by universal values if you want to
maintain your blog and appreciate it. You must not only address your blog to
Filipinos, to your friends, but to the whole world,” said Rotor, who also
served as scientist at the Department of Science and Technology, director of
the National Food Authority, and Senate consultant on food and agriculture.
“You know how to blog, you know how
to use social media, but don’t make it as a robot. Make it alive. Make your
blog speak—speak of truth, speak of happiness, speak of sorrow. But in the end,
it will have to show some kind of hope, a new determination, a new life. Don’t
stop your story by being tragic at the end,” he added.
Added-value
For e-commerce advocate and Bloggys
2015 judge Janette Toral, blogs are relevant in this day and age because they
share additional insights and knowledge that “usually goes beyond what the
traditional media would cover.”
“I think blogs are relevant the
moment they add value to their readers. The moment readers get entertained, the
more readers get informed and get additional insight, and at the same time they
were also able to change the lives of their readers in one way or the other,
whether in perspective or in the way they do things, I think that’s when a blog
becomes relevant,” Toral told INQUIRER.net.
“It has to establish a niche and go
beyond just publishing a brand story. It’s about how they put themselves in the
story, their insight, and how they exert effort to become relevant to their
readers. Their story should not be about them but how their story will help
their readers make a better decision,” she added.
Torral said bloggers should see
their interest or hobby as an opportunity to foster goodwill and to promote
“ideas that will make our country better.”
“Sometimes bloggers are afraid to do
certain things because they saw others doing it already and they don’t want to
be accused of copying. At the end of the day we all have our different
audience… A blog needs to establish a certain relationship to their readers and
the people who believe in them,” she added.
Meanwhile, investigative journalist
Raissa Robles, who won the award for best blog in the society and politics
category for raissarobles.com,
said blogs can be agents of change in the “crossroads” that is the 2016
elections, as she sought the support of her fellow bloggers for a special
project.
“We have to choose wisely and we
have to choose well. Freedom is very much alive in this country,” Robles said
in a short speech after accepting her award.
‘Alive, well, and world-class’
Highlighting the “talent, passion,
and impact” of the entries, INQUIRER.net editor in chief and judge John
Nery shared how the panel had a difficulty in picking the winners because many
blogs have world-class quality.
“The Philippine blogging scene is
alive and well,” Nery said in his closing remarks.
“Precisely because of the quality, I
think it’s important to stress that each of the finalist should be considered
as a winner, too,” he added.
Bloggys, a nationwide blogging
event, recognized the “most relevant and engaging” blogs owned and written by
Filipinos. Bloggers and readers started nominating entries in September.
Aside from Rotor and Robles, this
year’s Bloggys winners include googleygoeys.com for arts and entertainment,
projectvanity.com
for beauty and fashion, tycoon.ph
for business and finance, asksonnie.info for corporate and brand, teachwithjoy.com
for family and relationships, michaelsshadesofblue.blogspot.com
for fiction and literature, pepper.ph for food and dining, pinoyfitness.com
for health and fitness, wheninmanila.com for lifestyle and hobbies, thedailypedia.com
for news and events, sawrites.blogspot.com for personal diary, two2travel.com
for photo blog, pinoymountaineer.com
for sports and recreation, backtogaming.com for technology and Internet, and
biyaherongbarat.com
for travel and places.
Pepper.ph was also awarded as the
best designed blog and the overall Bloggys champion. TVJ
11:25
PM November 21st, 2015- See more at:
http://technology.inquirer.net/45393/blogs-hailed-as-agents-of-change-relevance-hope#sthash.OGGaKwzq.dpuf
List of Finalists
Nature
and Environment
Winner:avrotor.blogspot.com
Finalists:
- avrotor.blogspot.com
- greenphils.com
- environment.elnidoresorts.com
- ecowastecoalition.blogspot.com
- fishpondbuddy.blogspot.com
- nilaeslit.com
People’s Choice (By public voting):
diwatangbicolandia.com
Nominees:
- avrotor.blogspot.com
- becomingfilipino.com
- blogs.sunstar.com.ph/goodearth
- diwatangbicolandia.com
- ecowastecoalition.blogspot.com
- environment.elnidoresorts.com
- fishpondbuddy.blogspot.com
- fredjacob1970.wordpress.com
- greenphils.com
- imphscience.wordpress.com
- mygreenlivingideas.com
- nilaeslit.com
- ocean-gems-academy.com
- pnej.org
- soil-environment.blogspot.com
- whatsnextph.org/blog
------------------------
"... We, the bloggers in Nature and Environment, are all winners in the great quest of saving our Mother Earth. We are pioneers in today's revolution - environmental revolution - the greatest movement ever that involves every citizen of the world to carry out all means of taking care of our only home - Planet Earth. Congratulations to other blogs as well for their support to this great cause; and to the organizers of this awards night."
- Abe V Rotor, quoted from an interview with inquirer.net ~
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