WordCamp Philippines 2009 is already being planned. Head on over to our new blog now!

1. Rosselyn Jaye de la Cruz of Jae Fever
2. Zigfred Diaz of zdiaz.com
3. Czarina Maye Mariano of i♥rainb0ws.com
4. Marck Ronald Rimorin of The Marocharim Experiment
5. Lyle Santos of Thinking Out Loud

The real winners here are Bohol, Davao, Dumaguete, General Santos, and Palawan — these are the Cebu Pacific destinations that the five winners blogged about.

Thank you very much to all who participated in the Cebu Pacific Blogging Challenge!

Here’s the acceptance speech that I wrote (I couldn’t attend the ceremony, so Engr. Winston read it for me).

First of all, I would like to convey my gratitude to Janette Toral and my fellow DigitalFilipino.com Club members for this honor. All modesty aside, the official site of WordCamp Philippines is indeed deserving of this award. However, I cannot claim the accolade for myself alone. The website draws from the entire experience of putting together the first WordCamp in Southeast Asia, and the commitment and dedication of all individuals involved were faithfully reflected on the website.

I would like to believe that philippines.wordcamp.org was chosen for this award because of how it mirrored the efforts of the organizers and the enthusiasm of all those who participated in WordCamp last September 2008. I think the best feature of the site is its high interactivity. In spite of its simplicity of design and interface, the site was able to deliver timely information to, and encourage participation from, its readers.

The site runs on WordPress MU, and is being hosted by Automattic.com. With permission from Matt Mullenweg, the WordCamp Philippines team is now embarking on a branded website, which will be found on www.wordcamp.ph. Naturally, the new site will take advantage of the WordPress engine and its strong CMS capabilities. We will make an official announcement as soon as the new website is complete and fully functional.

Rest assured, we will keep in mind the lessons learned from the DigitalFilipino.com Club, and will strive to maintain an award-winning website for the benefit of future WordCamp Philippines events. Speaking of which, see you all at WordCamp Philippines 2009!

Once again, in behalf of my team, thank you very much indeed for this award!

At WordCamp last 6 September 2008, the Cebu Pacific Blogging Challenge was announced. So here it is. In a nutshell, it’s a blogging contest whose winners will each receive a roundtrip plane ticket c/o Cebu Pacific.

The contest is open to all bloggers, not just to those who attended WordCamp.

Contest Mechanics

1. The Cebu Pacific Blogging Challenge contest shall be officially conducted via the WordCamp Philippines site.
2. Bloggers from anywhere in the Philippines, who are Filipino or foreign, and are 18 years old or above, are eligible to participate in this contest.
3. A registration form is available online. The form shall ask for the following:
   1. Blogger’s full name;
   2. Contact details (email address, phone number, etc. — these will be kept confidential at all times);
   3. Blog name and website address.
4. Contest entries are blog posts that:
   1. are at least 200 words long;
   2. talk about places that are destinations of Cebu Pacific flights (e.g., Davao City);
   3. must not contain negative reviews of the airline or any harmful content pertaining to the airline in any manner;
   4. contain at least one text link to http://www.cebupacificair.com (e.g., “Cebu Pacific” or “affordable flights in the Philippines”), and must not have the rel=”nofollow” attribute in the link tag;
   5. must not contain any other links except to Cebu Pacific’s website.
5. Contest entries that violate the above will be considered invalid.
6. Contest duration shall be from 6 September to 31 October 2008. All entries must be published on or before 31 October 2008, 6:00 PM (GMT+8).
7. By the conclusion of the contest, the contest directors shall have validated all entries, and submitted the same to Cebu Pacific for consideration.
8. All valid entries shall be subject to evaluation by a panel of judges, the members of whom shall be chosen by Cebu Pacific and WordCamp organizers.
9. The best five (5) entries will each win a roundtrip domestic airline ticket c/o Cebu Pacific. The winners may opt to transfer their prizes to other people, but once the tickets have been issued, normal airline policies will apply.
10. Proclamation of winners shall be done through email and via the WordCamp Philippines site.

Thanks to our sponsors, Manila-based coordinators and volunteers, the conduct of this international event has left everyone with a sense of fulfillment and camaraderie. Based on post-event write-ups (see an aggregate of WCP2008-related posts on this blog), the first WordCamp in Southeast Asia was a truly momentous undertaking.

The College of St. Benilde was a very gracious host, and has definitely contributed to the success of WordCamp Philippines last 6 September 2008. We’d like to specially thank the student volunteers, who came from the Computer Business Association and the Association of Information Management. Their enthusiasm, energy and eagerness were certainly contributing factors to the smooth flow of the day-long event.

Contrary to expectation, out of the nearly 400 that registered, only around 200 actually participated. Close to a hundred registered campers did not show up for various reasons. But, there were around 50 people who walked in and attended the morning breakaway sessions. Still, this was the first WordCamp in Asia that Matt Mullenweg has attended.

We had 11 speakers (excluding Matt and Blogie), whose talks were all well-attended. The scheduling of the talks, however, caused many to miss other sessions. In fact, we should’ve done a 2-day WordCamp, so that the talks could’ve been spread out. We will consider this for next year.

The event was a learning experience not only for the campers, but for the organizers as well. Future WordCamps and other bloggers events will certainly benefit from lessons that we’ve gleaned from this major undertaking.

Aside from the previously-mentioned distinctions, this WordCamp is also the proud host of an awesome logo design, which the t-shirts, mugs and conference kits sported. Matt was visibly and audibly impressed by the logo, designed by Andrew.

In Davao, the pre-WordCamp bloggers get-together on 4 September 2008 was attended by more than 60 bloggers and developers. The core organizers, who all hail from Davao City, are certainly very pleased that Matt graced this occasion with his presence. He said that he got to like the city right away, and would love to be back.

Matt’s coming to Davao City has brought focus to Mindanao, and has contributed to the efforts of the Mindanao Bloggers group.

Well, hopefully, we’ll see Matt Mullenweg again, and all of you, for WordCamp Philippines 2009!!

Our friends at mag:net café will prepare a WordCamp punch for us, so don’t forget to bring your camper’s badge!

What’s in store? Well, it’s Rockeoke night for WordCampers! Party starts at around 9:30 PM. See you there!

There were also those who came forward and offered their time and expertise. It’s an event organizer’s dream — nobody backed out at all!

To Jayvee Fernandez, Gail Villanueva, Hans Koch, Markku Seguerra, Elymar Apao, Kring Elenzano, Karla Redor, Danilo Arao, Aileen Apolo, Regnard Raquedan, and of course, Matt Mullenweg — thank you very much for your wholehearted involvement! Your contribution will certainly make the 1st WordCamp in the Philippines a rich experience!

(Chuckie and yours truly (Blogie) are part of the organizing team.)

Thanks very much to Maita Lu for getting the bags produced in a flash.

Preparations for WordCamp Philippines — in Davao and Manila — are picking up more speed as the two days draw nearer. You’ve seen glimpses of some of the goodies we have in store for you. Now here’s one more item: WordCamp mugs!

Thanks a bunch to Avel Manansala of Bariles Republic, and Prints & You (KCC Mall, General Santos City), for sponsoring these mugs! We’ll be giving them away to lucky winners at WordCamp.

(The phone’s not included, sorry.)