3rd Philippine Web Awards honor top designers

COMPUTERWORLD PHILIPPINES
DECEMBER 4, 2000
By Rosary Grace D. Sarmiento
CW STAFF WRITER

FOR the third year running, the most creative Filipino Web designers took center stage as the industry gathered to honor the best and the brightest in an increasingly competitive field.

In ceremonies last week at the Rizal Ballroom of the Shangri-La Hotel in Makati, showbiz glitz and tech savvy came together again as event organizers named the best Philippine Web sites for the year 2000.

This year, nominees competed in 19 categories, including the arts; banking and finance; celebrities and entertainment; community; education; services; and sports. Panels of judges chose the awardees in each category, while an online poll generated the results of the People’s Choice Awards in the same categories.

IMPROVEMENTS

Judges said this year’s entries showed increased sophistication and creativity.

‘The entries have improved a lot,’’ said Karen Hornbostel, one of this year’s judges and a Web designer for Designet Philippines.

‘The entries are very impressive,’ added David Guerrero, chairman and executive creative director of BBDO/Guerrero Ortega Advertising Agency. The Filipino Web designers are very promising — they have the potential to make it big in Web designing.”

For his part, judge Albert dela Cruz, president and CEO of Wolfpac Communications, observed that the contenders this year are flashier and better designed, with layouts being well suited to the Web site themes. This year’s winners, he added, show that ‘‘Filipinos are No. 1 in creativity.”

WINNERS

The winners of the Third Philippine Web Awards, in their respective categories, were: Little Rocket (www.binarysoup.com/rocket), Arts; 1DS Finance (www. idsfinance.com), Banking and Finance; Haribon Foundation (www.haribon.com), Cause-oriented; ABS-CBN (www.abs-cbn.com), Celebrities and Entertainment; Voodoo Cycles (www. voodoo-cycles.com), Commerce; Candymag (www.candymag.com), Community; GMA Network (www.gmanctwork.com), Corporate; Recto.net (www.recto.net), Education; NBA Live Gokscup (gokscup.tripod.com), Games; National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (www.namria.gov.ph), Government; HerbVigor.com (www.herbvigor.com), Home and Living; Philmusic.com (www. philmusic.com), Music; Candymag.com (www.cundymag.com), News and Zines; The UP Mountaineers (www.upmountaineers.org.ph), Non-profit Organization; My Web (www.wv-online.com/myweb), Personal; Click the City (www.clickthecity.com), Services; Easy Pool Tutor (www.easypooltutor.com), Sports; Click the City (www.clickthecity.com), Travel; and Pol’s Page (www.pmjunior.com.ph), Weird and Humor.

The 19 Web sites, which garnered the highest points in the online polls, were awarded the People’s Choice title. —They were: Hiraya Gallery (www.hiraya.com), Arts; ABS-CBN News (www.abs-cbnnews.com) News and Zines; PinoyCentral (www.pinoycentral.com), Community; ABS-CBN (www.abs-cbhn.com), Celebrities and Entertainment, Philmusic.com (www.philmusic.com), Music; PLDT.com (www.pldt.com), Weird and Humor; FemaleNetwork.com (www.femalenetwork.com), Home and Living; Luv ko si Inday (www.indayworks.com), Personal; ABS-CBN Foundation (www.abs-cbn.com/foundation), Cause-Oriented; PhilCommerce.com (www.philcommerce.com), Government; Informatics Computer Institute (www.informatics.edu.ph), Education; Philwap.org (www.philwap.org), Non-Profit Organization; Unionbankph.com (www.unionbankph.com), Banking and F1nance; Ayala Center (www.myayala.com), Corporate;
Glonetta (www.myayala.com), Commerce; and PinoyCentral (www.pinoycentral.com), Services.

SPECIAL AWARDS

On top of these winuers, event sponsors also handed out special awards.

Intel honored Telworld (www.telworld.com) with the E-Commerce Award of the year. Ericsson awarded the Internet Site of the Year to Click the City (www.clickthecity.com). Adobo.com (www.adobo.com) received Unionbank’s Portal of the Year Award; while Yehey gave the Most Popular Site of the Year Award to Tsismis.com (www.tsismis.com). 1DS Media  (www.idsmedia.com) received the Multimedia Site of the Year Award; and its counterpart, iDS Finance (www.idsfinance.com) was honored as the Best Technical Site.

Senator Ramon Magsaysay Jr., for his efforts to ratify the E- commerec Act, was recognized as the Internet Man of the Year. Magsaysay was the primary author of Republic Act No. 8792 (E- commerce Act), which mandates and supports the implementation of electronic commerce in the country. It was signed into law on June 14, 2000.

Although none of the prizes carried a cash award, the winners were beaming.

‘‘We are very happy. This award will inspire our team to work even harder,” said Jan Pabelleon, creative director of iDS Finance.

‘This award has done wonders for my designing career,”’ said Sheryl Oliva [Cheryl Oliva Fuerte], winner of three awards last year. ‘I was able to attract more clients, I gained popularity, and I was given higher pay. It’s good that there’s an award like this to recognize Filipino Web designers,”’ she said.