People’s Choice Awards race remains tight

Originally published in the Computerworld Philippines’ The 3rd Philippine Web Awards Supplement, November 20, 2000.

‘Net users vote for their favorite sites
People’s Choice Awards race remains tight

ONE of the most keenly watched features of the Philippine Web Awards, the People’s Choice Awards allows the local Internet community to pick its own favorites from the official list of nominated Websites.

As in 1998 and 1999, this year’s People’s Choice Awards is as highly anticipated as the main awards. The competition–which was still ongoing as of press time-included not only the finalists. but all nominated Websites as well. This will give those that did not make it to the finals the chance to bring home an award. Just as important, it gives ‘Net users the chance to choose their own favorite Websites.

By popular demand, the 3rd Philippine Web Awards organizers adopted the original setup for the People’s Choice Awards. Under this setup, a winner is chosen for each category. Thus, for this year, there will be 19 People’s Choice awardees.

“We recognize the fact that the People’s Choice Awards give the nominees a strong chance of taking home an award, even if they do not make it to the finals,” explains Heinz Bulos, one of the event organizers who oversaw the People’s Choice Awards voting. “Besides, bringing back the original setup simply reinforces its essence­ that it’s the choice of the people, in contrast to the choice of our judges.”

In order to vote, an Internet user visits the official website of the Philippine Web Awards at www.philippinewebawards.com and register. A password is sent to the voter’s email address. The voter then signs in and starts voting. For this year, the voting period was shortened to minimize “cheating.” Last year, multiple votes-usually for the same Website­ were received from the same email addresses. As in the two previous years, the winners will be announced during the awards night.