The 2011 Official Blogger Apprentices

2011 Blogger Apprentice

After the two-month search of Blogger Manila‘s pioneering program in the Philippine blogosphere, the “Search for the Blogger Apprentice” was finally concluded and the three (3) official Blogger Apprentices were named.

Official Blogger Apprentices

Congratulations to bloggers (in no particular order):

Ms. Noria Adam-Lim of  http://iaadamlim.blogspot.com/
Ms. Shekinah Armenta of http://shekinah.tumblr.com/
Mr. Mark Joseph Delgado of http://www.sleekinthecity.com/

Two-Month Process

On it’s first year, the search was able to attract about 14 blogger applicants where the participants went through a number of assignments and blogging challenges. The challenges had different themes from food, sports, parenting, movies, and even parenting articles.

Here are some blogs published by some of the candidates:

Smart Rewards for Movies
Yahoo OMG Awards
Joey Samson Wins Yahoo OMG Awards
Yahoo OMG Awards Results
Philippine Azkals and Cortal SQR
Krispy Kreme Movie Bonding
InWrite Copywriting Services

In the last week, the applicants were then trimmed down to the top 6 with the announcement of the ‘Magic 6‘ in the Thanksgiving Dinner.

Finale Night

The ‘Magic 6′ eventually qualified for the final round highlighted by a Finale Night hosted by Gran Prix Hotel in Quezon City last  August 20, 2011. It was no vacation, but nonetheless exciting, as the six finalists were subjected to an overnight on-the-spot Blogging Challenge.

The surprise challenge was to feature and review Gran Prix Hotel as they perceived and experienced it that night. On a first-claim basis, the Magic 6 choose their niche blog of choice whose theme they should follow in their blog (i.e: article in the parenting blog Mommy Manila should be written with the parent-child story/perspective/context).

The resulting blogs were incorporated as the final consideration in choice of the three (3) official Blogger Apprentices. Here are the six blogs:

• Mark Joseph Delgado for Roam Manila
• Noria Adam-Lim for Money Manila
• Shekinah Armenta for Cosmo Manila
• Krystle Pingol for Let’s Go Sago
• Ria Haxel Lumandog for Mommy Manila
• Lariza Garcia for Good News Manila

It was a Learning Session on Blogging as well.

After the Overnight Challenge, everyone was eager for the August 21 Announcement of Winners

Special Awards

Not related to the search, a special award was given to the Final Challenge Best Blog through an average scoring by Blogger Manila Creative Director Jonel Uy and Gran Prix Hotel representative Jeman Villanueva.

The Final Challenge Best Blog Award went to Noria Adam-Lim whose article can be read at Money Manila. With the theme on finance, it would be rare to find a hotel review from a business angle.

Two winners were further identified by Gran Prix Hotel independently from the search as Clients’ Choice Awardees. The top pick  was Mark Joseph Delgado’s blog. He received an overnight stay for Gran Prix Hotel Manila. He was followed by Lariza Garcia’s blog receiving a gift pack form the host.

And finally, the winners, as mentioned above, were declared.

An exclusive raffle for the Blogger Apprentices were also held giving away branded laptop bags, laptop placeholders, and a mobile phone. The rest of the Magic 6 finalists also got gift packs from Blogger Manila.

Official Blogger Apprentices

The blogger apprentices will undergo related training under the humble tutelage of Blogger Manila through exclusive seminars, learning sessions, group workshops, and blogging coverage experience through representations in blogger events. They will be assigned in particular, but not limited to, niches among the Blogger Manila Network blogs until December of 2011.

It was a fun and interesting experience for the participants and myself as well. I foresee that the ‘next search‘ – Search for the Blogger Apprentice 2012 – would be more fun, bigger, and better. Again, congratulations to the official 2011 Blogger Apprentices!