Pakistani Bloggers Recognised

Pakistani bloggers deserve laurels for the excellent work in bringing their country to the world. With a vision of recognition, considering how many bloggers of the country have worked tirelessly to build an international image online, the 2nd Annual Pakistan Blog Awards 2011 began on December 22, 2011, with the first unconference session at IBA City Campus in Karachi. It concluded with an unconference in Lahore the first week of January 2012, organised by the globally recognised PC World Pakistan, owned by IDG USA.
Almost 500 nominations were filed in 10 days of opening of the nomination forms with the PBA’11 and over 150,000 votes were registered in just three weeks, compared to 270 nominations in 4 months in the 1st Pakistan Blog Awards. Almost a 70% increase in new blogs was noted with heavier participation from international and regional Pakistani bloggers this time on. The number of judges brought on board was doubled. The awards were adjudicated across various fields of content in a spectrum of categories. 475 people attended the Gala Awards evening with 350 people participating in the tri city unconference camps. To this end, the unconferences at the Blog Awards featured a large number of workshops. Furthermore, at the PBA’11 Gala Night, over 48 bloggers from 350 final nominees, across a total of 33 different categories were recognised and awarded for their phenomenal work and constant blogging online.
Former Pakistan Cricket Captain Mr. Imran Khan was invited to give out a special award to the team that broke the Guinness World Record for the national anthem for Pakistan.
Telenor supported the PBA strongly this year by co-creating a special blog award category titled djuice Agents of Change in which more than 15 nominations  entered out of which two won. “Telenor’s youth brand djuice is proud to have partnered with PBA this year to co-create an Agents of Change category for Pakistan’s bloggers. The category is a reflection of djuice's Khamoshi Ka Boycott initiative. The bloggers community has worked tirelessly over the years, showcasing the best Pakistan has to offer. We hope to continue working with these talented bloggers in future too,” said Telenor CMO, Mr. Aamir Ibrahim.
The tri city unconference camps, held in Karachi, Islamabad and, finally with the best audience, Lahore, have been used as an opportunity to ask bloggers to use their skills and online space to promote a more positive and realistic international image of the country. Themed as “Blogocracy” this year, they were created and hosted by bloggers and also provided a platform where crucial dialogue took place between participating bloggers and speakers at the event. The resulting interaction helped to uncover ways in which blogging has already aided and could continue to build a better online image of Pakistan at the international level.
 Presenting culture to the a diversified world serves the egalitarian purpose of enriching humanity. The enthusiasm of the audience, just as much as that of the bloggers, makes one realise just how much the Pakistan Blog Awards are appreciated and just how necessary it is for us to acknowledge and recognise the bloggers and social media enthusiasts in the country.