(This content was originally published in my old personal website/blog, IndayWorks.com, Nov 1999. A few minor text edits are done.)
Good news everyone. I just won 3 awards in the 1999 Philippine Web Awards! First of all, I was only expecting 2 — the People’s Choice Award for Family/Personal category (IndayWorks.com, my personal website) and another one for the Health Category (Nonijuice.com.ph – a site for a client).
Feel free to repost any of the pictures here.
The BIGGEST surprise came at the start of the awards when — THE DONNA CRUZ WEBSITE (Post-edit: here is the 1999 version that won) got the award for MOST OUTSTANDING WEBSITE OF THE YEAR for FILM/CELEBRITY!
Oh my gosh, this award is a major national distinction. This is based on the judges evaluation of the website based on excellence, (IT professionals and selected experts in the Philippines) and not based on the people’s votes.
Most outstanding website of the year for Film/Celebrity
This award was judged by the most influential persons in the Philippines… among them the top IT VPs/Managers, CEOs/Pres/VP, famous celebrities/musicians, and yes, even talent managers!
There are 18 MOST OUTSTANDING WEBSITES, one per category, and in the Film/Celebrities category the Donna Cruz Website bested all major players in its class, among them (the other finalists): Sharon Cuneta, Jose Rizal the Movie website, Pops Fernandez, and FilShowbiz.com! In fact it has bested all Film/Celebrity/Entertainment websites in the Philippines this 1999!
My speech onstage
What did I say? I can’t remember it very well, but I remember being extremely excited, happy, and just overall surprised. I think I said something like-
“…I am not really expecting this award…! Mareng Donna may award na tayo! May anak ka na, may anak na rin ako (pointing to the award)… Anyway thank you to my family, to my friends, and to all those who have inspired me to create websites. Thank you very much”
You can say I had my limelight there — the youngest (I assume and it looks like it) to give a speech in front of experienced IT professionals! Mostly a thank you speech.
2 more awards
And then afterwards, I also got the 2 people’s choice award for Family/Personal (my personal website , www.indayworks.com won thanks to all your votes!!!), and Health/Science Category (the Nonijuice info website, www.nonijuice.com.ph).
Everyone was astounded to see me with 3 awards, since I also brought the Donna Cruz award when I got onstage to get the 2nd and 3rd ones. To think I am the youngest there 😉
Best night ever. It was almost such as surreal experience. Very overwhelming to be beside Philippine Internet ‘gods’, and beating companies such as ABS-CBN, veteran webmasters vying for the Most Outstanding Website award for Film/Celebrities.
I’m flattered, happy that my efforts and passion for creating websites are recognized. I couldn’t thank everyone who supported me along each and every step of the way. (Post-edit: Link to my post award speech posted in my old website is here).
Thank you to the organizers of The 1999 Philippine Web Awards for recognizing Filipino talents and helping them aim higher for excellence.
The 1999 Philippine Web Awards was held on November 17, 1999 at the New World Hotel in Makati, Philippines. Their original website ceased to exist after the awards stopped several years later. The full list of winners of the awards can be found here in the Internet Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20110107081945/http://www.theweb.com.ph:80/2nd-philippine-web-awards-1999/