Blogging in the new media is one of the best ways to getting yourself heard and putting your views across to the general public, and in this regard, Pakistani bloggers deserve laurels for the excellent work they do. In view of this, the 2nd Annual Pakistan Blog Awards 2011, began nearly two weeks ago 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.
The events, and the 'Unconferences' accompanying it, have been organised by the globally recognised PC World Pakistan, owned by IDG USA. The second Pakistan Blog Awards were brought about by YouTube/ Google as Presenter Partners, Nokia Pakistan as Lead Partner, Djuice as the Secondary Lead Partner for the event, with Dell and Intel as Tertiary Partners. Media outlets such as the Express Group, TV One, Dawn Group (FM89), Newsweek and Digispace were also partners. Considering how many bloggers in the country have worked tirelessly to build an international image for Pakistan online, the whole event was dedicated to acknowledging the efforts of these bloggers.
Compared to 270 nominations in four months in the 1st Pakistan Blog Awards, almost 500 nominations were filed in 10 days of opening of the nomination forms with the PBA'11 and over 150,000 votes overall were registered in just three weeks. Almost a 70 percent increase in new blogs was noted with heavier participation from international and regional Pakistani bloggers this time on. Double the number of judges was brought on board this time related to the various fields of content being adjudicated across the categories. 475 people were in attendance across the Gala Awards evening with 350 people who participated in the Tri City UnConference camps, the strongest attendance at the closing camp in Lahore. 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, 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.-PR