Indian bloggers to be awarded by Putera MIC

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Indian bloggers will be given recognition and honour through an award initiated by Putera MIC.

There are nine categories under the Manya Blogger Award which would be decided through online voting for a one-month period starting noon on Friday.

Putera MIC coordinator P. Kamalanathan said this is the first time such an award for the Malaysian Indian bloggers is being held.

“We want to encourage more Malaysian Indians to blog and share information on the Internet,” he said Thursday at a press conference here.

He said there were about 1,000 Malaysian Indians bloggers, mainly in the 20 to 24 age group actively giving their views on various issues.

Kamalanathan said they had already shortlisted the finalists for the nine categories. Sixty per cent of the votes would be taken from online voting while another 40% would be decided by a panel of three judges.

“The online voting would be on for one month and the judges would take two weeks to make a decision and we hope to have the award ceremony in August,” he said.

He said Putera MIC would also have an online readers' award where the surfers would be required to submit their choice, irrespective of race.

“We have also created a Putera MIC award which would be given to a blogger whom we feel has created a longstanding following amongst the bloggers. It can be a disabled person or even an eight-year-old boy who is blogging,” he said.

Kamalanathan said each of the finalists would be given a certificate of participation while the winners would be given a trophy and cash prizes.

Those who want to vote can go to www.manyaawards.com to cast their votes.