The search for the best Filipino-made Websites of 2010 is on. The 12^th Philippine Web Awards (PWA) will begin accepting nominations on Sept. 1.

An annual search for outstanding Pinoy Web sites, the PWA is organized and produced by Media G8way Corporation (MGC), publisher of two of the country’s leading IT publications, Computerworld Philippines and PC World Philippines. The company is also the exclusive Philippine representative of the global IT information giant International Data Group (IDG).

First held in 1997, the PWA has recognized and honored outstanding Filipino talent and creativity in the fields of Web design and development every year for the past 11 years. For this year, the most outstanding Filipino-made Web sites will be chosen in 15 categories: Arts and Portfolio, Blogs, Celebrities and Personalities, Community and Portal, Corporate, E-Commerce, E-Government, Entertainment, E-Services, Lifestyle and Leisure, Magazines and Zines, Organizations, Personal, Schools, and SMEs.

Organizers of the 12^th PWA will soon begin talks with the new leadership of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) and the National Computer Center (NCC), two staunch supporters of the Awards program, for the inclusion of a special category for the Web sites of local government units (LGUs).

Called the e-LGU, this special category has been an integral part of the PWA for the last three years. It has three subcategories: e-LGU City, e-LGU Municipality and e-LGU Province.

This year, the nomination period will run from Sept. 1 to Oct. 15. The end of nominations will mark the opening of the validation round where all nominated entries shall be screened to determine whether or not they have been entered under the right category and to make sure that they comply with eligibility parameters set by the organizers.

Once declared valid, entries automatically move on to the elimination phase where a set of judges, composed of Web developers, designers and artists, shall then evaluate them according to the given criteria and narrow them down to a short list of 10 semifinalists for each category.

The list of semifinalists – from which the public can choose, through online and SMS voting, their bets for the People’s Choice Awards – will be published on the 12^th PWA Website on Nov. 3. This will kick off the semifinal round which will end on Nov. 19 with the further narrowing down of the list of hopefuls to five finalists per category.

The finals round will follow and will run from Nov. 20 to Dec. 6. As in past PWAs, this round will be judged by an elite panel that will include Web design gurus and top IT journalists from overseas.

Finally, the much-awaited Awards Night will be held on Dec. 9, starting at 6 pm, in the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Ayala Avenue, Makati City.

Below are the important dates to remember for the 12^th PWA:

Nomination Period: September 1 – October 15

Validation Round: October 16-October 18

Elimination Round: October 19 – November 2

Publication of List of Semifinals: November 3

Semifinal Round: November 3 – November 19

Final Round: November 20 – December 6

Awards Night: December 9