My First Visit to the Singapore Blog Awards Ceremony 2014

Event Invite

I had been aware of this annual event for quite a while, but I've never had the chance to acutally go down to one before until now. Being someone who's interested in the local blogging and social media scene, I was interested to know more about who are the most active bloggers here in Singapore, and also know just who the new rising major influencers are.

Registration Booth

This year's ceremony was held at *SCAPE Ground Theatre Auditorium. I managed to reach there just in time before 11am when they were setting up their booth to receive the guests. I hadn't been to *SCAPE at all so this was a good chance to drop by there and check things out. I promptly got tagged at the registration booth with a sticker. Don't ask why there's a big "SHERIFF" star on that, because I honestly have no clue.

Tagged with a sticker

I also received a little goodie bag at the door, courtesy of omy.sg which contained a handy collection of nice little things. A little programme booklet was given out at the door to all attendees, and since I had brought a friend along as a guest to the event, I passed it to her to have a look at what's in store for the event that day. There was a whole long list of nominees involved for a variety of categories, ranging from "Best New Blog" to "Favourite YouTube Channel" (I think I remember seeing NigaHiga being one of the nominees for the YouTube category when the host went through the nominee list)

My friend checking out who're the organisers behind SBA 2014

No surprise here :)

Shot of the stage before the crowd filled in

Just an idea of how crowded it got once everyone started filing in

The whole affair of the ceremony was a pretty brisk one. After the opening welcome and introductions by the emcee, the guest of honour (Ms Sim Ann, Minister of State, Ministry of Communications and Information, and Ministry of Education) came on stage to share a few words and thoughts with the audience which I promptly recorded on my camera.

The event then moved quickly into full swing with a whole array of awards being given out, and it was very clear that supporters of their favourite blogs and personalities were there in full force. Cheers often rang out from various clusters of fervent groups scattered about the area whenever those they were supporting won or were simply announced as having been nominated for an award. Here's a full list of all the awards given out and the winners!

There was a short segment in the middle which involved a group of dancers, the blog vlog trio of ladies from ninjagirls.sg who came dressed to the nines as jockeys, and a dude in a unicorn outfit. (Oh yes, the dress code for the event encouraged people to wear anything that's inspired by horses/derby fashion.)

(From left to right: Unicorn dude, dancers, and the three ladies from ninjagirls.sg in their horse jockey attire preparing to do an impromptu performance.)

The event came to a close with all the award winners taking a group photo or "WEFIE" on the stage, before dispersing to either mingle and dine on the free food catering provided or take photos at a photo booth with a wide range of props. There was a lot of people literally queueing up and waiting to have a go at the booth even during the event, which had the host ensuring everyone that there would be more than enough time to get a photo at the booth after the event was over.

Photo Booth with instant collection of photos.

In the midst of a sea of bloggers and social media evangelists, I was able to finally meet someone I had been following on Twitter for quite a while! Ena Teo (or Enabalista as she's called) was one of the nominees for an award in the "Best Beauty Blog" category and it came as a nice surprise to finally meet and talk to her (albeit even if it was only for a short while) in real life. I had known about her when she was in-charge of organising a Singapore Behance Creatives meetup a long time ago, but I wasn't able to make it to meet her or any of the other creatives that day due to school commitments. So yes, even if it was just saying "Hello" and introducing myself, it was great!

As far as the event goes, it is definitely commendable that new and upcoming bloggers and social media enthusiasts are being recognised and supported through such events. One suggestion I would like to make would be for the availability of chairs or seats for all attendees, or to host the event at an auditorium perhaps. Standing for about an hour and half to two hours through an awards ceremony can be quite taxing, especially when you're busy taking photos, selfies, recording videos of what's happening around, and all the while hoping that your knees don't end up buckling to the floor by the end of the event!