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Ahem...

We've just found out that two of our children's books last year:

• Sol: A Legend About the Sun (by Agay Llanera; artworks by Farley del Rosario); and
• The Boy Who Touched Heaven (by Iris Gem Li; artworks by Serg Bumatay)

are finalists in this year's National Book Awards!

This, coming on the heels of the success of The Rocking Horse (by Becky Bravo; artworks by Elmer Borlongan)...

We can't help but be so proud!

Congratulations to all of us - especially to the great writers and artists with whom we have so far been privileged to work! :-)

The Philippines Rules Social Media Networks!

Universal Mccann International Social Media Research Wave 3

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: socialmedia research)

The media agency Universal McCann released a free 80-page whitepaper on the impact of social media. The company interviewed 17,000 Internet users in 29 countries, making it "the world’s most detailed survey of the Social Media revolution."

It's an interesting read, particularly when you find out that the Philippines is:

#5 in podcast downloads, with 61.8% of active Internet users in the country having downloaded a podcast;

#4 in writing blogs (65.8%)

#2 in reading blogs (90.3%)

#2 in uploading videos (60.5%)

#1 in watching videos (a whopping 98.6%) and

#1 in creating a profile in a new social network like Facebook, Multiply and Friendster (83.1%).

Looking at these numbers, clearly, the future is here and now in the Philippines.

Less clearly, the numbers are still positive, but more of us like to read and watch than to write and create, it seems. (Although we didn't really check - our guess is that this is true for most if not all countries anyway.)

And we clearly are a highly social people.

There's a lot to be gleaned from just browsing through the paper, for us as we pursue our mission, and we suspect for everyone else out there who just wants to understand a bit more what's going on with the Internet and social media and how it all is affecting us right now.

Read the report. You can click through the pages above, or else download it yourself - did we say for free?! - here.

Where the Hell is Matt?

Some might question if this video fits the theme of this blog, but what the hell... let's just say that we put it in because the Philippines is featured. And it shows how we truly are part of one global community. Which means that we might be better Filipinos if we explored, got exposed to and learned more about people and places abroad. So there.

And really, it seems like just a fun project that we wish we had thought to do ourselves.

Enjoy!

Wooohoooo!

We just got word that our book, "The Rocking Horse," won the prestigious Gintong Aklat ("Golden Book") Award in the Children's Book category.

Established in 1981, the Awards are given out every other year to outstanding book publishers based on the quality of the books they produce year after year. It is managed by the Book Development Association of the Philippines (BDAP), and the Awards are meant to recognize excellence in bookmaking in the country's book industry.

Contest entries are divided over several subject categories—literature, social science, religion, the arts, natural science, trade, textbook and children's book.

Book entries are judged for all-around excellence, and are subjected to close scrutiny by three professional panels in book manufacture and design, writing and editing. Entries must merit an excellent rating in each aspect of bookmaking in order to qualify for the award. A book winner of the Gintong Aklat therefore will have been judged not only on its contents but on its totality as a book.

All together now... Wooohooooo! :-)