Write to Ignite Season 3’s a Charm as COMCO Mundo League of Enterprises awarded winners of the blogging contest! “UNMASKED: The COMCO Mundo Write to Ignite Initiative Season 3” recently held the virtual awards night recognizing the top storytellers!
Season 3
“Following the success of its first and second seasons, the initiative recently returned for a third season to continue empowering storytellers across the nation by collating and amplifying their powerful stories that champion the human spirit. Write to Ignite Season 3 brought to light amazing stories that were previously untold, unheard, or underrated.” -COMCO Mundo League of Enterprises
My story
Participants were pushed beyond their comfort zones and asked to feature tales of triumph, success and perseverance from other people they are connected to. As a participant myself, I honestly have been featuring stories from all walks of life because of the nature of my job back then as a journalist. This time, I shared the story of my beloved sister, Charisse Anne. Here’s an excerpt of my story about her;
“When I asked about her life lessons living away from home, she simply answered, “It is hard but family is still the biggest inspiration that will help you get through anything. Always pray and make God your utmost priority and everything else will follow. Be careful. Not everything is rose-colored and good. But never lose hope.”
Read the whole blog here: Unmasked Strength: The Journey of Inspiration of my Immigrant Sister
I finished 10th place!
In the first season, I was ranked 16th place out of 108 storytellers. For the 2nd season, I was unplaced but this time for the 3rd season, I am grateful I landed the top 10! I may not have won the big prizes but I am happy I was able to touch the lives of the readers through my writing and most especially, the story of inspiration and strength of my lovely older sister. The more than 40 commenters on my blog are my true friends and family. Thank you for your support! You know who you are! I love you all! I was honestly rushing the writing and I coulddn’t think of any person and I thought, it shouldn’t be the person who’s a CEO or whatever, it has to be someone close to my heart whom I know that has a good story to tell. I love you my dear sister, if you are reading this, we won this.
I also commend my fellow Baguio blogger who’s also been my mentor for the past years since I started blogging here in my hometown, Ms. Ane Fallarme of Eats OA! She topped this season, too! I am so proud of us Ms. Ane! Read her blog here: UNMASKED: My True Hero
The Top Storytellers
“Numerous participants from all over the Philippines participated in the challenge, with 40 finalists emerging to lead the journey. These finalists were invited to a Virtual Awarding Ceremony, where the top 20 storytellers were declared”.
COMCO: “Iris Acosta of Pinay Ads from Caloocan City emerged as the Grand Champion for her entry “Unmasking Strength: A Journey of Resilience and Hope” about her mom’s battle against cancer. Other winners in the top 5 include 1st runner-up Gretchen Filart of Our World in Words from Sta. Maria, Bulacan for her entry “Championing Biodiversity Against The Odds: Environmentalist Celine Murillo, Unmasked” which is about the journey of environmentalist Celine Murillo and her advocacy for the conservation of biodiversity and natural heritage through storytelling; 2nd runner-up Katrina Rivera of Kwento ni Kat from Talisay City, Negros Occidental for “Wrist Tags, Bananas in Pajamas, Masks, and All the Things That Can Keep Us Alive” which is about her friend Nikka and her battle with lupus; 3rd runner-up Mauie Flores of The 24-Hour Mommy from Cainta, Rizal for “UNMASKED: The Amazing Faith and Courage of a Fabulous Ausome Mom” which is about her churchmate’s journey raising her three children in the autism spectrum; and 4th runner-up Marjorie Pineda-Uy of Woman in Digital from Quezon City for “UNMASKED: God Loves You ‘As Is’” which is about her aunt’s experience living with disability.”
“The top 5 winners were also given an opportunity to support their selected accredited non-government organization through donations as part of the prizes they won. Grand Champion Iris Acosta chose to support Save the Children Philippines, 1st runner-up Gretchen Filart picked Philippine Eagle Foundation, 2nd runner-up Katrina Rivera selected Make-A-Wish Foundation, 3rd runner-up Mauie Flores partnered with SOS Children’s Villages, and 4th runner-up Marjorie Uy identified Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) as beneficiary.”
“The Grand Champion won PhP 40,000 and two international round-trip tickets from airasia. The rest of the Top 5 winners won cash prizes, PhP 20,000 for the 1st Runner-Up; PhP 15,000 for the 2nd Runner-Up; PhP 12,000 for the 3rd Runner-Up; and PhP 10,000 for the 4th Runner-Up. The Top 6 to 20 finalists are bringing home cash prizes while all the Top 40 Finalists are receiving merchandise items from sponsors and participating brands.”
Ferdinand L. Bondoy, the Group Chief Executive Director and Lead Strategic Communications Counsel / Partner and Co-Founder of COMCO Mundo League of Enterprises quoted, “We started the Write to Ignite initiative amid the pandemic. It was timely back then, and it still is up to now. At a time when our social media has become a tool for the proliferation of fake news, trolling, organized bashing, hate campaigns, and black propaganda, we go back to the very essence and roots of blogging, which is authentic storytelling. This is what a real blogger does. We trust and believe that they uphold the very essence of the practice, sharing the truth through inspirational writing and storytelling. This is why we are proud of the Write to Ignite bloggers, content creators, and storytellers as once again, they were able to demonstrate that the platforms they use can be, and should be, used for positive social change.”
The organizers and sponsors:
UNMASKED: The COMCO Mundo Write to Ignite Initiative Season 3 is created and organized by COMCO Mundo League of Enterprises, with airasia as a major sponsor / brand partner; with Babyflo and PHILUSA Corporation, Century Tuna, Licealiz and Lamoiyan Corporation, Rémy Martin, and Uratex Monoblock as sponsors / brand partners; with Make-A-Wish Philippines, Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), Philippine Eagle Foundation, Save the Children Philippines and SOS Children’s Villages Philippines as NGO partners; and with SEA Wave Pop Culture Magazine as the official media partner.