Found this via the BBC News website:
Citizen journalists get rewarded
A picture taken moments after a bomb exploded on a number 30 bus in London’s Tavistock Square on 7 July 2005 has won the first citizen journalism award.
Second prize went to a shot of the Buncefield oil terminal fire taken by a passenger in a plane.
The awards, set up by Nokia and the UK Press Gazette, aim to highlight images shot by citizens witnessing events.
The popularity of camera phones means more images of significant events are reaching news organisations. (Full story)
Photos of real-life events that made headlines like natural calamaties, terror attacks and such have been around ever since the ordinary consumer could buy his or her own video camera recorder, photo cameras, and now modern digital cameras for still and moving pictures and especially mobile phones with built-in cameras. They were first given attention in popular tv shows that labeled the said photos, amateur home footages as “amazing home videos”, this soon started the ‘reality-based’ shows genre that is so popular nowadays.
In combination with the internet and blogging, stories, accounts, photos and videos taken by ordinary citizens who happen to be at the right place at the right time when these incidents and events took place soon gave rise to the trend called ‘citizen journalism.’
The Philippines has had its own share of citizen journalism courtesy of bloggers. Remember when the ‘Wowowee Stampede at ULTRA‘ were covered and liveblogged by not just my self but by other Pinoy bloggers as well like Vespinoy , Piercing Pens among others. There’s even the flurry of blog posts covering and pondering the President suffering from diarrhea by RG Cruz and Chickenmafia and again there’s more.
The award given by Nokia and the UK News Gazette to ‘citizen journalists’ is a clear sign that this new phenomenon can no longer be ingnored and passed off as unreliable or insignificant content of news and current events by the traditional media and will soon become the norm as more and more people are now creating their own blogs and actually watch out and cover significant events in their vicinity.
Question now is, who will be the first Filipino citizen journalist to be honored or given such similar recognition and who will give such recognition?
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Julius aka "Jhay" Rocas has been blogging since 2006. He is a certified geek. New Media publisher/Professional blogger and Internet ninja. Youth activist. He blogs about tech news, gadgets and social commentary. 
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
really like the article that you have written actually. it really is not that simple to find good text to read (you know really READ and not just browsing through it like some zombie before going somewhere else), so cheers mate for really not wasting my time on the god forsaken internet.
camera phones are very convenient coz they can take picture and calls at the same time-“
i always stay updated about current events, specially disasters that happens around the world;*;
Camera phones are in great demand these days, i own at least two of them';:
there's a possibility that you'll become the citizen journalist…i mean the very first filipino citizen journalist…hekhekhek…