Cadbury Pure Happiness Festival - Contest Entry

This is my entry to the Cadbury Pure Happiness Festival contest.

side view with festival mural

top portion

The contest is sponsored by Cadbury Philippines.

I would like to invite everyone out there to vote for my entry for this year's contest. My entry number is No. 8. (Swerte daw ang 8 sa Chinese numerology, hehe). It just so happens that I was the 8th contestant to submit an entry. This year only 19 entries registered.

Criteria for this contest is as follows:

40 % - use of Cadbury Wrappers

30 % - adherence to theme

20 % - creativity

10 % - audience vote

I greatly appreciate it if you could vote for my entry. Audience vote is 10 % of the contest criteria. If my entry wins and if you voted for my entry, you get a chance to win cash prizes too!

Where to vote?

Voting will be done in two venues on a Saturday and Sunday of the week from July 19, 2009 until August 2, 2009:

1) Robinson's Galleria last July 19

2) SM Manila on July 25 and 26
exhibit location: Upper Ground floor, event center near Kenny Roger's

3) SM Megamall on August 1 and 2
exhibit location: Bldg A, Upper Ground floor

In order to vote, you must go to the Cadbury booth inside the designated mall exhibit area and buy Cadbury products. For every 100 pesos worth of Cadbury products, you are entitled to one vote stub. (200 pesos worth entitles you to two vote stubs, etc...) Fill up the vote stub and drop it at the drop box of an entry you want to vote for.

If an entry wins (1st, 2nd or 3rd), the voters who voted for that entry will be raffled off. One lucky winner will receive a cash prize of 10,000 pesos!!!

My Entry dimensions:

Height: 97 cm

Length: 76 cm

Width: 76 cm

The maximum dimensions set by Cadbury Philippines for this year's contest is limited to 1 meter (100 cm) for each dimension. Exceeding it would mean disqualification.

Here some photos of my entry...

Portions of the mural

Festivals Depicted...

Santacruzan

Panagbenga festival

Ati-atihan festival

Maskara festival

Higantes festival - with a giant Manny Pacquiao!

Additional Elements...

travelling family together!

marching band

Cadbury Wrappers Used:

Just like last year's, I used a wide range of Cadbury wrappers (like almost every Cadbury product available in the Philippines).

1) Cadbury Dairy Milk and its variants

- Golden Crisp (yellow)

- Roast Almond (orange)

- Hazel Nut (brown)

- Fruit and Nut (red)

- Black Forest (reddish pink)

- Mixed Nuts (yellow orange)

2) Time Out (blue)

- bite size

- chocettes w/ time out

3) Zip

- fruity crunch (green)

4) Milk Tray

- dairy milk

- strawberry yogurt flavor (pink)

5) Picnic (red and yellow)

6) Cadbury Ecclairs (yellow)

7) Dark Noir (dark chocolate) - bite size (red)

8) Cadbury Moments

- Hazel Nut (yellow)

- Almonds (blue)

9) Old Gold (yellow and black)

It has taken me a lot of time and effort to complete. This entry, like last year's, is a collective effort of me, my family, and my girlfriend. But unlike last year's where I have done majority of the work, this year they played a more active role.

Thanks to them, my entry would not have been possible.

Thanks to mama who did the miniature people, the sun backdrop, the Manny Pacquiao giant design, and more...

Thanks to papa who helped me construct the lighting circuitry, and the base structure, and more...

Thanks to Ariane who did a lot of detailing, for the background, the marching band, the details on the miniature family and jeep, and a whole lot more...

Without them, my entry would be nothing but wrappers!

Once more, I invite everyone to vote for my entry, entry Number 8 - The Pinoy theme, with the sun and family background. Thanks again and good luck in the draw should my entry win!

Additional Info: My entry to last year's Cadbury's Art of Happiness art contest won 1st place. In my opinion, my entry for this year has a good chance of winning, all the more if you could give your support through your votes. Many thanks in advance should you decide to support my entry.

Click here to read more...

You're the 1, Goldilocks!

I loved joining contests. Joining them was a way for me to express myself and refine my skills. For me, being a contestant was a way of life.

I would join any kind of contest. Writing contests, photography contests, design contests. I even dreamed of joining song writing and music composition contests! Although I haven't gone that far yet. I have won some and lost countless times. Still I continued joining them.

However, it seems joining too many contests got the best of me. I abruptly stopped around 2004 and discontinued ever since. Maybe I just lost the interest and motivation altogether.

Then one day in September 2006, I met her...

We shared a lot of things in common. We loved anime, play video games, eat delicous Pinoy treats at Goldilocks... Simply being with her made me feel special.

After a few weeks of dating, she finally became my girlfreind.

Alright, enough of the appetizer, time to move on to the main course.

Here is is my Goldilocks experience I would like to share.

One cloudy day in June, as we were about to go home from work, we passed by a Goldilocks bake shop in Ayala, Makati. We were not in a hurry and we noticed an interesting poster on the store's glass window. It read: Join the Goldilocks"Cookie House" contest and get a chance to win prizes!

I really didn't know what came over me, but I felt the urge of joining this one. I have not joined design contests for awhile but this one sparked my interest. And so I read about the contest details.

She asked if I was interested in joining.

"I wish so..." I replied.

"Then why not join? No harm in trying..."


The "Cookie House contest" was a family oriented contest. "Too bad..." I thought. No one in my family knows how to bake or decorate food.

Then again, I reeeeaaaally wanted to try. I wanted to do something new.

"I could probably do it..." I said, "...but who's gonna help me out? I don't know how to build a Cookie House."

"I can!" She answered. I never thought she was interested too.

And so I finally decided to buy their Cookie House kit. Before we started, we checked to see what kind of goodies were included in the list.

There were...

- Candies and marshmallows for the decor
- Cookies for the four sides of the house
- Cookie sticks for the sides of the house
- confectionery sugar
- A plastic pastry bag
- a Cardboard box shaped like a house, which holds the 'cookie house' together

After seeing its contents, we decided on a design which we hoped will be unique. We entitled it 'Tahanang Pinoy'. Although the concept was not that original, it really was a challenge to make our entry look that way.

In order to build it like a tahanang pinoy, we decided to buy more cookies and sweets. Some include pretzels, graham crackers, and animal shaped biscuits.

After acquiring all the materials needed, came the hard part.

At first I thought it was that easy to 'build' the cookie house. The idea was to use the confectionery sugar to glue the cookie house together. Sounds fairly easy, until I tried it first hand!

At first, the walls stuck easily, but alas, after an hour or so, our cookie house, starting with the sides fell apart.

Arrrgh! What did I do wrong... I was so sure I did the right thing attaching the sides. But then I realized that I'm working on something I never tried before. Confectionery sugar after awhile hardens and becomes brittle. A little movement can cause the attachments to be unglued.

Although the cookie house literally crumbled apart, she never felt frustrated...

Thus, we attached the cookie house all over again.

After hours of pasting the house together, finally we got it completed. It was a tedious process, but we finally managed to complete it.

Completing the cookie house is a joy in itself...

The final part of the contest requirement was taking a picture of it. At the bottom is the picture of our creation..

Our Goldilocks Cookie House Contest Entry

After entering this contest, I learned a lot about my special someone.

- She knows how to cook and bake.
- She is very patient with meticulous work.
- She has a creative side as well.
- She loves new challenges.
- She is a lot like me in some ways.


You're the one Goldilocks because you've given me an opportunity to share treasured moments with my number one, most special friend. Even though we aren't family (yet), you made us feel that we belong to each other.

It was a very memorable experience, one I can truly cherish. And even if we did not win, the passion and joy we shared in creating our 'cookie house' was strong, and my feelings for her as well.

Thank you once again for that challenging yet worthwhile Goldilocks experience.

Click here to read more...

Top 50 Finalists for the MOA Flores de Mayo Photo Contest Released

The top 50 finalists of the Mall of Asia Flores de Mayo Photography Contest has been released. This contest was sponsored by Unilever Philippines. Below is my submission for the said contest held last May 24, 2009 around 4 p.m. at the SM Mall of Asia, Metro Manila, Philippines.


Camera model used: Olympus 1030SW
ISO Setting: 100
Aperture: f / 5
Shutter: 1 / 500

Check out their multiply site to see the top 50 entries and check if ever you made it as finalist (if ever you participated in the contest).

Congratulations to the finalists.

Click here to read more...