Bratpack Jansport Backpack Contest:We have a winner!

Last month, BYAHILO together with THE BAG PEOPLE, Bratpack came up with a contest where one lucky blog reader gets the chance to win a Jansport Backpack.

14 entries were submitted, and honestly, it is not an easy task to select the winner. So what I did was ask the help of four friends (three of them bloggers) to pick their top five entries. I told them to mark their top pick as 5, and the 5th favorite as 1.

It was a neck-to-neck battle. Too close to call. I even have to make “kulit” the last judge to submit the entry before end of day today because his/her score can make a difference in the results.

So finally, I’m glad to annouce to everyone that the winner is AimZ!. She posted her entry on November 2, 2008 and it reads:

hello! i?m so happy to have found your site by googling ?jansport backpack? because i?d like to have one for christmas yay! here?s my bag story:

i was five years old when my dad went to japan for work. his absence made me a headache to my mom because of two reasons: i terribly missed him and that he?s not around to punish me for my ?kakulitan?. i was very sensitive and emotional then so i had crazy thoughts of running away from home everytime my mom gets angry at me.

i cannot forget my first bag ever: a green pull-string cotton bag with japanese cartoons and lettering on it. that?s where i put my 2 pairs of shirt, shorts, underwear and towel. something good for 2 days, i thought. there were times that i pack some more for a week away and then i?d have that fat bag hidden at the far left corner, deep into the huge cabinet that i share with my siblings. everytime i felt unwanted and sad, i dig up and hug my ?runaway bag? so tight until i convince myself that mom pinched and pulled my ears because she loves me, and that i love my family so much, i can?t live without them and didn?t want to hurt them by giving in to that very bad idea. or maybe i was just too coward to do so because i knew that there?s nowhere else to go.

remembering those days makes me feel weird because i can?t believe having that side of me at a very young age. i can?t remember when i stopped packing up to runaway but so far, NEVER in my entire 20 plus years of living have i had the full courage to leave home to rebel. i?m still living with my parents until now and they?re actually encouraging me to move out, go abroad, and settle down. but NO, i?m not leaving! not yet!

about that bag, no it didn?t serve as a travel necessity for me at all, not even an outlet of creativity. but it was very useful for me as a kid because it was my punching bag or shock absorber of innocent emotions. i don?t keep that kind of runaway bag anymore in my closet, peksman.

but a new jansport backpack wouldn?t hurt! maraming salamat po! pasensya na po, medyo mahaba.

I would like to give this space to my blogger friends who helped me in picking the best entry. Bong, Audrey, Bernie and Brylle Neis. Thanks so much! You saved me from nosebleed!

Thank you also to Bratpack and Geiser Maclang for allowing me to host this great contest! Check out Bratpack’s newest store at the Greenbelt 5, Makati City!

To all those who joined the contest, maraming maraming salamat po sa inyong lahat!

Oh wait… I still have another ongoing contest here at BYAHILO! I will be raffling off two Photo Books featuring my shots during the recently-onluded Masskara Festival in Bacolod City. Click here to join the contest.