Here are the winners of the Miss Dinagyang Festival 2009.

Major Awards

Miss Dinagyang Festival 2009 – Nathalie Grace Roberts (CPU)
1st runner-up – Stephanie Juanitas (University of Iloilo)
2nd runner-up – Marie June Bebing (University of San Agustin)
3rd runner-up – Sheryl Mae Manalo (CPU)
4th runner-up – Ruby Lopez

Minor Awards

Best in Swimsuit – Nathalie Grace Roberts (CPU)
Best in Interview – Nathalie Grace Roberts (CPU)
Best in Tourism Advocacy – Nathalie Grace Roberts (CPU)
Best in Newspaper Gown – Nathalie Grace Roberts (CPU)
Miss Photogenic – Stephanie Juanitas (University of Iloilo)
Best in Evening Gown – Stephanie Juanitas (University of Iloilo)
Best in Dinagyang Attire – Stephanie Juanitas (University of Iloilo)
Best in Talent – Marie June Bebing (University of San Agustin)
Miss Congeniality – Rapunzel Palma (WVSU)
Darling of the Press – Geline Antoinette Cabrera (CPU)

Get more images on Iloilo Dinagyang 2009.

Here is our tribute site to the 2009 Dinagyang Celebration!

Click here!

The most awaited event on Iloilo and also known as the Best Tourism Event of the Philippines is here. The Dinagyang 2009 festival will evolve in its tagline “On Higher Ground” with new innovations to further add color in the yearly festival in honor of Senior Sto. Nino. The festival will be officially launched on December 1.

In the list of events provided by Mrs. Nena Magalona, chair of the publicity and media relations committee of the Dinagyang 2009, among the new concepts for the 2009 Dinagyang festival are food festival of folk flavors or Kinaiyang Kalan-on, thematic division of the street kiosks and Little Miss Dinagyang. The float for the Kasadyahan parade is already a requirement for the participating tribes.

The Kinaiyang Kalan-on is a showcase of native foods and delicacies from all over Iloilo and Panay. The neighboring towns of Iloilo City would be invited to join the food festival. In previous years, the restaurants and hotels which are members of the Iloilo Hotels Restaurant and Resorts Association (IHRRA) dominate in the food festival.

The sweepers who takes care of all the thrash after each tribe performance would be given importance in the 2009 Dinagyang festival. Sweepers would be detailed in each performance area to collect and clean the area for the next performer.

In the concept, the |street sweepers from the General Service Office (GSO) will dance between tribe performances. The GSO will provide a choreographer for the “dancing sweeper.”

Meanwhile, the delay in the organization of the executive committee and the working committees for the 2009 Dinagyang celebration hampers the promotion of the festival. Days before the launching on Friday, not much publicity was given to the 2009 festival.

The festival was adjudged as the best tourism event of the Association of Tourism Officers in the Philippines (ATOP) for three consecutive years, placing the festival in the hall of fame

With the delay in the promotion, it is uncertain on whether the festival will live by its name as the best tourism event in the country.

source: thenewstoday.info

This is a short video teaser of Dinagyang 2009 created by ABS-CBN Iloilo Network.

Dinagyang festival is a religious and cultural festival in Iloilo City, Philippines held on the fourth Sunday of January, or right after the Sinulog In Cebu and the Ati-Atihan in Aklan. It is held both to honor the Santo Nino and to celebrate the arrival on Panay of Malay settlers and the subsequent selling of the island to them by the Atis.

source: flickr.com