It gives me great pleasure to announce that one of aboutmalta.com's contributing editors, Robert Micallef is the winner of this year's e-journalism award from the Institute of Maltese Journalists for his MMON blog, Wired Temples. Robert's win marks the third award in this category for the MaltaMedia news service. The previous awards were for MaltaMedia's Editorial Director, Martin Debattista and Pierre J. Mejlak, aboutmalta.com's Managing Editor, in 2003 and 2005 respectively.

Although this is the last aboutmalta.com monthly newsletter for the year 2006 we will be sending you a special Christmas edition in a couple of weeks. We do this every year because we feel that it is too early to include Christmas material just yet. We will also give you full details about our annual feature on the year in review. Look out for our seasonal newsletter in your mailbox, about two weeks from now.

Toni Sant
Consulting Editor, aboutmalta.com

P.S. To subscribe to this newsletter just contact us.

1. Last Month's Daily News from MaltaMedia
2. Top Picks:
     a. Mużika Mod Ieħor 2006 Poll
     b. Wired Temples: Malta on the Web
3. This Month in Maltese History
4. What's On This Month

01 Ryanair starts flights to and from Malta
02 Men in license bribery case conditionally discharged
03 Malta invites Indian tech firms to invest in ICT
04 Man extradited to Malta over drug trafficking
05 Suspected human remains to be lifted from sea
06 Flames engulf Faculty of Science at University
07 Former AirMalta employee imprisoned for life on al-Qaeda link
08 MaltaMedia Online Network wins e-journalism award
09 20,000 low-cost airline passengers expected soon
10 Free statins for patients aged over 75 years
11 EU funds for Malta to increase by 55 million euro
12 "Wet lease" suggestion for Malta-Gozo air service
13 Malta charged for build-up of surplus sugar stocks
14 Windows Vista at reduced price for students
15 MPs testify against l-Imnieħru over alleged threats
16 Customs seize seven million smuggled cigarettes
17 228 songs submitted for upcoming Maltasong
18 48 persons arraigned in Court over immoral acts
19 Governor calls for 'critical review' of public spending
20 European Commission to help Libya patrol borders
21 Positive signs on SmartCity agreement-I.T. Minister
22 Man gets 15 years in jail for attempted murder
23 October bad month for manufacturing, says survey
24 Earthquake tremor shakes Maltese localities
25 Lufthansa Technik to invest over Lm 21m in Malta
26 Further decrease in surcharge to be announced
27 69% of Maltese feel euro will lead to retail abuses
28 1,800 inspections in places popular with tourists
29 Song for Europe preselection yields surprises
30 Malta should cut CO2 emissions to 2.1 tons

Read and/or listen to the latest daily news from MaltaMedia.com.

a. Mużika Mod Ieħor 2006 Poll

Toni Sant's Mużika Mod Ieħor podcast first appeared just over one year ago. To mark the first anniversay of the weekly Maltese music series, listeners can now vote for their top picks from 2006. The four categories are: Maltese Album, Single/EP, Internet Release and Overseas-based Artist Release for 2006. You can vote for one title from each category, so you can vote up to four times, as long as you pick titles from each of the lists. The final results will be included in the first podcast for 2007 in the Mużika Mod Ieħor series.
 

b. Wired Temples: Malta on the Web

Fresh from winning this year's e-journalism award from the Institute of Maltese Journalist, this daily blog about Malta on the web was integrated into the MaltaMedia Online Network just a few months after it appeared online in December 2004. Its creator, Robert Micallef, is also aboutmalta'com contributing editor for our section on Maltese blogs.

30 YEARS AGO (27 December 1976)
Former Justice Minister Anton Buttigieg is sworn in as the second President of the Republic of Malta.

20 YEARS AGO (5 December 1986)
26 year-old Raymond Caruana, a Nationalist Party activist, is shot dead inside the Gudja Nationalist Party Club by an unidentified person shooting from outside the club.

10 YEARS AGO (5 December 1996)
Notary Myriam Spiteri Debono is sworn in as Malta's first female Speaker of the House of Representatives, as Parliament opens for a new Malta Labour Party led administration.

FAMOUS BIRTHDAYS
11 December 1951: Jane Marshall, Actress
21 December 1927: Charles Thake, Actor
23 December 1951: Joe Dimech, Broadcaster
29 December 1947: Albert Marshall, Poet

DEATH ANNIVERSARIES
2 December 1952: Meme Scicluna, Soccer Impressario, dies at 65
16 December 1996: Cecil Satariano, Amateur Film-maker, dies at 66
20 December 1950: Nerik Mizzi, Prime Minister, dies at 65
21 December 1981: Hannibal P. Scicluna, Historian, dies at 101

See aboutmalta.com's daily full list of birthdays, deaths, and events in Maltese history.

Today in Maltese History is produced exclusively for aboutmalta.com by Mario Axiaq.

1 - 3 Decmeber 2006
Ustad Parvez: sitar concert
Ustad Parva one of the most prominent sitar players of his generation, who belongs to the one of the most illustrious and influential musical dynasties, will present a sitar concert at St. James Cavalier, Valletta.

5 December 2006
Prague's National Theatre Corps de Ballet
Members of the Corps de Ballet of the National Theatre of Prague will be performing to musical gems in the ballet repertoire at the Manoel Theatre, Valletta.

14 December 2006
Lecture on Naturalism in European Portrait Painting
A lecture presented by artist Madeleine Gera on the evolution of portrait painting from the early Renaissance and its development into the 20th century at Din l-Art Ħelwa Offices, Valletta.

Starting 21 December 2006
Circo Bellucci
International spectacular Circo Bellucci will bring circus magic to Floriana with its trapeze, juggling and animal taming acts among others.

View aboutmalta.com's full calendar for this month's events in Malta and Gozo, or to submit a future event to our calendar.