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Winners Citations
BEST IN PHOTOJOURNALISM
Winner for Daily: THE FREEMAN – for consistency publishing photos on a daily basis. It has diverse subjects with very good composition, quality striking images on every issue.
Winner for Weekly: BAGUIO CHRONICLE – for showing beautiful, well-composed, and diverse images on their newspaper.
BEST IN ENVIRONMENTAL REPORTING
Winner for Daily: LEYTE SAMAR DAILY EXPRESS – The Leyte Samar Daily Express has consistently produced quality environmental stories over the year. It has highlighted local environmental issues such as on illegal logging, mining, coal, water and waste management, marine, energy, biodiversity, climate change, conservation and other environmental topics link to the economy, human health and well-being. The newspaper’s approach in including potential solutions in most of their environmental stories, especially those that are related to typhoons and natural disasters, helps increase public awareness and policy actions.
Winner for Weekly: HERALD EXPRESS – The Herald Express excellently featured a wide range of local environmental and sustainability issues over the year. It consistently paid close attention to developing local environmental issues such as on the impact of air and water pollution, solid waste management, mining, big dams and eco-tourism mismanagement. The publication also highlighted solution stories like clean drive efforts of the communities, good practices in ecotourism industry, shift to renewable energy, benefits of composting projects in barangays, tree planting activities, sustainable agriculture and forest management. These stories were prominently placed on front pages or as one of the weekly top stories.
BEST IN BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC REPORTING
Winner for Daily: THE DAILY GUARDIAN – it has extensive coverage of business and economic activity not only in Iloilo but throughout the region; stories are well-written and comprehensive.
Winner for Weekly: HERALD EXPRESS – its varied stories written in a way that are easy on the eyes provide the reader a big picture sense, a finger on the pulse of business and economic activity in the Baguio area.
BEST IN EDITORIAL PAGE
Winner for Daily: THE FREEMAN
- THE FREEMAN covers a wide range of topics from very relevant and timely community issues and news, to news of national interest.
- That it is able to accomplish this in spite of daily deadlines is very commendable.
- This is important especially in today’s ecosystem where developments are interconnected and local news can become national, regional and global.
- The Freeman not only informs its local readers but also opens up their horizon so that they see dimensions to the news as they also keep abreast with developments elsewhere.
- Its tabloid size, good layout and print quality enables readability.
Winner for Weekly: BAGUIO CHRONICLE
- What immediately strikes you about the Editorial Pages of the BAGUIO CHRONICLE is its courageous choice of topics that we could call the elephants in the room.
- What strikes you next is its excellent writing, written in good taste and with a refreshing candidness, a balance of restraint and scathing comments.
- It covers locally relevant issues and well-chosen national issues that make sensible, down-to-earth comments, devoid of euphemisms.
- The Editorial Page contents are substantially written, and so worth reading.
- But beyond reading, the contents move the readers to reflect. It has consistent editorial page elements, a regular engagement of reader feedback, and the editorial is crisply written.
- This is an excellent example of classic journalism that sets the standard.
BEST EDITED COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
Winner for Daily: SUNSTAR DAVAO – For featuring stories that have an impact on the local community and giving a voice to the marginalized, the BEST EDITED NEWSPAPER FOR A DAILY PUBLICATION goes to SUNSTAR DAVAO.
Sunstar Davao shone the spotlight on issues such as plastic recycling, non-compliant pharmacies on VAT-exemption of medicines, coconut hubs and Davao’s pawikan center, some 10,000 businesses blocked for non-compliance with Bureau of Fire requirements, and vehicular accidents in the city. Noteworthy was a hyper-local story contextualizing the Mindanao Railway Project in terms of its impact on a village along the path of its construction. There was also an explainer on the measure seeking to lower the criminal age of liability and a three-part in-depth story on children in conflict with the law. Stories that focused on Mindanao culture were also give ample space, and sometimes even banner treatment, such as Lumad fashion, Inaul weave, a T’boli wedding and the Mindanao film festival. The newspaper also employed infographics where necessary to make the stories more reader-friendly.
Winner for Weekly: BAGUIO CHRONICLE – For focusing on stories that have an impact on local readers and prioritizing gut issues, the BEST EDITED NEWSPAPER FOR A WEEKLY PUBLICATION goes to BAGUIO CHRONICLE.
Baguio Chronicle has shown consistency not only in pursuing local issues but also in serving as a catalyst for community action. Among the stories that it focused on were the following: Minahang Bayan and its impact, plogging (picking up of trash) tourism in Cordillera, the National Irrigation Administration getting flagged by NCIP over a project in Ifugao, Muslim leaders protecting Baguio cathedral (this following the Jolo bombing), spike in diptheria and measles in Cordillera, mayors getting charged for their absence during Typhoon Ompong, and teenage moms on decline in the region.
The newspaper likewise featured prominently culture and even science stories, including a whole-page article on Whang-od, La Trinidad’s women’s brigade, LGBT day in Itogon, and a page one article on ‘plastic-eating’ bacteria discovered by researchers of UP Baguio.
Criteria for Judging
TECHNICAL
- Quality of writing and editing (grammar, style, in-depth treatment, readability, absence of typos)
- Headlining (accuracy, creativity, originality)
- Photo editing
- Page layout
CONTENT
Applies the principles of civic journalism:
- Varied voices
- Impact on community
- Follow-up stories
ETHICS
Observes ethical and professional standards for the print media (see attached PPI-Philippine Journalist’s Code of Ethics)
TECHNICAL
- Quality of writing and editing (grammar, style, in-depth treatment, readability, absence of typos)
- Cartoons and photos
- Page layout
CONTENT
Applies the principles of civic journalism:
- Varied voices
- Impact on community
- Follow-up stories
- Clearly stated expression of opinion on topics of local importance
- Coverage of issues in terms of breadth and depth
- Feedback mechanisms
ETHICS
Observes ethical and professional standards for the print media (see attached PPI-Philippine Journalist’s Code of Ethics)
TECHNICAL
Quality of writing and editing (grammar, style, in-depth treatment, readability, humanized)
CONTENT
Coverage (extensive, wide variety, original, community-oriented business or industry issue)
Applies to the principles of civic journalism:
- Varied voices
- Impact on the community
- Follow-up stories
ETHICS
Observes ethical and professional standards for the print media (see attached PPI-Philippine Journalist’s Code of Ethics)
TECHNICAL
Quality of writing and editing (grammar, style, in-depth treatment, readability, humanized)
CONTENT
Coverage (extensive, wide variety, original, community-oriented environmental issue)
Applies to the principles of civic journalism:
- Varied voices
- Impact on the community
- Follow-up stories
ETHICS
Observes ethical and professional standards for the print media (see attached PPI-Philippine Journalist’s Code of Ethics)
TECHNICAL
Technical quality (contrast, sharpness, composition)
CONTENT
Content (newsworthiness, human interest, dynamism, local relevance)
Applies to the principles of civic journalism:
- Varied voices
- Impact on the community
- Follow-up stories
Photo caption
ETHICS
Observes ethical and professional standards for the print media (see attached PPI-Philippine Journalist’s Code of Ethics)