Series on OFWs wins Sun.Star a nat’l prize

Thursday, October 14, 2010

A THREE-PART series in Sun.Star Cebu on the travails of overseas Filipino workers received Best Investigative Report honors in the print category of the 32nd Catholic Mass Media Awards yesterday at the University of Santo Tomas Medicine Auditorium in Manila.

This is the second year in a row Sun.Star Cebu has bested its rivals in this category in this nationwide
competition. It was also a finalist in this year’s Best News Photograph Category.

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“OFW in Crisis: Peril at Work, Havoc at Home,” was written by Cherry Ann T. Lim, managing editor for special pages and features. It was published from June 16-18, 2009. The report won over the entries submitted by the Philippine Daily Inquirer and World Mission Magazine, which each had two reports as finalists in the category.

In last year’s CMMA, Sun.Star Cebu’s four-part special report on informal settlers, “Squatters and the City,” was named the Best Investigative Report in the country in the print category, in Sun.Star Cebu’s first try at joining the competition.

In yesterday’s awards, Sun.Star Cebu chief photographer Alex Badayos was named a finalist for his photo entry (of Buhisan Dam at the height of El Niño earlier this year) titled “Dam, That’s Dry.”

The other finalists were Ver Noveno of People’s Journal, Dr. Joel Julian of The Windhover: The Philippine Jesuit Magazine and eventual CMMA winner Revoli Cortez for his photo “Puno ng Kinabukasan” in the Manila Bulletin.

Other winners in yesterday’s print category were Francis J. Kong of The Philippine Star (Best Business
Column), Wilson Lee Flores of The Philippine Star (Best Opinion Column), and The Philippine Daily Inquirer (Best News Coverage) for “Cory Aquino Death and Funeral.”

In the TV category, “Rated K” of ABS-CBN 2 was named Best News Magazine. “Kapuso Mo” of Jessica Soho, GMA 7, and “Failon Ngayon” of ABS-CBN 2 got special citations. “Saksi” of GMA 7 and “TV Patrol World” of ABS-CBN 2 tied for Best News Program.

“Balitang Bisdak” of GMA Cebu and “24 Oras” of GMA 7 got special citations.

In the radio category, dzMM 630 khz/ABS-CBN’s “Radyo Patrol Balita Alas Syete” was Best News Radio

Program; its “Pasada Sais-Trenta” was Best News Commentary, while its “Tambalang Failon at Sanchez” was Best Public Service Radio Program.