|
Saturday, July 05, 2008
UP honors Seares with Gawad Plaridel
CEBU CITY -- Good journalism—in whatever vehicle or platform, print or broadcast, wired or wireless, hard copy or digital—will help community newspapers and journalists survive and endure.
Pachico A. Seares, editor-in-chief of Sun.Star Cebu and Sun.Star Superbalita (Cebu), in his lecture on “The Future of Community Newspapers” thanked the University of the Philippines System for recognizing that “out there we have a struggling, yet never-say-die community press which, despite flaws and infirmities, is doing what the Manila-based media cannot do well alone."
Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo
Seares is this year’s awardee of the UP Gawad Plaridel, the “sole award in the University of the Philippines System given to outstanding media practitioners."
The Sun.Star editor is the second awardee from print (the first being Eugenia Apostol in 2004) and the first awardee for community journalism. He is the first male awardee, after Apostol, Vilma Santos (film, 2005), Fidela “Tia Dely" Magpayo (radio, 2006), and Cecilia “Cheche" Lazaro (television, 2007).
The Napoleon Abueva trophy was presented to Seares by UP vice president for academic affairs Amelia P. Guevara, chancellor Sergio S. Cao, and College of Mass Communications dean Elena E. Pernia Friday at Cine Adarna in UP Diliman, Quezon City.
The certificate of recognition, read by UP Film Institute head Nicanor G. Tiongson, cited Seares’ work in community journalism. Seares helped produce two successful community papers “by pursuing excellence of craft and high journalism ideals in his newsroom and, beyond it, by promoting press responsibility along with press freedom and reaching out to other sectors of the community, including future journalists and news sources.”
Seares credited the award to community journalists all over the country “whose collective work persuaded the UP System, through its College of Mass Communications, to consider community journalism as worthy of recognition and to look beyond Manila for its awardee.”
His colleagues at Sun.Star and other journalists in Cebu, Seares said, “are largely responsible for my being on this stage.” They have helped in making Cebu journalism stand out among community papers in the country.
Seares said the award made community papers and journalists part of UP’s 100th anniversary celebration.
“There’s no higher recognition of the work of community journalism," Seares said, “than this Gawad Plaridel that honors the great Marcelo del Pilar, who died 112 years ago today."
A short documentary film titled "The Dreamer with a Deadline" and directed by Roehl L. Jamon, showing testimonials from Seares’ colleagues and friends in Cebu and Manila, was presented before the awards ceremony and the Gawad Plaridel lecture.
The UP Madrigal Singers rendered songs dedicated to the awardee. (Sun.Star Cebu)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro. (July 5, 2008 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
Poll watchdog gears up for August elections