REPORTERS, editors and writers of SunStar Cebu received 17 nominations in the 2020 Globe Media Excellence Awards (GMEA).
Leading SunStar Cebu’s nominees is SunStar Cebu managing editor Cherry Ann T. Lim, whose two-part story on the plight of abused children during the Covid-19 pandemic and her story on the spread of Covid-19 from Cebu City to Cebu Province was nominated for Explanatory/Investigative Story or Documentary of the Year for Print.
Maria Lourdes “Nini” B. Cabaero, SunStar Cebu editor-in-chief, is also nominated for two categories: Covid-19 Story of the Year for her personal experience of surviving Covid-19, and as Newsmaker of the Year.
Michelle P. So, SunStar Cebu executive editor, was also nominated for Editor of the Year by GMEA.
SunStar Cebu photographers Alex Badayos, Allan Cuizon and Alan Tangcawan were nominated for Photo of the Year for Digital.
Nickolas Earl “Nicko” Tubo, SunStar’s multimedia editor and news anchor of SunStar’s “Newsbits,” was also nominated for Covid-19 Story of the Year for a story he wrote in Superbalita Cebu regarding his personal experience as a Covid-19 survivor.
Marites Villamor-Ilano, SunStar’s Manila editor, was one of the nominees for Explanatory/Investigative Story of the Year for Digital for her story “Battle vs. Covid-19: Know the enemy.”
Ilano and SunStar senior editor for digital Laureen Jean Ynot were also nominated for Breaking News of the Year for Digital for their story “Quarantine rules relaxed a bit in Cebu City, retained in NCR.”
Ynot and former SunStar content editor Neil Jean Navarro were also nominated under the same category for their story “Chinese man with nCov dies in Manila hospital.”
Katlene O. Cacho, SunStar Cebu business editor, and Johanna Marie O. Bajenting, SunStar Cebu business reporter, were also nominated for News Report of the Year for Print for three stories covering the effects of the Covid-19 situation in Cebu’s business sector.
Wenilyn B. Sabalo, SunStar Cebu staff reporter, was nominated for GMEA’s Covid-19 Story of the Year for her story on the Department of Education-Central Visayas’ efforts to promote distance learning during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Frontliners
Organizers of this year’s GMEA will honor media workers, bloggers, and social medial influencers as frontliners in the Covid-19 pandemic.
Embracing virtual experiences as the new normal, GMEA is going digital this year in a bid to recognize the exceptional and agile work of journalists, bloggers, and social media influencers in the Visayas and Mindanao who continue to cover the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic amid the risks and disruptions, Globe Telecom said in a statement.
This year’s GMEA is anchored on the issues and realities of “Life in the New Normal,” such as the Covid-19 response, the impact of quarantine on different sectors, and the difficult road to economic recovery.
Entries should also be in line with Globe’s commitment to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): care for the environment, positive societal impact, care for people, and the digital nation.
“GMEA 2020 comes at an unusual time as the world faces a shared health and economic crisis that presents new ways of living. Media plays an important role in the Covid-19 response even as it poses challenges to the industry, like a quick pivot to more digital content. As an ICT enabler, Globe wants to champion stories that show us different life perspectives during the pandemic,” said Yoly Crisanto, Globe chief sustainability officer and senior vice president for corporate communications.
New categories
In line with the changing tides, GMEA added new categories: Covid-19 Story of the Year (recognizing the best story that covers the pandemic which demonstrates excellent, resourceful, and factual narrative of the issue) and Community Development Story of the Year (recognizing the best story that promotes community development which focuses on the digitalization of communities or sustainability programs). It also expanded its coverage to Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo, Bohol and Tacloban/Ormoc in Visayas as well as Davao, Cagayan de Oro, General Santos and Zamboanga in Mindanao.
To date, Globe has received over 400 entries from the Visayas and Mindanao. Globe will announce the winners from Visayas and Mindanao through a live-streamed event on Nov. 26, 2020, at 4 p.m. via www.Facebook.com/GlobeICON. / JKV, PR