A tradition of excellence in SunStar Cebu
1. First and only community paper to be awarded with five “three-peats”
• “Best Newspaper” for three years (1991, 1992, 1993) by the Cebu Archdiocesan Mass Media Awards (Camma)
• “Best Edited Daily” for three years (1997, 1998, 1999)
by the Philippine Press Institute (PPI) and Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAF)
• "Best Investigative Report" for three years (2006, 2007, 2008) in the PopDev Media Awards by the Philippine Legislators' Committee on Population and Development Foundation Inc. and the United Nations Population Fund
• "Best Agriculture Story" in the country in the Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards (2014, 2015, 2016)
• "Explanatory/Investigative Story of the Year" in the Globe Media Excellence Awards (2014, 2015, 2016)
2. First and only community paper elevated to two Halls of Fame
• Camma Hall of Fame (1994) for being a three-time awardee as “Best Newspaper”
• “Philippine Community Newspapers’ Hall of Fame” by the Asia Media Project Konrad Adenauer Foundation and Philippine Press Institute for the KAF-PPI Annual Community Press Awards in 2000
3. First to win Unicef-PPI “Child-Friendly Newspaper (Community Daily) of the Year” national award (2001)
4. Named "Best Edited Daily" in the country seven times in the Philippine Press Institute Community Press Awards, not counting its Hall of Fame award (1997, 1998, 1998, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2021)
5. Recognized seven times for its investigative reports in the Catholic Mass Media Awards (CMMA) organized by the Archdiocese of Manila, winning in its first try
• Best Investigative Report in the country (2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018)
• Special Citation, Best Investigative Report (2015)
6. Named "Newspaper of the Year" seven times by the Rotary Club of Manila National Journalism Awards
• Regional Newspaper of the Year (1992, 2004, 2007, 2008)
• Community Newspaper of the Year (2011, 2012)
• National Newspaper of the Year (2005) - SunStar Publications Network, with SunStar Cebu as its flagship publication; first tabloid-sized publication and non-Manila-based news organization to win the title
7. Only community paper in the Philippines to be recognized at the Jaime V. Ongpin Awards for Excellence in Journalism
• Plaque of Merit for its special report on housing Cebu’s urban poor (2009)
• Also awarded second prize for a special report on Nubain co-written with a PCIJ journalist (1992)
8. Recognized 10 times in the PopDev Media Awards by the Philippine Legislators' Committee on Population and Development Foundation Inc. and the United Nations Population Fund
• Best Investigative Report (2006, 2007, 2008)
• Citation, Best Investigative Report (2007, two citations)
• Best in News Reportage and first runner-up (2007)
• Best Opinion Piece (2008, second place; 2010 and 2011, runner-up)
9. Recognized five times in the Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards, winning in its first try
• Best Agriculture News Story Regional (2014)
• Best Agriculture Feature Regional (2014)
• Agriculture Story of the Year (2014, 2015, 2016)
10. Recognized six times for environmental journalism
• Sarihay Media Awards presented by the Foundation for the Philippine Environment
- Best Photo Essay (2016)
- Best Editorial Cartoon (2016)
- 2 Certificates of Recognition, Best News Story (2016)
• Best in Climate Change and Biodiversity Reporting presented by the Philippine Press Institute (2013)
• Binhi Awards presented by the Philippine Agricultural Journalists and San Miguel Corp.
- Environment Story of the Year (2017)
11. Recognized 28 times in the Globe Media Excellence Awards, including for:
• Reporter of the Year (four awards in 2012)
• Print Feature of the Year (2012, 2013)
• Explanatory/Investigative Story of the Year (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020)
• Editor of the Year for the Visayas (2019, 2020)
• Newsmaker of the Year for the Visayas (2019, 2020)
12. Recognized for special reports, features and reportage by other national award-giving bodies
• Council for the Welfare of Children (2010)
• International Justice Mission (2011, 2013)
• Department of Health and Probe Media Foundation (2013)
• Save the Children Philippines (2017)
13. Recognized for photojournalism more than 100 times, including through these award programs:
• PPI-KAF Community Press Awards (1998, 2011, 2013, 2022)
• Cebu Archdiocesan Mass Media Awards (1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2019)
• PopDev Media Awards (2008)
• Rotary Club of Manila Journalism Awards (2011), SunStar being the first media outfit to win the award
• Catholic Mass Media Awards (2014)
• Sarihay Media Awards (2016)
• World Press Center-PPI National Photo Competition (1994)
• Council for the Welfare of Children and Unicef (1996)
• Globe Media Excellence Awards (2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2022)
• Save the Children Media Awards (2017)
14. Recognized for cartooning 10 times
• Camma (1996, 2003, 2011, 2015, 2019)
• Aids 4th Media Awards (2002)
• Asean Cartooning Awards (2005)
• National Editorial Cartoon Contest on the Centennial Year of Filipino Migration in Hawaii (2006)
• PopDev Media Awards (2007)
• Sarihay Media Awards (2016)