THE College Press Conference and Awards (COPRE) of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Region VI was held Wednesday, December 21, at the Grand Xing Imperial Hotel in Iloilo City.
For its 46th year, COPRE bore the theme “Campus Journalism rising above and beyond the pandemic.”
The event this year was done face-to-face after it was conducted virtually for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Close to 500 college journalists from 55 school paper publications across the region participated in the one-day competition.
The longest-running writing competition in the region included the Search for the Best School Publications, on-the-spot writing contests, and the Mr. and Ms. COPRE 2022.
Meanwhile, Undersecretary Ramon Lee Cualoping III, the PIA Director General, graced the event as the keynote speaker and the resource speaker for the press conference with the student news writers.
The PIA chief discussed the current advocacy of the Agency in bringing the narratives of the government closer to the grassroots through its “Explain, Explain, Explain” umbrella advocacy program.
“COPRE is our way of recognizing the performance of school publications and individual writers in the field of development journalism,” said PIA-6 training-in-charge Easter Anne Doza.
This annual award also featured the best school paper advisers of the region through the Best Performing Advisers award. (PR)