SunStar Davao took home two awards at the 2022 Civic Journalism Community Press Awards of the Philippine Press Institute (PPI) on Tuesday, April 25, 2023 at the Citadines Bay City in Pasay City.
Sunstar Davao won the Best Edited Community Newspaper (Daily category) and Best in Photojournalism (Daily category).
Part of its citation says that SunStar Davao won Best Edited Community Newspaper "for featuring stories that have an impact on the local community, giving a voice to the marginalized, and elevating the reading experience with its beautiful layout and use of blurbs and infographics."
PPI lauded SunStar Davao for focusing on social issues such as the mushroom project for former rebels, Bakuna by the Sea initiative of the Davao City government, feature stories on ballet schools, and Davao tablea, and also, publishing feature stories on Tagum's first tribal wedding, basura patrol drive, and the temporary closure of Mt. Apo, among others.
Meanwhile, SunStar Davao was awarded Best in Photojournalism for how it sourced and used its photographs. The newspaper was striking a balance by using the photos by its photojournalist and using handout photos "sparingly."
"As for the usage, the paper exhibited good practices in its choice of photographs to be used as banner photo, together with its proper placement in relation to the headline," PPI said.
It added that SunStar Davao also "worked on the proper placement of photos in relation to the surrounding stories in the page layout, thus ensuring effectiveness and clarity. It also made sure that all photos had proper captions and were properly attributed to their source."
SunStar Davao editor-in-chief (EIC) Reuel John Lumawag said the community paper is honored to be awarded the prestigious awards in the field of journalism.
“SunStar Davao is happy to be the recipient of these two awards from the Philippine Press Institute. The awards are a recognition of the hard work and dedication of the SunStar Davao team,” Lumawag said.
He added that SunStar remains committed to writing stories that matter to the community it serves and feature stories that would “inspire and spark change.”
“Moving forward, we will continue to challenge ourselves in becoming a multi-media organization -- delivering stories through a variety of traditional and digital platforms,” the EIC said.
“Beyond print, we continue to develop and innovate new storytelling mediums that will allow us to become better partners in our community,” he added.
SunStar Davao was also nominated for Best in Reporting on Migrating Issues, Environmental Reporting, and Business and Economic Reporting.
Meanwhile, SunStar Cebu bagged Best in Environmental Reporting and Best in Business and Economic Reporting. SunStar Pampanga was also nominated for different categories.
Overall, the SunStar Philippines network won four of the six categories for daily newspapers. RGL