PCIJ bags 2007 PopDev media awards

THE PCIJ continued its winning tradition at the 3rd Annual PopDev Media Awards as two of its fellows topped the online investigative reporting and opinion writing categories, while a photograph published in the PCIJ blog received a citation.

Baguio-based writer Frank Cimatu was awarded “Best in Investigative Writing” for the online category for his i Report article “Sex, Laws and Video Nights,” which examined Ifugao’s new Reproductive Health Code and the changes it could bring to the remote town of Tinoc. Samira Gutoc was awarded “Best in Opinion Writing” for the online category for her article “Confronting Peace, Battling Stereotypes,” which also appeared in i Report. The piece dealt with her odyssey towards becoming a peace journalist in Mindanao.

Jose Enriquez Soriano received a citation for a photo published in the “Indisputable Hunger series.”

PCIJ contributors Red Batario and Girlie Alvarez were runners-up in the online investigative reporting category with their article “Postcards from the Road Back,” along with Lala Ordenes-Cascolan’s blog entry “A Mother’s Breastfeeding Story.”

In the online opinion category, the runners-up were economists Maitet Diokno-Pascual and Clarence Pascual’s essay “Walking on a Knife’s Edge” and the blog entry “The Philippines, Now a ‘Second World’ Country?” by Alecks Pabico, PCIJ’s Multimedia Desk head.

Submissions to this year’s PopDev media awards, sponsored by the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development Foundation Inc. (PLCPD) and the United Nations Population Fund, increased by 60 percent. Categories were no longer separated into regions, and citations for photojournalism and editorial cartoons were added. The awarding ceremony was held yesterday at the Trader’s Hotel Manila in Pasay City.

The PopDev awards are given annually to pay tribute to print, broadcast and online media practitioners who have produced, published and aired “responsible and exemplary news and feature articles and programs on population and development” during the year. The awards also help encourage the media to actively examine population and development issues that affect the country’s development, and to heighten public awareness and knowledge on population and development issues.

In the second PopDev media awards last year, PCIJ fellow Cheryl Chan was awarded “Best in Investigative Writing” for the National Capital Region Category for her article “Perils of Generation Sex.” She also won first prize in the explanatory category in the non-daily division of the 2006 Jaime V. Ongpin Awards for Excellence in Journalism. Chan’s story, published in the September 2005 issue of i Report, looked into the growing number of Filipino youths suffering from sexually transmitted infections.

Vinia Datinguinoo was cited for “Best in Online Reportage Writing” for her series of stories for this blog: “Quezon Gets New Environment Chief; Battle to Save Sierra Madre Continues;” “Study Finds Little Sustainable Management of Philippine Forests;” and “Sierra Madre Activists Laud DENR Raids on Illegal Loggers.”

Pabico also received a citation for “Best in Online Opinion Writing” for his blog entry, “Not Just Putting a Roof Over People’s Heads,” which described the living conditions of thousands of families in the Southville Housing Project, the government’s resettlement area for families displaced by the North Rail-South Rail Linkage Project.

In the first PopDev Media Awards in 2005, PCIJ Deputy Executive Director Jaileen Jimeno received the “Best Investigative Report Award” for her two-part series on public access to modern family planning methods. She was one of only three winners.