PH Journalists Bag Honors in SOPA Awards
Photo from SOPA’s Facebook account.
FILIPINO JOURNALISTS bagged several awards in the 2018 Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Awards for Editorial Excellence held June 13 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center.
Founded in 1982, SOPA is a nonprofit Hong Kong-based organization that promotes excellence in journalism and endorses best practices for local and regional publishing platforms in Asia Pacific. The SOPA Awards is now on its 20th year.
ABS-CBN News won the Award for Excellence in Feature Writing for “Healing the wounds from the drug war,” which was written and photographed by Fernando Sepe, Jr. The multimedia report is on the families and relatives of those killed in the government’s anti-illegal drug campaign.
The judges described the article as a “poignant and beautiful” humanization of the “impact of the Philippines’ latest flirtation with authoritarianism.”
Other Filipino journalists’ coverage of the Marawi Siege won them awards in different categories.
“Buhay pa kami: Dispatches from Marawi” by Jeff Canoy and Val Cuenca, also from ABS-CBN News, received Honorable Mention in the Excellence in Explanatory Writing category . The judges described he report as “a visually compelling and moving account told from several different points of view of living through the siege of Marawi.”
Reuters’ “The Battle for Marawi” also received Honorable Mention in the Excellence in Reporting Breaking News category. The report, described by SOPA judges as “on-the-ground reporting at its finest,” was produced by the team of Romeo Ranoco, Roli Ng, Tom Allard and Martin Petty.
Rappler’s “Rape within the family: The Philippines’ silent incest problem” received Honorable Mention under the Excellence in Reporting on Women’s Issues category. Rappler’s Southeast Asia correspondent Natashya Gutierrez wrote the piece, which was accompanied by a mini-documentary edited by Jaene Zaplan.
The judges said the piece is “powerfully moving, exposing a horrifying social problem and providing a sharp analysis of the factors behind it.”
Mabuhay, the Philippine Airlines’ inflight magazine, received an Honorable Mention under the Arts & Culture category for the piece “Modern Ikebana.” Written by Claire Knox, the article features “Tokyo’s punk musicians and architects who are reviving and expanding ikebana – a minimalist yet striking technique of flower arrangement originating from ancient Japan.”
The winning entries were among the 95 awards presented by SOPA. This year’s awards received over 850 entries —the highest number since its launch – from international, regional, and local media.
Rappler chief executive officer and executive editor Maria Ressa was the keynote speaker during the event.
Leave a Reply