Rappler’s Gloria is WAN-IFRA’s 2023 journalism laureate
Entertainment columnist Nepales wins LA awards
GLENDA GLORIA, executive editor and co-founder of Rappler, has been awarded one of the world’s most prestigious journalism honors, the Women in News Editorial Leadership Awards from the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).
Gloria was named WAN-IFRA’s 2023 laureate during the World News Media Congress in Taiwan on June 27. She shared the honor with editors Emang Mutapati from Botswana and Lina Ejeilat from Jordan. The awards were given in recognition of their respective newsroom’s outstanding leadership and editorial integrity.
“It has been a most challenging time for newsroom leaders of my generation, but this award is telling us to carry on and keep going despite doubts about our relevance given the polluted information ecosystem,” Gloria said at the ceremony. “This award means that there’s reason to hope and dream big again so that we can collectively craft a sustainable way forward.”
“In recognizing the substantial editorial achievements of these exceptional newsroom leaders, we are also shining a light on the continued gap we need to bridge as an industry to bring more diverse voices and leadership into our news,” said WAN-IFRA’s CEO Vincent Peyregne.
CMFR ’s Jaime V. Ongpin Awards for Excellence in Journalism recognized her article “Trapped in a Web of Lives” as the best report on human rights in 2008 when the Canadian Embassy in Manila in coordination with CMFR also named her Marshall Mcluhan Fellow.
A journalist for over 30 years, Gloria finished her journalism degree at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) in 1985. She has worked for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Manila Times, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, ABS-CBN News Channel, and international news agencies. A Chevening scholar, she holds a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science. In 2018, Gloria finished her Nieman journalism fellowship at Harvard University. She also authored award-winning books “Under the Crescent Moon: Rebellion in Mindanao” and “The Enemy Within: An Inside Story on Military Corruption.”
The Women in News Editorial Leadership Award was first launched in Africa in 2014 and was expanded to cover the Arab region in 2017 and Southeast Asia in 2021. An exceptional editorial leader from each region is named laureate annually. WAN-IFRA named then ABS-CBN news chief Ging Reyes as its 2022 laureate.
Entertainment Award
Meanwhile, Rappler’s entertainment columnist Ruben Nepales claimed four prestigious accolades at the 65th Southern California Journalism Awards given by the LA Press Club on June 25 in Los Angeles.
Nepales claimed first prize in the Individual Blog category published in his weekly Rappler column, “Only IN Hollywood.” He also won two second prizes in the Feature by a Foreign Correspondent category, and third prize in the Entertainment Journalist of the Year category.
Nepales is also an alumnus of UST. Before writing for Rappler in 2020, he was a columnist for the Philippine Daily Inquirer and authored two award-winning books, “My Filipino Connection: The Philippines in Hollywood” and “Through a Writer’s Lens.”
