Jaime V. Ongpin Awards for Excellence in Journalism

The Jaime V. Ongpin Awards for Excellence in Journalism (JVOAEJ) is a yearly event organized by the CMFR to promote the practice of investigative and explanatory reporting. These involve the basic clocks for any kind of reporting: research, probe, inquiry, and corroboration to insure the validity of one’s findings.

CMFR serves as the technical and administrative secretariat of the Awards. Since 1995, the awarding ceremony is preceded by a JVO Seminar on Investigative Journalism in order to broaden public interest and support for the development of investigative journalism. The seminar invites journalism students from different schools to interact with the panel of finalists who talk about how they worked on (from story idea to reasearch to writing) the nominated articles.

CRITERIA

Minimum Requirements for Investigative and Explanatory Reporting

Entries must:
1. Have a minimum length of 1,000 words;
2. Be written by a Filipino journalist or a group of Filipino journalists, whether freelance or affiliated or regularly employed in a
news organization;
3. Have been published in a newspaper or magazine of mass circulation in the Philippines for the period under consideration (January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008 ).

Common Criteria for both Categories

1. Sourcing – For corroboration, there must be more than one source of data, such as interviews, documents and/or studies;
2. Ethics – The article must meet the universally accepted standards of professional journalism in terms of relevance, fairness,
accuracy, and balance;
3. Technical proficiency – The story must exhibit an above average level of writing skill/style and must show ability to
communicate complex material so that it can be understood in a manner that appeals to readers’ interest;
4. Timeliness & Impact on society – Scope and significance of issue/subject;
5. Clarity – Does the article explain its subject to the ordinary reader/layman?

Investigative Reporting

Working Definition: “The reporting, through one’s own initiative and research, of matters of importance to readers. In many cases, the subjects of the reporting wish the matters under scrutiny to remain undisclosed.”

Key Ideas:

Stories must:

  • be substantially the product of the reporter’s own initiative and effort, i.e. first-hand data;
  • be able to uncover facts that someone or some agency may have tried to keep from public scrutiny;
  • be about an issue of public importance.

Explanatory Reporting

Working Definition : A journalistic work whose purpose is to describe, clarify, illuminate, and/or define an issue, event or process, providing background material as necessary for public understanding of the subject treated in the article.

Under this definition, some examples are articles explaining: the meaning of money-laundering; provisions of a law or bill; a government agency and how it works; a public program/project; or an environmental/scientific phenomenon.

The following types of reporting/articles do not qualify for the Awards:

1. Daily news stories: “usually have little research; straight news reports about an event or issue; limited sources.
2. Feature stories: “Articles that are not time-bound. They are often human interest stories and contain more descriptive
information than typically found in a news story. Often have a personal slant or individual style.
3. Publicity materials: “Articles that are one-sided and seek to promote personalities, products or places.

Download the entry forms below:

4 responses to “Jaime V. Ongpin Awards for Excellence in Journalism”

  1. The Daily PCIJ » Blog Archive » PCIJ, Vera Files win top honors in JVO awards says:

    […] reports on governance and corruption won major prizes in the 20th Jaime V. Ongpin Awards for Excellence in Journalism (JVOAEJ) held today at the Asian Institute of Management in […]

  2. PCIJ, Vera Files win top honors in JVO awards « Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism says:

    […] reports on governance and corruption won major prizes in the 20th Jaime V. Ongpin Awards for Excellence in Journalism (JVOAEJ) held today at the Asian Institute of Management in […]

  3. Link for today: Media and Elections | 100ARAW.com says:

    […] According to its website, “CMFR was organized in 1989 as a private, non-stock, non-profit organization involving the different sectors of society in the task of building up the press and news media as a pillar of democratic society. Its programs uphold press freedom, promote responsible journalism, and encourage journalistic excellence.” It organizes the prestigious Jaime V. Ongpin Award for Excellence in Journalism. […]

  4. Freedom Watch » Media Coverage of Last Elections is Ongpin Seminar Topic says:

    […] seminar has been a major feature of the Jaime V. Ongpin Awards for Excellence in Journalism since 1995. CMFR administered the awards program since 1989 but decided to recess the program after […]