J Burgos biotech journ awards winners named

MANILA, Philippines - The winners in the 2011 Jose G. Burgos Jr. Awards for Biotech Journalism were awarded Thursday night at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Social Hall.

“Biotech crops planted in 1B hectares by 15.4 M farmers in 2010” written by Business Mirror’s Lyn Resurrecction bagged the first prize in the Best News Story category.   Malaya’s Paul Icamina’s article “Help for abaca farmers now available won second prize” and “Bt corn saved the day for farmer” written by Jonathan Mayuga of Business Mirror took the third prize.

Manila Bulletin’s agriculture Editor Zac Sarian won in the Best Feature Story category with his article “13 tons corn per hectare”. The second prize went to “Biotech crops help attain UN Millennium Development Goals” written by Rudy Fernandez of The Philippines Star “Camarines LGU nixes NGO petition to stop Bt eggplant field trial” by Business Mirror’s Jennifer Ng finished third.

In the Institutional Category Business Mirror won first place, followed by The Star and Manila Bulletin.

A total of 277 articles vied for best news story and best feature in this year's Jose Burgos Awards for Biotechnology Journalism

The project was organized by the Biotechnology Coalition of the Philippines (BCP), the J Burgos Media Services, Inc., the Biotechnology for Life Media and Advocacy Resource Center (BMARC) and the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture-Biotechnology Information Center (SEARCA-BIC).