MANILA, Philippines - Business Motoring Section regular contributor Ulysses Ang kept the Philippine STAR’s winning streak at the annual Henry Ford Awards alive by winning the Best Safety Feature Story for his article on road rage management. With the win, The Philippine STAR remains as the only media outfit with representation in all nine stagings of the awards – which was conceptualized to salute the exceptional efforts of media practitioners in the field of motoring journalism.
“We recognize the key role that our friends in the automotive media have played and continue to play in growing our business in the Philippines. Alongside us, they each have built their careers with the ups and downs of the industry – their insights and voices contributing to shaping the automotive landscape of the country. Acknowledging this, we have chosen ‘Drive History’ as our theme for this year’s awards, to celebrate these individuals as well as our long-standing and continued partnership with them,” said Ford Group Philippines President Rick Baker.
This year’s judging was divided into two phases. The Phase One judges include: Dr. Francine Racho of the University of Asia and the Pacific, Engr. Serafin Pantaleon of the Automotive Association of the Philippines (AAP), Lu-Ann Fuentes, Editorial and Communication Services Director of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide Manila, and Ford Group Philippines VP for Sales and Marketing Steven Tan.
Phase Two judges are multi-awarded Philippine author and Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature Hall of Famer Alfred Yuson; Arvin Sanchez, General Manager of Redworks, a creative division of Ogilvy and Mather Philippines; Undersecretary Anelli Lontoc of the Department of Transport and Communication (DOTC); and FGP President Rick Baker.
The Henry Ford Awards 2009 also solicited the help of special judges who are experts in their field. The list includes: Charie Villa, Head of Newsgathering /International Broadcast Services Group, News and Current Affairs, ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation for the broadcast category; professional photographer John Chua of Adphoto photography; and James Bernardo, creative director of Ogilvy and Mather Philippines for design.
Ang’s winning piece, Taming Your Inner Monster, was a lighthearted piece on defensive driving which gave several important bits of advice to the everyday road user. It came out in July of this year and it marks the 6th time Ang has been given the nod by the Henry Ford Awards judging committee.