STAR cited for biotech journalism

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine STAR won second place in the Institutional category of the Jose G. Burgos Awards for Biotech Journalism.

The STAR was cited for “its support in popularizing biotechnology by printing materials on the subject matter on its pages, thereby helping promote public awareness and understanding of biotechnology in the country.”

The awarding ceremony was held at the Social Hall of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Quezon City Thursday night.

The plaque of recognition to The STAR was signed by Dr. Edita Burgos, chair of the Burgos award, and Joel Paredes, program director of the Biotechnology for Life Media and Advocacy Center.

Business Mirror won first place in the Institutional category, while Manila Bulletin placed third.

STAR reporter Rudy Fernandez, on the other hand, won second place in the Feature category of the contest for his article “Biotech crops help attain UN millennium development goals.”

Fernandez was cited for his “outstanding contribution to biotechnology journalism in the Philippines.”

For the Feature category, Zac Sarian of Manila Bulletin won first place for his story “13 tons of corn per hectare” while Jennifer Ng of Business Mirror placed third for her article “Camarines LGU nixes NGO petition to stop Bt eggplant field trial.”

STAR chief cartoonist Rene Aranda, meanwhile, was a finalist in “BiotechTOONs,” a contest aimed at “popularizing the benefits and potentials of biotechnology” by presenting the “perspectives of Filipino cartoonists toward the benefit and promising value of biotech crops.”

The contest was held in cooperation with the Philippines International Cartoons, Comics, and Animation, Inc. 

For the News category, Lyn Resurrecion of Business Mirror won first place for her story “Biotech crops planted in 1B hectares by 15.4 million farmers in 2010.”

Paul Icamina of Malaya placed second with his story, “Help for abaca farmers now available,” while Jonathan Mayuga, also of Business Mirror, placed third for the story “Bt corn saved the day for farmer.”

Aside from plaques of recognition, winners took home P30,000 each for first prize, P20,000 for second prize, and P10,000 for third prize.

Cris Michelena, managing director of the Initiative for Farm Advocacy and Resource, said 277 articles competed for the best news story and best feature for this year’s Burgos Awards.

The board of judges pored over the entries of national and local dailies before coming up with a shortlist of 15 articles in each category on Nov. 3

The board was composed of chair Fr. Emmanuel C. Alparce of the St. Rose Parish of Lima in Bacacay, Albay; Agham party-list Rep. Angelo Palmones, Jenny Panopio of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture-Biotechnology Information Center (SEARCA-BIC), Alvin Capino of radio station dwIZ and Dr. Reynaldo Ebora of the National Institute of Biotechnology Coalition of the University of the Philippines-Los Baños.

The board judged the articles according to relevance (25 percent), quality of story (25 percent), depth (25 percent), and style (25 percent).                            Now on its seventh year, the Jose Burgos Award was named after the late press freedom icon who was incarcerated during martial law. He was one of the 50 champions of press freedom honored by the International Press Institute. He engaged in agriculture journalism in his later years.

This year’s contest was one of the highlights of the observation of the 2011 National Biotechnology Week hosted by the DENR from Nov. 21 to 25.                                

It was organized by the Biotechnology Coalition of the Philippines, J Burgos Media Services Inc., and the Biotechnology Coalition of the Life Media and Advocacy Resource Center and SEARCA-BIC. – With Rudy Fernandez