CEBU, Philippines - The FREEMAN was awarded the Regional Newspaper of the Year by the prestigious Rotary Club of Manila (RCM) during the RCM Journalism Awards.
The FREEMAN, which will be celebrating its 95th anniversary on July, was represented by its editor-in-chief, Quennie Bronce, who received the award at the New World Makati Hotel.
The newspaper is the second longest-running English newspaper in the country and is a member of The Philippine STAR Group of Publications. The Philippine STAR also bagged RCM’s Hall of Fame award.
Last year, The Philippine STAR became the first newspaper to be elevated to the RCM Hall of Fame after winning the National Newspaper of the Year award thrice.
The Philippine STAR President Miguel Belmonte congratulated The FREEMAN when he was in Cebu earlier this week and urged the newspaper’s staff to continue with its promise of being “the fair and fearless†newspaper in the region.
According to the website of RCM, the Journalism Awards, a recognized awarding body in Rotary organizations worldwide, was launched in 1966 “to honor outstanding contributions of individuals in the tri-media: print, television and radio, thus encouraging the proper development of Philippine Journalism.â€
In 1972, the awarding was halted. This was RCM’s way to express their message that there is no real freedom of the press. But in 1986, it was launched again to encourage the proper development of Philippine Journalism.
Other awardees during the ceremony yesterday were The Philippine Daily Inquirer for Newspaper of the Year; Business World for Business Newspaper of the year; GMA for Television Station of the year and dwIZ for Radio Station of the year.
Maria Ressa of Rappler was awarded Journalist of the Year; Jojo Robles of Manila Standard Today for Opinion writer of the year; ABS-CBN’s Atom Araullo and Bernadette Sembrano for Male and Female Broadcast Journalist of the Year for TV, respectively; and ABS-CBN’s Anthony Taberna and Niña Corpuz for Male and Female Broadcaster for radio, respectively.
A special award was given to Sen. Ernie Maceda, a columnist of The Philippine STAR. (FREEMAN)