Out of the blue

By Henrylito Tacio
“The Blue Feather Award is the most coveted recognition journalism students of the Ateneo de Davao University receive,” says Dr. Maria Gemima V. Galang, a professor with the university’s Department of Education. She is also the woman behind the annual search.
 There are actually two categories: newspaper and magazine. As one of the five judges in the search, I was invited to grace the awarding ceremony night held at the Apo View Hotel.
 There were 12 awards in the newspaper category. Libertad was winningest newspaper five awards. It has the Best Front Page and was chosen as the Second Best Newspaper. It won the Best News Story (for “It’s complicated” by Karlo Alexie Puerto) and Best Original Sports Story “”Lady Eagles dominates round 1” by Claire E. Ponteras).
 Libertad‘s Karlo Alexie Puerto, who wrote “Justice delayed, justice denied,” was named Best Tragedy Report along with Polaris’s Precious Domalaon, who penned “Time cut short.”
 Polaris was also named third Best Newspaper. It also got Best Editorial.
 Declared Best Newspaper was The Fourth Estate, whose editor-in-chief, Vanessa Kate Madrazo was also named Best Editor-in-Chief. Madrazo’s piece, “Is peace possible,” was adjudged Best Column.
 Vindicator got two citations: Best Business Story (“Total capitalization in Davao increased” by Kyle Cassey Navarro) and Best Editorial Cartoon (by Jerrick Luy).
 The Best Original Community News Story went to Andrea Mejos for her story “Urban Blight,” which appeared in Advance. Angelo Caballero, who did the layout for Forefront, was chosen as the winner of Best Layout.
 The magazine category was even more exciting. There were 9 awards for grab. Denise Isabel Terio of Magu was named Best Editor-in-Chief. Magu also got the Best in Magazine Layout while Lantaw got the Best Cover Page.
 The Best Advertisement (for “Havaianas”) went to Gypsy while Garbo took the Best Advocacy Campaign for “Who are we to judge.”
 In the Photo of the Year, four winners were declared: Banwe‘s Mary Joy de Castro was named first while Magu‘s Denise Isabel Terio was second placer. Two tied in the third place: Lantaw‘s Gwen Dale Caubang and Garbo‘s Roxanne Angelika Segumban.
 Vanessa Kate Madrazo, who wrote “Sharmila Parmanand: Challenging Status Quo,” which appeared in Lantaw, topped the Best Mindanawon Story. The two other awardees were Carly Chua (“Suwat ni Macario” in Magu) and Precious Domalaon (“Voices of Peace” in Banwe), second and third placers, respectively.
 The Best Magazine Story went to Angelo Caballero (“To God’s Series of Architectures” in Magu), first place; Mary Joy de Castro (“Beyond the Name B’laan” in Banwe), second place; and Vanessa Kate Madrazo (“Reeling Life from the Sea” in Lantaw), third place.
 Named Best Magazine were Magu, first; Lantaw, second; and Banwe, third.
 There were also persons who were named Most Outstanding Student Journalists: Aivy Rose Villarba, Angelo Caballero, Mary Joy de Castro, Precious Domalaon, and Vanessa Kate Madrazo.
 This year’s theme for the magazine was General Santos City, the country’s tuna capital. In behalf of Mayor Ronnel C. Rivera, who was not able to come to the awarding ceremony due to some circumstances, the volume of magazines was received by Dave R. Arreglado, the executive assistant of the city mayor’s office.
 The awarding ceremony was also graced by Amado Santos Munda, Jr., who delivered a very eloquent speech on how his great grandfather “discovered” General Santos (before it was named as such). Some paintings were also exhibited in various strategic places
 The judges for the newspaper category were Stella A. Estremera, the editor-in-chief of Sun.Star Davao, Carmelito Q. Francisco, the managing editor of Mindanao Times, and Edwin R. Fernandez, a journalism professor.
 In the magazine category, Fernandez was also one of the judges, along with Ian Ray Garcia (a lifestyle columnist of Mindanao Times and editor-in-chief of M magazine), and myself (a columnist and features writer of Edge Davao and contributing editor of Philippines Graphic)