On November 27, 2014, in an awards banquet held at the Sunset Pavilion of Sofitel Manila, the winners of the 8th Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards were finally revealed.

The winner of the Agriculture Story of the Year were Cherry Ann Lim and Liberty Pinili of Sun Star Cebu for their three-part series entitled, “Fish in troubled waters.”

The Tobacco Story of the Year award went to Gabriel Cardinoza of the Philippine Daily Inquirer for his article “Pangasinan farmers pin hopes on tobacco.”

Harley Palangchao of the Baguio Midland Courier took home the Agriculture Photo of the Year trophy for “Frostlandia” while Mauricio Victa of Business Mirror’s photo “Leaves of Gold” was chosen as the Tobacco Photo of the Year.  All four received P50,000 in cash and an iPad Mini.

In the Best TV Program or Segment Category, Karren Verona of ABS-CBN Davao wins for the “Father’s Day Episode” of the show Agri Tayo Dito.  While “Panahon” aired over DXND Kidapawan City, North Cotabato, brought home the top prize in the Best Radio Program or Segment category.  They also received P50,000 in cash.

Gabriel Cardinoza of the Philippine Daily Inquirer brought home a second trophy for his story “Carabao vanishing breed in Pangasinan,” which won the top prize in the Best Agriculture News Story National.  While Cherry Ann T. Lim of Sun Star Cebu also won a second award for her story, “Bug slay, nature’s way,” which was the top scorer in the Best Agriculture Feature Story Regional.

Flornisa Gitgano, also from Sun Star Cebu, emerged as the winner of the Best Agriculture News Story Regional for “Cold Weather’s toll now P26M”.  “The prospects of swine industry in the Philippines,” written by Henrylito Tacio and published in the Marid Agribusiness Magazine, brings home the trophy for the Best Agriculture Feature Story National.  They each received a cash prize of P20,000.

KIDAPAWAN CITY – The Radyo Bida Specials, a 30-minute radio documentaries and features of the Notre Dame Broadcasting Corporation (NDBC), was chosen as this year’s Best Agriculture Radio segment of the Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards.

Its winning episode, ‘Let’s Go Organic,’ got the judges’ nods to win the radio category.
The episode, which was aired early this year over three NDBC stations in cities of Kidapawan, Cotabato, and Koronadal, tackled about organic farming as a sustainable farming system.

It featured the best practices of farmers in towns of Columbio and Esperanza in Sultan Kudarat who had been using organic farming as their way of life.
The Sultan Kudarat farmers who had been exposed to flooding and severe drought were taught to adopt an integrated diversified farming system using organic agriculture.

It was the Rural Development Institute in Sultan Kudarat (RDISK), a non-government institution based in Tacurong City, taught them the system through its project, Building Resilient and Adoptive Communities and Institutions, that has two component activities – the Climate Resiliency Field School and the Integrated Diversified Farming System.

The episode, using the farmers’ success stories as basis, said organic farming is safe, simple, and provide them with a huge return on investments.

Also, with use of organic fertilizers and pesticides while adopting organic farming, the farmers will preserve useful pests that kill harmful insects.

The episode, ‘Let’s Go Organic’, has already won as ‘Best Science and Technology Program’ on radio given by the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas Golden Dove Awards, one of the country’s most prestigious award-giving bodies.

The Bida Specials is produced and hosted by multi-awarded journalist Malu Cadelina Manar, who currently heads the news and current affairs and special programs of the NDBC.

The Bright Leaf Awards for Best Agriculture Radio Segment was received by Fr. Jonathan Domingo, OMI., the NDBC’s chief executive officer, and Rikki Climaco, network’s chief operations officer, for and on behalf of Manar who is attending a two-day Asia-Pacific Regional Media Conference for Reporting Conflicts and Disasters in Hiroshima, Japan.

His story on carabaos in Pangasinan province becoming a staple in slaughterhouses and his feature on tobacco farming won for Inquirer Northern Luzon Bureau reporter Gabriel Cardinoza two trophies in the 8th Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards on Thursday.

Cardinoza’s “Pangasinan farmers pin hopes on tobacco” won the tobacco story of the year, while his “Carabao vanishing in Pangasinan” was named best agriculture news story (national).

In 2012, Cardinoza won in the agriculture feature category for his story on weatherproof fish cages in Pangasinan.

For his latest feat, the Inquirer correspondent won P70,000, an iPad mini and a trip to Jeju Island in South Korea with eight other winners.

Road shows

Paul Riley, country president of cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp. (PMFTC), described the awards as the company’s way of raising awareness of the agriculture sector that makes up 30 percent of the Philippine labor force.

The PMFTC official said organizers received the most entries this year after holding road shows in Lucena, Cebu, Naga, Davao, Baguio, Dagupan and Vigan.

Bayen Elero-Tinga, PMFTC external affairs director, said the Cebu road show paid off as the city won three prizes on its first try, for Sun Star Cebu.

Cherry Ann Lim won best regional agricultural journalism story for her feature on integrated pest management in Dalaguete town, Cebu province, while Flornisa Gitgano won best regional agricultural news story for writing on the recent cold snap in Cebu that cost the province P26 million in damaged crops.

Overfishing

Sun Star Cebu also won the coveted agricultural story of the year award for the three-part series on overfishing in the Visayan Sea, written by Lim and Liberty Pinili.

Two major photo prizes went to Baguio City-based photographers. Harley Palangchao of Baguio Midland Courier won the agriculture photo of the year award for his shot of cabbages covered with frost in Benguet province, while Mau Victa of BusinessMirror won for tobacco photo of the year for featuring an 87-year-old tobacco leaf seller at the Baguio market.

The other winners were Henrylito Tacio of Marid Agribusiness Magazine for his feature on the Philippine swine industry, Malu Cadelina Manar of dxND Kidapawan City for best radio program on the B’laan indigenous knowledge and Karren Verona of ABS-CBN Davao for a segment on “Durian King” Emmanuel Belviz.

The search was officially launched to the public in February.  Soon after, the organizers went on a roadshow to meet with journalists from Lucena City, Cebu City, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Naga City, Dagupan, Baguio, Vigan and Laoag.  These pocket events provided a venue to meet with the local media face to face to encourage them to submit their articles, photos, TV and radio reports published or aired between Sept. 1, 2013 and Aug. 31, 2014 that covered the agriculture industry.

Once the entries started pouring in, they were turned over to a judging panel led by veteran journalist Ninez Cacho-Olivares and included members of the academe, respected photographers, editors, artists and columnists.  These judges had the unenviable task of reviewing every entry until finally the winners were chosen.

And on November 27, 2014, in an awards banquet held at the Sunset Pavilion of Sofitel Manila, the winners of the 8th Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards were finally revealed.

For the first time since the competition began, all the winners will receive trophies as well as an Asian trip.

The winners:

The winner of the Agriculture Story of the Year were Cherry Ann Lim and Liberty Pinili of Sun Star Cebu for their three-part series entitled, “Fish in troubled waters.”

The Tobacco Story of the Year award went to Gabriel Cardinoza of the Philippine Daily Inquirer for his article, “Pangasinan farmers pin hopes on tobacco.”

Harley Palangchao of the Baguio Midland Courier took home the Agriculture Photo of the Year trophy for “Frostlandia” while Mauricio Victa of Business Mirror’s photo “Leaves of Gold” was chosen as the Tobacco Photo of the Year.

All four received P50,000 in cash and an iPad Mini.

In the TV Program or Segment category, Karren Verona of ABS-CBN Davao wins for the “Father’s Day Special” of the show Agri Tayo Dito.  While “Panahon” aired over DXND Kidapawan City, North Cotobato brings home the top prize in the Radio Program or Segment.  They also received P50,000 in cash.

Gabriel Cardinoza of the Philippine Daily Inquirer brings home a second trophy for his story,  “Carabao vanishing breed in Pangasinan” which won the top prize in the Best Agriculture News Story National.   While Cherry Ann T. Lim of Sun Star Cebu also wins a second award for her story, “Bug slay, nature’s way” which was the top scorer in the Best Agriculture Feature Story Regional.

Flornisa Gitgano, also from Sun Star Cebu emerged as the winner of the Best Agriculture News Story Regional for “Cold Weather's toll now P26M”.  “The  prospects of swine industry in the Philippines” written by Henrylito Tacio and published in Marid Agribusiness Magazine brings home the trophy for Best Agriculture Feature Story National.”  They each received a cash prize of P20,000.

In his welcome remarks, PMFTC Inc. president Paul Riley noted that “a year ago today, one of the strongest typhoons in history swept through the country, leaving millions of people homeless and hopeless.  News of the devastation that Yolanda wrought were the headlines of both local and international media.  But the Filipino spirit is ever resilient and today the survivors of Yolanda are slowly rebuilding their homes and their lives.  Proof of how much this deadly storm affected the country can be seen in the number of photos and articles that were submitted to Bright Leaf that talked about the aftermath of Yolanda.”

Riley added “the Filipino spirit is indeed admirable. Their dedication to their craft and livelihood whatever it may be, inspires respect.  And their hard work and determination are stories that are meant to be told. And through the journalists’ works, all these stories are being shared with the world.”

Since its launch in 2007, the Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards has become the premier competition for agriculture journalists all over the Philippines.  For the past eight years, print, TV, Radio and photo journalists have actively and eagerly participated in this competition to find out who will be chosen as the crème of the crop.

And now it’s time for the journalists to look ahead and get ready for the 9th Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards.

THREE Sun.Star Cebu journalists received recognition during the 8th Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards last night for helping raise awareness on issues hounding the agriculture sector.

“Cold weather’s toll in Cebu now P26M,” a story written by Flornisa M. Gitgano with Elias O. Baquero, received the Bright Leaf Award for best agriculture news story regional.

The story, published last January, reports on the loss of crops and livestock due to unusually low temperatures in the uplands of Cebu last January.

The incident prompted some local government units to declare a state of calamity in affected barangays to access funds that were used to provide assistance to farmers.

More winners

Cherry Ann T. Lim’s Bugs “Slay, nature’s way,” a two-part report on sustainable pest control and agricultural practices won best agriculture feature regional.

“Fish in troubled waters,” a three-part special report by Lim and Liberty A. Pinili was named the 8th Bright Leaf Awards Agriculture Story of the Year.

The report looks into the declining fish stocks in the Visayan Sea, and how this threatens the livelihood of thousands of fisherfolk and the country’s food security.

Adjudged Tobacco Story of the Year is an article written by Gabriel Cardinoza of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

The panel of judges, chaired by Daily Tribune’s Ninez Cacho-Olivares, picked the winners from over 500 entries.

Organizer

Other winners this year are: best agriculture news story national by Cardinoza; best agriculture feature story national by Henrylito Tacio of the Marid Agribusiness Magazine; tobacco photo of the year by Mauricio Victa of the Business Mirror; agriculture photo of the year by Harley Palangchao of the Baguio Midland Courier; best agriculture TV program produced by Karen Verona of ABS-CBN Davao; and best agriculture radio program by Malu Cadelina Manar of dxND Kidapawan, North Cotabato.

The Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards was launched in 2007 by Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing Inc. to give recognition to journalists and photojournalists who bring to public attention the issues that affect the agriculture sector.

At present, it is organized by the Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp., the company that was created by the merger of Philip Morris and Fortune Tobacco.

The 8th Bright Leaf Awards winners were announced in Manila.