VICTORIA CAMILLE Tulad (AB Comm ‘10) garnered three Raul Locsin trophies for her eloquence in writing, but stood speechless when asked about how she felt winning such award.
She, together with the other awardees, was conferred the Raul Locsin Award last June 4 at CTC 201 at the 11th Raul L. Locsin Awards for Student Journalism.
Other awardees were Sasha Lim Uy and Bea Cupin of The GUIDON and Karen Dominique Brillantes and Kathrina Kaye Koa of Matanglawin.
Tulad was honored for her opinion article “Dahil May Mas Mahalagang Bagay Kaysa Parking Space,” feature article “Rehas” which she co-wrote with Karen Brillantes, and explanatory journalism article “Automated Election: Solusyon o Lason sa 2010?” which she co-wrote with Koa. All three articles were published in Matanglawin.
Lim Uy and Cupin were awarded for their joint news article “Union Clamors for Wage Increase”, published in The GUIDON.
Guests during the event included Business World President and Chief Executive Officer Anthony L. Cuaycong and School of Social Sciences (SOSS) Dean Fr. Jose M. Cruz, SJ.
Unbiased practice
“Journalism is like a tool for social responsibility. You may not expect people to read your work, but at least you know you have done your part in trying to promote awareness,” said Tulad.
Lim Uy meanwhile stressed the responsibility that comes with writing news articles.
She said, “You shape public opinion through the information you give. Obviously, you have to be responsible.”
She added that news articles are a source of information assumed to be able to stand alone. “You present the truth to people even in such a small setting like the university, so it’s important.”
Communication Department Chair Severino Sarmenta Jr. said that responsible journalism is comprised of qualities such as fairness, novelty, and accuracy which he thinks start in school.
“Like in any teaching endeavor, we hope that writing in school publications and being honored for great work will result in responsible journalism in the real world,” he said.
In his closing remarks, Cruz said, “Know that when you speak, you share something with the God who calls Himself, ‘Word.’”
Behind the scenes
Judging the 34 entries submitted were the following: Sarmenta, Instructor and Program Coordinator of the Photojournalism Program Cheryl Borsoto, Investigative Journalist and Lecturer Chay Hofileña, Philippine Daily Inquirer Reporter and Lecturer Edson Tandoc Jr., and PDI Columnist and Editorial Writer and Lecturer John Nery.
According to Sarmenta, deliberations this year did not see any major arguments.
“The writing in Filipino was quite excellent. I must say that this was Filipino that was readable, without sacrificing effective communication for the sake of being flamboyant with our very rich language,” said Sarmenta.
Moreover, he said that the number of entries for photojournalism was small considering that it is already the “digital photography era.”
The Award
The Raul Locsin Award was eponymously named after a known journalist who gave his prize money from the Magsaysay Awards to Ateneo for scholarships for deserving journalism majors.
It was created by Lecturer Ruey De Vera and Doreen Fernandez who both believed that students who wrote excellent journalistic pieces deserved to be recognized.
The award differs from the Dean’s Awards for the Arts that honors journalistic essays tempered with literary elements.
Sarmenta said, “The student journalism awards have no cash prizes but winning a Locsin award is undoubtedly prestigious because your name as a journalist is connected to Raul Locsin, definitely one of the giants of Philippine journalism.”
He also added, “There are already a great number of responsible journalists in the field today. It wouldn’t hurt to add a few more.”
