National campus press tourney recognizes student-journalists and underscores the value of young journalism despite the pandemic
Campus journalism allows aspiring writers and media men to practice their craft. This exercise is important enough for a law to be enacted, the Campus Journalism Act of 1999, which enables the development and promotion of campus press.
As Randy Pausch said, “When you do something young enough and you train for it, it becomes a part of you.” Inculcating proper media values, tradition, ethics, and skill to young journalists is a must, especially now that local media, at least online, is saturated by short-form, often redundant, and regurgitated content.
The Best Designed Campus Papers (BDCP) of the Philippines, an award-giving organization that acknowledges best practices, visual excellence, content integrity, and creativity of campus publications, held a virtual event to honor outstanding student-journalists in the first-ever National Campus Press Olympiad (NCPO) 2021.
“Promoting Community Development through Multi-platform Campus Journalism” is the theme of the online tournament, which highlights the important role of the school paper during the health crisis.
The friendly competition challenged delegates from elementary, high school, and college levels to showcase their specialties in their respective areas, particularly news, features, sports, real-time reporting, documentary-making, social media publishing, photojournalism, and editorial cartooning.
Writers and artists from the Benildean Press Corps (BPC), De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (CSB)’s official student journalists’ organization; and Ad Astra, the student team tasked to produce the college’s official yearbook, bagged a total of 19 awards from different categories in the college division.
BPC took home the main prize for Mobile Documentary with Hinaing ng mga Tahimik by Jan Christian Dijan, Steve Justin Santos, and Alfred Vincent Zarate. For her Digital Editorial Cartooning, Cyryna Vivien Molit won first place.
Meanwhile, Ronyella Mae Veliyusa and Ma. Zophia Emmanuelle Tendido ranked second for Sports Writing and Real-Time Reporting, respectively. Beatrice Monique Mendoza attained third prize for News Writing.
Man Eng C by Hufana, Beatrice Quirante, Hannah Regina Dayan, Joshua Paul Gaces, Isabel Adolor, Gabrielle Sabine Bacani, Nina Kiara Cudal, and Francis Erika Javier garnered the second place for Social Media Publishing and third for Web Publishing.
Lunduyan by Jyllan Sydrey Bitalac, Hannah Barredo, and Anne Carmina Valmeo clinched third place for Mobile Documentary and the Special Award for the Most Social Media Engagement. Sportswriter Anna Marie Laganzon clinched third spot for her English-language beat.
The event was made possible through the assistance of Aloha Events and Marketing Solutions (Aloha PH). The complete list of winners may be viewed on the official Facebook page of NCPO at facebook.com/nationalcampuspressolympiad.