Beginning next year, community papers can vie for two new categories in the annual Civic Journalism Community Press Awards organized by the Philippine Press Institute (PPI) – the Best in Online Reporting and Best in Biodiversity Reporting awards.
This online reporting category was announced Tuesday in the PPI’s 16th National Press Forum, held April 23-24, at the Traders Hotel. The addition of the biodiversity reporting was earlier announced but formally launched on the same day.
The Information Capital Technology Ventures, Inc. (ICTV), a local provider of telecommunications, media, and information technology products and services, announced on the final day of the forum that it would sponsor the addition of the Best in Online Reporting award.
The ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (German Agency for International Cooperation) or GIZ will jointly sponsor the best in biodiversity reporting category.
Currently there are six categories in the yearly print media competition organized by the PPI, namely, Best in Photojournalism, Best in Science and Environmental Reporting, Best Editorial Page, Best Edited Community Newspaper, Best in Culture and Arts Reporting, and Best in Business and Economic Reporting.
Angel Timoteo Diaz de Rivera, president of ICTV, announced his company’s sponsorship of the online category during the second and final day of the forum.
During the forum Rivera spoke on the topic “Shifting Gears, New Mechanisms to Strengthen Community Journalism.”
He urged the members of the community press who attended the forum to use “multiple channels to deliver (news) content.” He cited the example of Fairfox Media, a major media company in Australia, which uses various media, including smartphones, to engage its readers throughout the day.
Quoting web guru and former Wired Magazine contributing editor Don Weiner, Rivera said, “News isn’t just a product, it’s a community, and news organizations should take advantage of what’s happening around them.”
This year’s forum also coincides with the PPI’s 48th founding year and silver anniversary since its reactivation in 1987.
