Plaridel Awards now accepting nominations from FilAm media

On its 25th anniversary, the Philippine American Press Club, U.S.A. (PAPC) announced the Second Annual Plaridel Awards that acknowledge and celebrate the contribution of outstanding writers and publishers in the Fil-American community, as they chronicle the lives and times of their compatriots, promote and share their culture and history, champion their causes and provide a venue where readers/listeners can voice their concerns, and ideas for the betterment of the community and society at large.

PAPC is calling out to all Fil-American journalists to submit their entries which saw print or were broadcast through a Filipino American based media anywhere in the U.S. between June 1, 2012 thru May 31, 2013. Deadline for submission is Sept. 10, 2013.

Awards will be given to the best news report or feature that provides unique perspective on the issues and concerns of Filipino Americans. Categories for print and online articles include Investigative/In-Depth Story; Commentary or Editorial Essay; International Reporting; Entertainment Story; Sports Story; and Youth Voice. For Broadcast TV and Radio it will for the best in Community Reporting. And last but not least is a category for Photojournalism. Plaridel Awardees will receive a trophy and cash in recognition of their outstanding journalism. This year’s awards ceremony will be held on October 19 in San Francisco.

The name Plaridel was chosen in honor of Marcelo H. Del Pilar, a Filipino patriot, journalist and publisher who brought with him his craft and zeal as an expat to Europe in late 1800s where he continued to be a prolific writer and kept his constituents abreast with the goings on in their expat community as well as in their homeland. In him, PAPC has found a hero – a person to emulate and an inspiration to Filipino-American writers and publishers everywhere who continue with their journalistic aspirations and in service to their constituents in the new land they now call home.

Winners of the First Plaridel Awards last year included journalists from New York, Las Vegas, LA, and San Francisco. They were Michael Santos and Joseph Pimentel of Asian Journal for Outstanding Reportage while Cristina Pastor of The FilAm was runner up. Dennis Clemente of Inquirer.net won for Outstanding Commentary with Ted Laguatan also of Inquirer.net as runner up. Laurel Fantauzzo of The FilAm won first prize in Youth Voice while Elizabeth Horner came second. Janet Nepales of Philippine News won the Outstanding Entertainment Category while Dennis Clemente was runner up. Outstanding International Reporting Category’s top honor went to Philippine News’ Cherie Querol Moreno while Asian Journal’s Las Vegas editor, Dymphna Calica-La Putt, won honorable mention.

In the Broadcast Category’s Community Reporting in Television, Jannelle So of Kababayan LA, seen daily on KSCI-TV LA18, won 1st prize. Runner up was Arnold Pedrigal of “Power ng Pinoy” a weekly show on GMA TV. Photo-journalism honorable mention went to Michael Santos of Asian Journal and the Tourism Feature Story winner was Ruben Nepales of Balikbayan Magazine.

The Philippine-American media has been providing news and information to the community for more than 50 years. At present, total monthly circulation of the combined major publications in print, online and broadcast is approximately 2-Million nationwide. For more information on, please email esther.chavez@inquirerinc.net or Jojo.peralta@asianjournalinc.com.