Gawad Plaridel Award

Infobox award
name = Gawad Plaridel


imagesize = 200px
caption = Marcelo H. del Pilar, Filipino journalist-reformist, was the inspiration for the UP Gawad Plaridel awarded by the College of Mass Communication.
description = Adherence to highest professional and ethical standards and excellence in mass media
presenter = University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication
country = Philippines
year = 2004
website = http://cmc.upd.edu.ph/

Gawad Plaridel or the U.P. Gawad Plaridel is the sole award in the University of the Philippines System given to outstanding media practitioners.

The Gawad bestows honor on Filipino media practitioners who have excelled in any of the media (print, film, radio, television, and new media) and performed with the highest level of professional integrity in the interest of public service. The recognition, which comes with a Napoleon Abueva trophy, is given to one practitioner in one medium for each year. The awardee is expected to deliver the Plaridel Lecture which addresses important media issues

Award Profile

The award is named after Marcelo H. del Pilar, the selfless propagandist whose stewardship of the reformist newspaper La Solidaridad from 1889 to 1895 helped crystallize nationalist sentiments and ignite libertarian ideas, mainly through his 150 essays and 66 editorials published under the nom de plume Plaridel. A crusading journalist, this native of Bulacan served as editor of the vernacular section of the Diariong Tagalog (Tagalog Newspaper), the first Philippine bilingual newspaper, in 1882. Among his major publications were "Dasalan at Tocsohan" (Prayerbook and Teasing Game), "Pasyong Dapat Ipag-alab nang Puso nang Tauong Babasa" (Passion That Should Inflame the Heart of the Reader), and "La Soberania Monacal en Filipinas" (Monastic Sovereignty in the Philippines), all published in 1889.

From 1890 to around 1895, he edited and published La Solidaridad almost on his own because funds for the support of the fortnightly had become more and more difficult to raise in the Philippines. Del Pilar slowly lost hope in reforms and began to entertain the possibility of the Philippines separating from Mother Spain.

Pining for his mother country and suffering from tuberculosis, Del Pilar died in Barcelona, Spain on July 4, 1896 at the age of 45.

Like Plaridel, the recipient of this award must believe in the vision of a Philippine society that is egalitarian, participative, and progressive, and in media that are socially responsible, critical and vigilant, liberative and transformative, and free and independent.

Given annually, it started in 2004 with Eugenia Duran-Apostol, publisher and founding chair of the Philippine Daily Inquirer as its first awardee. In 2005, it was awarded to premier actress Mayor Vilma Santos, PhD honoris causa, for film. Veteran radio broadcaster Fidela Magpayo, a.k.a. 'Tiya Dely', was the 2006 recipient. Cheche Lazaro received the award for 2007.

2008: Community Journalism

For 2008, Pachico A. Seares, editor-in-chief of Sun.Star Cebu and Sun.Star Superbalita (Cebu), was chosen as the recipient of the award for his “outstanding contributions to the print media industry.” The judges cited Seares’ contributions to community journalism, among them: his major help in steering Sun.Star Cebu and Sun.Star Superbalita [Cebu] to become the readership and advertising leaders among community newspapers in the country, his “continuing advocacy on issues that serve community interest, adopting and implementing journalism values that serve as example to Sun.Star affiliate papers in their respective areas, inspiring the community and regarding the people as citizens who can help the community.”

The awarding ceremonies for the 2008 recipient, Atty. Seares, were held at the UP Film Institute Cine Adarna. The fifth staging of the annual awards was unique as it was the first time that the whole ceremonies were streamed online live through the official video streaming website of the University of the Philippines. As such, members of the editorial board and staff of Sun.Star Cebu and Sun.Star Superbalita were able to watch the ceremonies live from their remote location.

Present during the awarding ceremonies were past awardees Santos and Lazaro, members of the UP College of Mass Communication, and guests from the industry and other institutions of mass communication in the country. Joining the awardee are his wife, Fatima Seares, daughter Linda Seares-del Rosario (also a lawyer), and grandchildren Michael Lorenzo and Nicole Marie.

After the awarding rites, Atty. Seares delivered the annual Plaridel Lecture, given annually by the Gawad Plaridel awardee that would focus on the medium recognized for the year. A community journalist nonetheless, Atty. Seares' lecture entitled "The Future of Community Newspapers" situated the country's community print media today, presented the success story behind the two publications he heads and its growth into a network of publications, and presented prospects for the field in the future.

Atty. Seares was assisted by Sun.Star's executive editor Michelle So, who took care of the audio-visual presentation accompanying the lecture.

In introducing the Gawad Plaridel awardee for this year, UP College of Mass Communication dean Dr. Elena Pernia described Atty. Seares, or "Cheking" to his friends and family, as a modern Plaridel in the grassroots level. She quoted the awardee as saying:

"We should not just cover the community we serve, but we should also serve the community we cover."

As a closing remark, Atty. Seares thanked UP for endowing upon him the distinction, which he referred to as a fitting commendation to the role of community journalism, especially in his community in Cebu.