BROADCAST PROGRAMS and personalities accounted for less than half of the accolades awarded at this year’s USTV+ Media Excellence Awards.Of this year’s 44 winners, 17 were TV shows, personalities and other content of media organizations GMA, ABS-CBN and One Sports.
The University’s media awards was established in 2005 to honor outstanding television programs but later went into a decade-long hiatus after 2016. It returned this year with an expanded scope that included emerging digital platforms.
GMA-affiliated shows and personalities clinched the most awards this year, receiving 14 accolades from the 27 main categories.
The six shows of GMA that were conferred media excellence awards were: I-Witness (Science Communication and Public Affairs), Born To Be Wild (Environmental Awareness and Advocacy), Biyahe ni Drew (Responsible Tourism), I Juander (Education), Maria Clara at Ibarra (Entertainment and Popular Culture for Drama) and Fast Talk with Boy Abunda (Entertainment and Popular Culture for Talk). Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho was also honored with special citation as a magazine show.
Seven media awards were given to Kapuso personalities Kara David (Public Affairs, Education and Environmental Awareness and Advocacy), Atom Araullo (Responsible News Reporting), Boy Abunda (Entertainment and Popular Culture for Talk), Eugene Domingo (Entertainment and Popular Culture for Comedy) and Kim Atienza (Science Communication).
Meanwhile, ABS-CBN bagged two program Media Excellence awards with Pinoy Big Brother (Entertainment and Popular Culture for Game and Reality Show) and TV Patrol (News Reporting). Kapamilya actor Coco Martin also received a special citation for excellence in media and television storytelling, while Luis Manzano won the Media Excellence Award for Entertainment and Popular Culture for Game and Reality Show.
OneSports also won the Media Excellence Award for the sports news program category.
Other media companies that also received awards this year were the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Technology and Innovation) and ESPN Philippines (Sports Magazine).
Content creators recognized
The University honored the Media Influencer for Fine Arts and Design to advertising alumnus Geloy Concepcion.
Lawyer Jose Manuel “Chel Diokno” was also conferred the awards for media excellence and as an influencer for his legal advocacy on social media.
Social media content creators Mary Bautista (Technology and Innovation), Ramon Christian “Arshie” Larga (Health and Well-being), Jayvee Manikan (Destination Campaign), Abi Marquez (Culinary Innovation), Fr. Fidel Joseph Roura (Digital Evangelization) and Oliver Austria (Architecture) also received UST’s media influencer awards.
For the culinary heritage category, Filipino actress and content creator Judy Ann Santos-Agoncillo received the Media Excellence Award, while Erwan Heussaff won the Media Influencer Award. MentalHealthPH and Bianca Gonzales were conferred the award for psychological awareness and advocacy.
In the entertainment and popular culture for movie category, the 2024 film Balota (program) and Filipino film director Cathy Garcia-Sampana (individual) won.
Other media shows and personalities awarded by UST this year were the following:
- McDonald’s video campaign Forever Date (Media Excellence in Values Advertising)
- Wish 107.5 (Media Excellence for Music)
- Arkitekturang Filipino Series (Media Excellence for Architecture)
- “Canned Thoughts” (Media Excellence for Fine Arts and Design)
- Kape’t Pandasal by JesCom (Media Excellence for Digital Evangelization)
- Dogshow Divas (Media Excellence for Entertainment and Popular Culture for Comedy)
- Jose Lorenzo “Pepe” Diokno (Media Excellence for Writing in Broadcast and Film)
- Clara Benin (Media Influencer for Music)
- Ricky Lee (Media Excellence Entertainment and Popular Culture for Drama)
- Hidilyn Diaz (Media Influencer for Physical Education and Sports
Alongside Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho and Coco Martin, the University also conferred special citations to influencer Abi Marquez (culinary innovation) and the Philippine Airlines’ in-flight video (audio-visual presentation).
Winners of the awards were chosen by the student body under faith-driven themes, with 70% of the score based on evaluations by students in the category’s discipline and 30% from students outside the category.
The awards ceremony was held on Sept. 23 at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion. F
