THE FLAME, the official student publication of the UST Faculty of Arts and Letters, won the top prize in two of the three categories of the 9th UST National Campus Journalism Awards (UNCJA).
The Artlets student publication clinched the top prize in the editorial and in-depth report categories.
“From Teachers to Whitewashers” by editor-in-chief Fatima Baduria and managing editor Bless Aubrey Ogerio won best editorial while “Jeepney Modernization Program: Drivers Have A Steep Price to Pay” by Pauline Nicole Bautista, Robb Nigel Moya and Joss Gabriel Oliveros bagged the best in-depth report.
A special jury citation was given to its in-depth article, “After Surviving Lockdowns, Small Food Businesses Grapple with High Commodity Prices” by Joss Gabriel Oliveros, Zoe Airabelle Aguinaldo and Trisha Tamio.
The Flame will receive a total of P40,000 for its two winning articles.
“Breaking Barriers: ‘High’ demand for Anthro 198 reveals need for FSL (Filipino sign language) courses” by Tinig ng Plaridel, the official student publication of University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD) College of Mass Communication, won the best feature award.
UPD’s Philippine Collegian also received jury citations for its two editorial articles, “The Transportation Crisis is an Affront to our Right to Live” and “The Board of Regents Faces a Confidence Crisis of its Own Making.”
Ateneo de Manila University’s The GUIDON was given a special jury citation for its feature article “Katipunan Kariton Routine” and its in-depth report “This article is co-written by ChatGPT.”
Cagayan State University Andrews’ The CSU Communicator received a special jury citation for its feature story “‘Agan-Anus Ka’: The Tales of an Anguyub.”
The articles were judged based on their content (40%), structure (25%), relevance (20%) and grammar (15%).
This year’s roster of judges were Pulitzer Prize winner and former Reuters correspondent Manuel Mogato; Asian Center for Journalism executive director and VERA Files co-founder Luz Rimban; esteemed journalist and author Joel Pablo Salud; Palanca awardee Eros Atalia; Philstar.com editorial head Camille Diola and The Philippine Star senior reporter and UST journalism instructor Alexis Romero.
Romero, also the publication adviser of The Flame, did not participate in the judging of in-depth and editorial entries.
The winning student publications were recognized on Friday, Jan. 12, during the fellowship night of the 25th Inkblots at the Buenaventura Garcia Paredes, O.P. Building.
The annual UNCJA, established by The Varsitarian in 2015, honors outstanding articles tackling local or national issues at the university or college-level publications nationwide. F
