GMANews.TV leads winners in PopDev Awards

For tackling population issues through stories ranging from minors in online porn to neglected children in motherless homes, GMANews.TV took home the most number of prizes during the 5th PopDev Awards Wednesday. GMA News reporter Claire Delfin, who also writes for GMANews.TV, swept the investigative reporting category by bagging both the top and runner-up prizes. The awarding ceremony was held at the Mandarin Oriental Suites inside the Gateway Mall in Cubao, Quezon City. Her winning article, "Child pornography: Evil that preys silently on poor Filipino children," examined how the pornography industry of the '70s and the '80s has evolved into a more damaging social problem in the 21st Century by targeting minors and employing new technology such as the Internet.

GMA News TV reporter Claire Delfin and GMANews.TV reporter Mark Joseph Holandes Ubalde show their awards at the 5th Annual PopDev Awards held at the Mandarin Hotel in Gateway Mall, Quezon City. Howie Severino

Delfin was a runner-up prize for the article, "Childbirth, still a grim reality for many Filipino mothers and babies." The report spotlighted the alarming mortality rate among pregnant women, and the woeful lack of awareness about reproductive health care. "I dedicate these awards to my children," a tearful Delfin said after accepting the award, a PopDev trophy made of glass. For exploring the adverse effects on children of parents leaving to work abroad, GMANews.TV reporter Mark Joseph Holandes Ubalde won runner-up honors with his article, "When Mom Is Away, The Children Go Astray." "It's such an unfortunate thing that the government policy today is to promote overseas migration, when in fact you are leaving most of your population without mothers. Motherless homes are an emerging problem in the Philippines," said Ubalde in his acceptance speech. The winners were selected from 474 entries submitted this year. A committee composed of representatives from 10 organizations screened the entries. Started in 2004, the PopDev Awards is an annual event undertaken by the Philippine Legislators' Committee on Population and Development to recognize responsible and exemplary reportage on population and development issues. Highlighting the upcoming 2010 elections, the Awards gave weight to reports that stressed the importance of the Millennium Development Goals and the International Conference on Population and Development as electoral issues. Another winner from GMA Network was the GMA News Research team, which picked up a runner-up prize for a series of articles posted on GMANews.TV about poverty, unemployment, and the state of education in the Philippines.

The GMA News Research team led by Florian Balmes accept the award for Best News Reportage - Runner-up. Howie Severino

The series included: “Much vaunted economic growth fails to ease poverty," "Targeting Ten: 10 Million Jobs by 2010," and “Imperfect attendance: School Participation not likely to reach target." GMA News Research head Florian Balmes led her entire team in receiving the award. Meanwhile, the I-Witness documentary "Papa, Papa, Paano Ako Ginawa?" of GMANews.TV editor-in-chief Howie Severino was selected as runner-up in the documentary category. His work exposed the consequences of not teaching reproductive health in the nation's schools.

Howie Severino, right, and his I-Witness colleagues Nowell Cuanang, center, and Cris Sto. Domingo bagged a runner-up award for Best TV Documentary with their 'Papa, Papa, paano ako ginawa?' Mark D. Merueñas

The awards night became a venue for winners to pay tribute to their slain colleagues in last week's massacre of 57 people, including more than 30 journalists, in the town of Ampatuan in Maguindanao. Among those who dedicated their awards to the media martyrs in the November 23 carnage was photojournalist Jes Aznar, who won the top prizes in the Single Photo and Photo Essay categories for his photographs published by the Human Rights Reporting Project. The awards night also honored the late Alecks Pabico, a pioneering online journalist from the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism and a previous PopDev award winner. Pabico lost his battle with cancer last October 7.[See: Online journalism pioneer Alecks Pabico dies] The following is the complete list of winners for this year’s 5th PopDev Media Awards: PRINT AND ONLINE CATEGORY Best in Investigative Reporting Winner: Claire Delfin, GMANews.TV, GMA News * "Child pornography: Evil that preys silently on poor Filipino children" Runner-up: Claire Delfin, GMANews.TV, GMA News * "Childbirth, still a grim reality for many Filipino mothers and babies" Best in News Reportage Writing Winner: Purple Romero, Newsbreak * "The Pinoy Carbon Footprint" * "RP, 3 other Asian countries face costly climate change risks" * "Climate Change Commission OK'd" Runner-up: GMA News Research (Florian Balmes, Karen Tiongson-Mayrina, Aedrianne Acar, Brenda Barrientos, Agatha Guidaben, Jamaica Pascual, Mary Ann Señir, Jake Soriano, Allan Vallarta) * "Much vaunted economic growth fails to ease poverty" * "Targeting Ten: 10 Million Jobs by 2010" * "Imperfect attendance: School Participation not likely to reach target" Best in Opinion Writing Winner: Rene Ezpeleta Bartolo, The Mindanao Times * "The RH Bill and the Totality of Truth" Part 1: Anathema and Anguish Part 2: Making Visible the Seed of Truth Part 3: Thus Spoke the Silent Majority Runner-up: Juan L. Mercado, Sun.Star Cebu * "Grade B showbiz" Best in Feature or Magazine Article Writing Winner: Ronnie M. Halos, Pilipino Star Ngayon * "Family planning sa liblib" Runner-up: Mark Joseph Holandes Ubalde, GMANews.TV * "When mom is away, the family goes astray" BROADCAST CATEGORY Best Radio Program Winner: Aurora J. Zialcita, Magandang Gabi Dok, DZMM Radyo Patrol 630Khz Best TV Documentary Winner: Abner Mercado, The Correspondents, ABS-CBN * "Kailan Tama ang Sobra" Runner-up: Nowell Cuanang, Howie Severino’s I-Witness team, GMA Public Affairs * "Papa, Papa Paano ako Ginawa?" Best Magazine Program or Talk Show Winner: Marielle Gaceta-Catbagan, Salamat Dok, ABS-CBN * "Vagina Dialogue" (No Runner-up) PHOTOJOURNALISM Best Single Photo Winner: Jes Aznar, Human Rights Reporting Project * "Ten’s crowd" Runner-up: Jonathan C. Vicencio, Philippine Star * "World population day" Best in Photo Essay Winner: Jes Aznar, Human Rights Reporting Project * "Bless our Home" (No Runner-up) - Mark Merueñas/YA, GMANews.TV