Philippine television is full of compelling true stories. But very few TV reporters and producers make it a habit to turn their Filipino-language video reports into English-language articles for the web, instantly giving their work an international audience. Claire Delfin is one of those few, and she has been amply rewarded with a slew of awards.
She just won another one, the 2010 SEAMEO-Australia Press Award for her story
Palengskwela: Bringing the school to the market, which was published on this site last November. SEAMEO stands for Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization, which together with the Australian government sponsor an annual competition in the region for journalists covering education. The 2010 contest’s theme was “Innovation in Education." The innovation in Delfin’s story is a government alternative learning program set in a market
(palengke), where labourers can go to school
(eskwela) while earning a living, hence the coined term
palengskwela. She will be receiving her award in Brunei on January 27, and the prize is a three-week study visit and internship at the Melbourne Age newspaper in Australia in 2011, the exact dates still to be determined. A GMA News reporter for the past five years, Delfin says she is “ecstatic" about the award. “It always feels good whenever one is recognized. But of course, it's about the story and not me," she said. “I am hopeful that the award will provide another opportunity for many people to understand and appreciate the need to support alternative learning programs like
Palengskwela so that more and more Filipinos can have access to education." In 2009, Delfin won
two prizes in the annual PopDev awards, and
in 2007 she won a Global Media Award for Excellence in Population Reporting from the Population Institute in Washington DC for a story on child sexuality. All of her prize-winning stories were first published on GMANews.TV.
– HS, GMANews.TV 
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