UNICEF-PPI AWARDS COMPLETES SCREENING PHASE

The first phase in selecting the winners of the Second UNICEF-PPI Child-Friendly Newspaper and Journalist Awards has just been completed. According to Awards National Coordinator Ramon R. Tuazon, the four screening committees have submitted their shortlist to the National Secretariat. The shortlist now goes to the five-member Board of Judges for deliberation and selection of winners.

The Board of Judges is composed of the following: Edgardo Roces, President, Associated Broadcasting Corporation-Channel 5; Vic Tirol, Commissioner, UNESCO National Commission; Dr. Lina Diaz de Rivera, College of Education, University of the Philippines; Dale Rutstein, UNICEF Communication Officer; and Alice C. Villadolid, journalist and former Presidential Spokesperson.

Members of the National Screening Committee, which selected finalists from the national broadsheets that are members of the Philippine Press Institute (PPI), were: Belen P. Dayauon (chair), AIJC vice president for HRD; Susan B. Argel, DSWD Director for Public Affairs and Liaison Services; and Luisito R. Baclagon, Communications Coordinator, World Vision Development Foundation.

For the PPI-member community papers, three Regional Screening Committees did the selection of finalists. The Luzon Screening Committee was chaired by Dr. Mary Ebitha Dy, Communication Arts Department Chair, Miriam College Foundation, with Ma. Margarita A. Acosta and Lynda C. Garcia as members. Dr. Violet Valdez, Department of Communication Chair, Ateneo de Manila University, headed the Visayas Screening Committee, with Anjo A. Lorenzana and Jose T. Badellas as members. The Mindanao Screening Committee was chaired by Dr. Madeline Suva, College of Development Communication, U.P. Los Ba�os, with Dr. Roldan M. Cardona and Rosa Pilipinas J. Fadri as members.