Cebu media icon leads 11 Visayas GMEA 2019 winners

Cebu media icon Atty. Pachico A. Seares and Sun.Star Managing Editor Cherry Ann Lim lead the 11 Visayas winners of the Globe Media Excellence Awards (GMEA) 2019.

Three of the winners are based outside Cebu – Bohol, Tacloban, and Iloilo City.

The winners were announced during the special recognition ceremonies at Radisson Blu Cebu Hotel in Cebu City on September 19, 2019.

Yoly Crisanto, the Senior Vice President for Corporate Communications of Globe, said the 11 winners were chosen by six respected judges and nine screeners who independently went over the entries submitted.

The judges are Ahmed Cuizon, regional director of the Land Transportation, Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Region III; Auke Idzenga, chief executive officer of the Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation Inc.; Maria Lea Lara, executive director of the Iloilo Business Club; Atty. Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, co-founder of the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP); Sarah Santiago, editor-in-chief of Wonder.ph; and Eileen Mangubat, senior lecturer at the University of the Philippines Cebu and former publisher & editor-in-chief of Cebu Daily News/Inquirer Publications Inc.

The screeners from the academe are Karlon Rama, University of San Carlos; Mia Embalzado-Mateo, Saint Theresa’s College; Atty. Ian Vincent Manticajon, University of the Philippines Cebu; Dr. Maria Teresa Asistido, STI West Negros University; Ivy Gonzales Aboy, University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos; Dr. Nieves Pepito, University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos; Dr. Zoilo Andrada Jr., University of the Philippines Visayas; Zsa Zsa Bacaling, West Visayas State University; and Rhoda Campillan, University of St. Agustin.

The winners of the Mindanao leg of GMEA 2019 will be announced in Davao City this November 2019.

Crisanto said, Globe Telecom continues to honor media practitioners through GMEA, now on its seventh run, by awarding excellent work in different categories.

This year, the Globe Media Excellence Awards pursues a digital direction with four award categories for digital media entries as it strives to achieve social impact.

Entries submitted for this year’s GMEA are anchored towards four sustainable focus areas, namely, care for the environment, positive societal impact, care for people, and the digital nation.

Atty. Seares, who retired as editor in chief of Sun.Star Cebu in 2010, steered the paper since its birth on November 25, 1982. He is now the paper’s Public and Standards Editor even as he continues to write several opinion items.

The GMEA 2019 judges chose him as the journalist considered as Newsmaker of the Year. Lim, on the other hand, won two different awards -- Explanatory/lnvestigative Story/ Documentary of the Year for Print Award and Editor of the Year Award.

The 11 winners are:

• News Report of the Year for Print - Joey Gabieta (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
• Explanatory/lnvestigative Story/ Documentary of the Year for Print - Cherry Ann Lim (Sun.Star Cebu)
• News Report of the Year for Radio - Runelyn Jamolo (Radyo Pilipinas)
• Breaking News of the Year for Digital - Leo Udtohan (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
• Explanatory/lnvestigative Story of the Year for Digital - Rhick Lars Vladimer Albay (Rappler Move)
• Explanatory/lnvestigative Video Story of the Year for Digital - Charry Lane Coronel and Alex Badayos (Sun.Star Cebu)
• Photo of the Year for Digital - Alan Tangcawan (SuperBalita Cebu)
• Social Media Advocacy of the Year - Vernon Joseph Go (vernongo.com)
• Environment Story of the Year - Rhick Lars Vladimer Albay (Panay News)
• Editor of the Year - Cherry Ann Lim (Sun.Star Cebu)
• Newsmaker of the Year – Atty. Pachico A. Seares (Sun.Star Cebu)