The Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP) awards 51Talk with a Silver Anvil. From L-R are PRSP’s Jones Campos, APR, 51Talk team members Mark Cabuloy, Nelson Tan, Country Head Jennifer Que, Luz Castro, Pam Rodriguez, Vanessa Caceres, Mel Quozon, and PRSP’s Ma. Luisa Sebastian.
Online English education platform 51Talk bags its first Silver Anvil Award at the 55th Anvil Awards Gabi ng Parangal held at The Manila Hotel. The esteemed Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP) recognized 51Talk’s ‘Yellow Collar Initiative Campaign’ as it won under the Public Relations Programs on a Sustained Basis Category.
“We would like to thank the PRSP for the honor of belonging among the ranks of the best and brightest Anvil awardees this year. We also thank our partners in the national and local government for opening their doors and welcoming 51Talk’s Yellow Collar Initiative to provide digital livelihood to their constituents through our teaching platform,” said Country Head Jennifer Que at the sidelines of the awarding ceremony.
The annual Anvil Awards is the symbol of excellence in public relations and is awarded to exceptional public relations programs, tools, and practitioners after a rigorous screening process and thorough deliberations by a panel of multi-sectoral judges.
51Talk’s campaign, aptly named the “Yellow Collar Initiative,” advocates for home-based, online livelihood opportunities where 51Talk is a key player. As the term white-collar workers refer to professional, managerial or office-based workers, and blue-collar workers refer to those who perform skilled or unskilled manual labor, 51Talk, with its more than 20,000 online teachers in the Philippines, wanted to elevate the status and prestige of the online or yellow collar workforce. Thus, the platform spearheaded a campaign to make this thriving sector more professional and more recognized as a significant contributor to the country’s socio-economic development.
51Talk linked up with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to support the latter’s mandate of promoting digital livelihood and jobs in underserved and rural areas across the country. It focuses on areas where there is high population but low employment mainly due to lack of investors and livelihood opportunities. 51Talk provides the technical training for interested online English teachers while DICT provides the facilities. In penetrating such rural areas, 51Talk and the DICT have provided easier access to profitable digital livelihood opportunities.
Online ESL teaching is a very popular livelihood among Filipinos because of their excellent English communication skills and passion to teach. It has been more in-demand nowadays due to the on-going Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) caused by COVID-19 where people are required to stay at home, many finding themselves jobless. Workers displaced due to the ECQ may simply sign-up online at www.51talk.ph and after three days, applicant may start teaching and earning using the 51Talk platform.