PDI wins best business news source award

AWARDEES Inquirer business editor (left) Raul Marcelo and assistant editor Corrie S. Narisma (right) pose with reporter-awardees of the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines, Daxim Lucas, Riza Olchondra and Ronnel Domingo.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) emerged as the “Business News Source of the Year” during the 21st Ejap-Globe Business Journalism Awards held at the Hotel InterContinental in Makati City.

The Inquirer won the distinction after it bagged the most number of awards in various categories during ceremonies on Friday hosted by the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines Inc. (Ejap), the country’s premier organization of business journalists and media practitioners, in cooperation with Globe Telecom Inc.

Ronnel Domingo was named Public Finance Beat Reporter of the Year, while Riza Olchondra was named Agriculture Beat Reporter of the Year.

Senior business reporter Daxim Lucas took home the Best Feature Story of the Year award for his article, “P-Noy’s flagship program still on the drawing board.”

Lucas, who holds a degree in management, and Olchondra, who has a degree in communication arts, both graduated from Ateneo de Manila University.

Domingo graduated from the University of the Philippines with a degree in journalism.

The winners from other publications were Donnabelle Gatdula of  Philippine Star for the energy beat; Darwin Amojelar of  Manila Times (now with Interaksyon.com) for the macroeconomy beat; Myla Iglesias of Malaya Business Insight for the telecommunications beat; Lailany Gomez of Manila Times (now with Manila Standard Today) for the banking beat; and Miguel Camus of Business Mirror for the Securities and Exchange Commission/ Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) beat.

All the awardees were chosen based on business and economic stories written and published in 2011.

The annual Ejap-Globe Business Journalism Awards aims to promote excellence in business journalism.

Panel of judges

This year’s judges included Milwida Guevara, president of Synergeia Foundation, who served as head judge, former Agriculture Secretary Bernie Fondevilla, Guido Delgado (former National Power Corp. president), Gil Beltran (finance undersecretary), Jonathan Ravelas (BDO chief market strategist), Marcelo Ayes (Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. vice president), Francis Lim (former PSE president) and Jorge Sarmiento (former National Telecommunications Commission deputy commissioner).

Punongbayan & Araullo served as official tabulator of the scores for the awards.

Each winning beat reporter received a trophy and a cash prize of P35,000. The author of the Feature Story of the Year received a trophy and a cash prize of P30,000.

The winners for each category also received a Samsung Galaxy SIII from Globe.