THE Philip Morris-Fortune Tobacco Corp. yesterday launched in Cebu the 9th Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards.

The Cebu launching was intended to encourage media practitioners based in the Visayas to participate in the search by reporting on the country’s agriculture sector.

Didet Danguilan, project director of the Bright Leaf Awards, said that the company came up with the Bright Leaf Awards as a way of bringing into the public the various issues about the agriculture sector.

Danguilan said that the Bright Leaf Agriculture Awards is an avenue for the agriculture sector to reach out to the public, through journalism.

The awards to be given are agricultural story of the year, tobacco story of the year, best agricultural television program, best agricultural radio program, agricultural photo of the year, tobacco photo of the year, best regional agricultural news story, best agricultural national news story, best regional agricultural features story, and best national agricultural features story.

A special category, the Oriental Leaf Award, is given to those who won a Bright Leaf Award in any category for five consecutive years.

The Oriental Leaf awardees become part of an elite group of individuals that comprise the Bright Leaf Hall of Fame.

During last year’s awards, around 500 entries were submitted and screened by the award-giving body.

Among those who made it to the awards were the three journalists from Sun.Star Cebu.

Sun.Star Cebu staff reporter Flornisa Gitgano, with senior reporter Elias O. Baquero, won the Bright Leaf Award for best regional agricultural news story.

Cherry Ann T. Lim, Sun.Star Cebu managing editor for features, won the best regional agriculture feature story award for her two-part report on sustainable pest control and agricultural practices.

Lim, along with Sun.Star editor Liberty A. Pinili, also won last year’s agriculture story of the year for their three-part special report on the declining fish stocks in the Visayan Sea.

Sun.Star Cebu was also the first Cebu-based paper to participate and won at the Bright Leaf Awards.