On April 16, the 2014 Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards kicked off this year’s roadshow with a visit to Lucena City. This is the first time that the competition was presented to Southern Tagalog journalists. The Bright Leaf team personally invited members of the local media to join and submit their entries. The region’s print, TV, radio and photo journalists eagerly listened to the presentation and asked questions and clarified any concerns they may have.
Cebu City was the second stop in the Bright Leaf roadshow. Held at The Henry Hotel on May 8, it was also a first for Bright Leaf in Cebu. This year’s competition targets to bring the project to more provinces and cities not yet visited in the past seven years of Bright Leaf. All the attendees listened intently as host Arney Nucum and Bright Leaf Project Head, Didet Danguilan discussed the history, categories, prizes, and other details of the competition. Editors and reporters of the major news agencies in the city attended as well as representatives from the Department of Agriculture, Philippine Information Agency and Department of Environment and Natural Resources who are involved in their respective agency’s magazines.
Next stop on the roadshow map was Davao City on May 14. A short video that offers a glimpse into the eight year history of the Bright Leaf Awards welcomed the attendees as they arrived at the venue. This was the second time that the roadshow was held at the chic White House fusion restaurant. Just like the Lucena and Cebu events, the media attendees fielded queries on the process of joining, topics that they would write, and they sought clarification on the technical requirements when submitting an entry. The number of media attendees doubled this year from last year’s roadshow. In their midst were winners in the 2013 Bright Leaf – Kenneth Bajo and Karla Stefan Singson for their Kakao Eskwela television program. They won the “ Best Agriculture TV Program/Segment.” Mindanao had another winner last year , Romer Sarmiento, who won “Best Agriculture News Story (Regional)” for his article Farmers in Region 12 urged to plant organic rice for foreign markets, which was published in Minda News.
The Lucena, Cebu and Davao roadshows were well-attended. It is indeed exciting times ahead for the journalists as they prepare to work on their entries.