Smart cited for community projects

A video showing how the residents of a typhoon-ravaged fishing village learned to sculpt and rebuild their lives through their works won for Smart Communications the second highest honors in the recent 42nd Anvil Awards.

Smart commissioned sculptor Rey Paz Contreras to teach villagers of Banglos, Quezon how to turn driftwood into art pieces, which Smart also helps market.

Titled "Carving a New Life from Tragedy," the video won the Bronze Anvil and was one of five entries Smart submitted on its first participation in the annual competition organized by the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP). All five entries won.

Chief Justice Reynato Puno, chairman of this year’s board of judges, handed out the awards, assisted by PRSP president Milen de Quiros, vice president for internal affairs Ed Alcaraz, and Butch Raquel, chairman of this year’s Anvil Awards.

Accepting the awards for Smart were public affairs head Ramon Isberto, human resources development and management head Annette Santiago, and public affairs senior manager Darwin Flores. The ceremonies were held at Hotel InterContinental.

The Banglos video also received an Award of Excellence, along with two other entries, "Project Nakar" and "Broadbanding Education: SWEEP and Smart Schools."

The former refers to Smart’s sustainable livelihood program in Nakar, Quezon, where it also built houses in partnership with Gawad Kalinga, while the latter refers to Smart’s initiatives in harnessing technology to help upgrade students’ training and teachers’ capabilities.

Under SWEEP, or Smart Wireless Electronics Engineering Program, 40 colleges and universities offering electronics and communications engineering (ECE) are able to supplement classroom training with virtual on-the-job training, using radio base station facilities donated by Smart.

Through its sister program, Smart Schools, teachers in 100 public high schools are trained in information and communication technology (ICT). They now download supplemental teaching materials from websites and give lessons using PowerPoint presentations as visual aids.

Smart also won the Award of Merit for its employee magazine, SmartSpeak Quarterly, and its Employee Volunteerism Program.

The latter was inspired by the initiatives of the employees who have been planting trees, donating blood, tutoring elementary pupils, raising funds, and building houses.

The Anvil Awards, dubbed the Oscars of public relations, are given to PR groups that demonstrate "integrity, excellence, and concern for the public interest in their programs and tools," said Chief Justice Puno.

This year, the awards committee received 178 entries. Twenty-one won Excellence awards and 42, Merit awards.

The board of judges included 15 PR practitioners across industries, as well as company CEOs and academicians.