STAR, Avila receive awards from Rotary Club of Manila

CEBU, Philippines - Columnist Valeriano "Bobit" Avila of The FREEMAN and the Philippine Star was awarded the opinion writer of the year by the Rotary Club of Manila (RCM).

The Philippine STAR bagged this year's national newspaper of the year award from the RCM.

With the award, The STAR also became the first newspaper to be elevated to the RCM hall of fame for winning the title three times. It also won the National Newspaper of the Year award in 2006 and 2012.

Miguel Belmonte, The STAR president and chief executive officer, received the award in ceremonies held at the Manila Polo Club yesterday.

In his speech, Belmonte said The STAR has taken on various forms in keeping with the dramatic changes in journalism since it won its first national newspaper of the year award in 2006.

"The STAR is no longer just a newspaper. It is also a website, a Facebook and Twitter account, a mobile app, and I am proud to say that we recently became the first newspaper in the country to use augmented reality," he said.

Belmonte said augmented reality enables readers of The STAR to run videos and slideshows and be linked to websites straight out of the newspaper using a mobile gadget.

He also assured the public that even though the face of journalism is being changed by technology, The STAR continues to believe in the power of hope and inspiration.

"What we always take pride in saying is that since our paper was founded in July 1986, we have always managed to be fair - to strike a balance between the positive and the negative. Despite the gloom that tends to pervade day-to-day news, The STAR continues to convey a message of hope and to provide a better perspective in our daily lives," Belmonte said.

The other RCM journalism awardees are Deo Macalma and Milky Rigonan of dzRH (broadcast journalists for radio), Mike Enriquez of GMA-7 (broadcast journalist for television), ABS-CBN (television station of the year), dzMM (radio station of the year), Mindanao Daily Tribune Davao (community newspaper of the year), BusinessMirror (business newspaper of the year), and The STAR columnist Federico Pascual (journalist of the year).

Media fora Bulong Pulungan Sofitel and Kapihan sa Manila, both of which started in 1986, received special recognition. — Philippine Star News Service (FREEMAN)