Orosa gets journalism award

Veteran columnist Rosalinda Orosa of The Philippine STAR and popular historian Ambeth Ocampo of The Philippine Daily Inquirer are the first winners of the Primer Premio de Periodismo Quijano de Manila (1st Quijano de Manila Journalism Award), the Instituto Cervantes in Manila announced yesterday in a ceremony held at the Instituto Cervantes Library. The Awards were handed out by Instituto Cervantes Director Jose "Pepe" Rodriguez.

Launched in 2005 by the Embassy of Spain and the Instituto Cervantes in Manila, the journalism prize was named in honor of National Artist Nick Joaquin who wrote under the pen name of Quijano de Manila. It has for its theme the "Significance of Spanish as an international language as well as its special interest for Filipinos: Relevance of Spanish culture in Today’s World."

Orosa won the first prize of P75,000 for her piece, "A Treatise for Spanish," published in Starweek magazine on Nov. 27, 2005. Ocampo, who chairs the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, was awarded the second prize of P25,000 for his essay, "Signs of Identity," in Nov. 30, 2005 issue of The Inquirer.

A third piece by Benigno Benabarre, "In Heaven, Only Spanish is Spoken," was given an honorable mention for its originality and its ability to convey information with clarity.

The seventeen entries considered for the Award were those published in Philippine magazines or newspapers or broadcast on local radio and television from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2005.