STAR columnist wins at the Lasallian Scholarum Awards

MANILA, Philippines - STAR columnist and Allure assistant editor Bum Tenorio Jr. won the Outstanding Column Article on Youth and Education award at 2011 Lasallian Scholarum Awards on Friday.

Tenorio was honored for his column article titled “How far can your P50 go?” published on Sept. 26, 2010. The winning piece talks about Fr. Gerard Deveza’s dream of sending 292 students of the Divine Healer Academy to college. Deveza of the Healing Servants Foundation founded the school in Cabid-an, Sorsogon in 2003.

“P50 may just be ‘barya’ to others. But can you imagine what it would amount to if, say, a million kind souls gave P50 each to this cause? That P50, to the poor children of Cabid-an, Sorsogon, is their ticket to dreamland, to a place where they are assured that they have a fair chance to dream bigger for themselves and for their loved ones,” wrote Tenorio in his award-winning column.

The Scholarum Awards was held in an intimate ceremony Friday at the Makati Shangri-La. Present to recognize the finalists and announce the winners were Education Secretary Armin Luistro, DLSU vice chancellor for Lasallian mission and alumni relations Bro. Bernard Oca FSC, assistant chancellor Bro. Michael Broughton FSC, and DLSU Office for Strategic Communications executive director Jose Mari Magpayo.

The winners received a glass sculpture trophy by world-renowned artist Ramon Orlina.

Sponsored by the Office for Strategic Communications of the De La Salle University, the Lasallian Scholarum Awards is an annual recognition program for outstanding media coverage of Filipino youth and education issues by photo, broadcast, campus and print journalists.

The Scholarum Awards, which is now on its eighth year, aims to generate awareness among various sectors — from government and non-government organizations to private companies and individuals — on issues in the education sector.

The Outstanding Column Article on Youth and Education is a new category this year. Other categories are Outstanding Published Feature in a Nationally Circulated Publication (won by Chelo Banal-Formoso, Linda Bolido and the Inquirer research team), Outstanding Published Photograph on Youth and Education (won by Inquirer’s Raffy Lerma), Outstanding Televised Feature Story on Youth and Education (won by GMA-7’s Sandra Aguinaldo), Outstanding Published Feature Article in a School Organ (won by The Scholastican’s Lora Marie Lumba) and Outstanding Published Article on De La Salle University (won by Bulletin’s Rachel Barawid).

Tenorio, who started his column entitled “New Beginnings” in the Allure section of The STAR in 2004, was also honored by the Catholic Mass Media Awards as the best opinion columnist for two consecutive years, in 2006 and 2007. His column comes out every Sunday and deals with everything bright and beautiful, anything inspirational.