A DYNAMIC GROUP OF JOURNALISTS

It was my seventh straight year to serve as chair of the board of judges for the 17th Brightleaf Agriculture Journalism Awards.

- Alfred A. YUSON

No way I could decline attendance last Nov. 14 at the awards ceremony at the Fairmont Hotel ballroom, despite usually avoiding any social events as I continued to build up my health after getting confined at the Medical City for a week last September, and subsequent status as an outpatient at home.

I had joined as a judge over a decade ago, before being elevated to the chairmanship. So I knew the kind of passion that had driven PMFTC, Inc. head honcho Dave Gomez to keep the awards process thriving as his "baby." It had to skip a year, as he reminded everyone. So actually, its 18 years meant that the Brightleaf Awards had turned into a debutante this year.

The judges went through pre-screened entries covering ten categories. Recent years saw additional genres involving TV, radio and digital broadcasting categories, making it a tougher responsibility for the judges.

The distinguished list included Kristine Bersamina, managing editor, Philstar Global Corp.; Ralph Galan, assistant director of the UST Center of Creative Writing and Literary Studies, as well as a published poet and translator; Jimmy Domingo, photography and photojournalism lecturer at UP Diliman and De La Salle University; J. Albert Gamboa, vice chairman of the FINEX Ethics Committee, and finance columnist for Business Mirror, Manila Times, Manila Bulletin and Pilipino Mirror; Corrie Narisma, managing editor of InsiderPH.com; Edwin Sallan, digital content manager and section editor of BMPlus, SoundStrip and tourism at BusinessMirror; Yvette Tan, agriculture columnist for Manila Bulletin and fiction author of horror stories; Rem Zamora, photo editor for the Philippine Daily Inquirer and photography professional lecturer at De La Salle University; and Dr. Marby Villaceran, director of the UP Center for Women's and Gender Studies and a faculty member of the UP Department of English and Comparative Literature.