The Jose G. Burgos Jr. awards for biotechnology journalism celebrated its 10th year with the awarding of this year’s winners on Thursday night at the Sulo Riviera Hotel in Quezon City.
"Genetically modified corn allowed farmers to earn $560 million—study" written by Mary Grace Padin for the BusinessMirror, bagged the first prize in the Best News Story category. InterAksyon’s Diego Mora won second prize for his article "Dutch experts boost security to prevent loss of UPLB pathogenic microbes" and "Cheaper, healthier animal feed from UPLB" by Maricar Cinco of the Philippine Daily Inquirer took the third prize.
For the Best Feature category, James Konstantin Galvez from The Manila Times won first prize for his article "Corn growers urged govt to approve new GMO rules." The second prize went to Ray Eñano of Manila Standard with his article "Academe hurting from GMO ruling." Henrylito Tacio of EDGE Davao finished third for his article "Golden Rice fights hidden hunger."
In the institutional category, the BusinessMirror bagged first place. Philippine Star won second place. InterAksyon.com and The Manila Times tied in third place.
Winning articles were chosen by this year's judges Dr. Virginia Enriquez, Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Alparce and Melo Acuña, who reviewed biotechnology stories from August 2015 to July 2016.
The Awards was organized by the J. Burgos Media Services and the Joe Burgos Pen with the support of the Department of Agriculture-Biotechnology Program Office, Biotechnology Coalition of the Philippines and Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture-Biotechnology Information Center.