“Fast Times,” the motoring section of The Manila Times, bagged the ‘Best Broadsheet Motoring Section’ award during the 14th Henry Ford Awards (HFA) held on January 8 at the Enderun Colleges in Taguig City (Metro Manila).
Organized by Ford Philippines, the HFA is the country’s most prestigious journalism award-giving body that recognizes the best multimedia work of journalists that helped drive and shape the automotive industry.
“Fast Times” bagged the award for its “content, relevance, consistency and layout quality.”
Minnie Valencia, Ford Philippines’ vice president for marketing and sales, handed the award to The Manila Times president and CEO Dante Ang 2nd and “Fast Times” editor Anjo Perez.
Over 200 entries competed for the 12 awards in eight regular categories and four special categories. Of the 12 awards given, the ‘Best Broadsheet Motoring Section’ category was the only one that did not require a formal entry or nomination. All national broadsheet automotive sections were automatically included in the competition.
The other winners were James Deakin of the Philippine Star for “Automotive Print Feature,” Andy Leuterio of topgear.com.ph for “Automotive Column,” Dinzo Tabama of topgear.com.ph for “Automotive Online Feature” and James Deakin of Jamesdeakin.ph for “Automotive Blog.”
Also recognized were Carlo Chungunco of Top Gear Philippines for the “Green and Smart Technology Feature” category, Kristine Fonacier of Grid Magazine for the “Automotive Lifestyle Feature,” Tony Velazquez of ANC’s Future Perfect for “Automotive Video Feature” and Alfred Mendoza of Top Gear Philippines for “Best Published Photograph.”
The winners for the special Ford Categories included Steven Yu of C! Magazine for “Ford Automotive Feature,” Ulysses Ang of Philippine Star for “Go Further Feature” and Eugene Araneta of Tessdrive.com for “Ford Published Photograph.”
“Over the years, we have seen the growth in effective story-telling in the automotive industry with the media staying true to their commitment and passion to provide accurate news and information to the public,” said Joseph Ayllon, Ford Philippines’ assistant vice president for communications.
“With almost double the amount of entries we have received this year, the annual HFA has stayed strong over the years. We would like to thank our friends in the media for their continued role in shaping the automotive industry as well as their continued support to share our One Ford story with their readers.”
The board of judges for the 2014 HFA was composed of experts from the academe and the corporate world. All entries were reviewed and scrutinized by the panel through a two-phase judging process.
For the first phase, judging was conducted by Danilo Arao, Associate Dean of the College of Mass Communications of the University of the Philippines; Dr. Francine Racho, Vice Dean, School of Communications of the University of Asia and the Pacific; and Dr. Severino Sarmenta Jr. of the Ateneo de Manila University.
The second phase of judging included Charo Logarta-Lagamon, chief of the Public Information and Assistance Division of the Bureau of Customs; Maria Alvarez, Communications CSR and Site Strategy Manager, Thomson Reuters; and Kay Hart, Managing Director, Ford Philippines.