By Sofia Baldonado
Third-year Communication students bagged three out of four major prizes from the competitions on the second day of Communication Impact (COMPACT) 2021. COMPACT, with the theme, “Communication Impact in Social Media: The New Normal”, culminated yesterday, Dec. 14, via Zoom and Facebook Live.
The screening of entries and awarding of winners were the highlights of the four contests―Buhay Estudyante: TikTok Competition; Buhay Estudyante: A Day In My Life (Short Vlog Competition); Buhay sa Bahay: A 2-Minute Short Film Competition; and the Fashion Expo: Strike A Post! (Instagram Reel Competition).
Kate Saquilayan, Shekynah Samadan, Kristienne Villena, and Gia Dela Cruz (COM31) won the grand prize in the TikTok competition; Patrick Cimacio, Shane Picson, Lhouie Cueto, Victoria Busine, and Therese Palapal (COM31) were awarded first place for the short vlog competition; Patrick Basco, Patricia Estallo, Cielo Seneres, and Monica Poblete (COM32) won the major category for the Instagram Reel competition; and the short film “Attendance,” directed by Deanice Reyes (COM42) was acknowledged as first placer for the short film competition.
Other categories of each contest such as the People’s Choice, 3rd place, and 2nd place were awarded to COM12, COM22, COM31, COM41, and COM42 respectively.
In an interview with Green FM, Patricia Estallo (COM32) shared the experience of her team upon winning the major prize from the Instagram Reel competition.
“In all honesty, we were rooting for ourselves, but seeing how big of a deal the panel of judges and how creative the other entries were was really nerve-wracking. That’s why when it was announced that [we] won… we were above cloud nine,” Estallo stated.
Meanwhile, Francis Landrito, co-project head of the Fashion Expo, expressed his appreciation to the achievements of the third-year communication students.
“I can say that the third-year students were really good, even though it was really hard to shoot content [amidst the pandemic], they really made it work and I applaud them for that.” Landrito said.
On the other hand, Patrick Cimacio (COM31) mentioned the challenge his team encountered behind their victory in the short vlog contest.
“The pre-production on this was set aside for a moment because of the heaps of assessments and backlogs we had to do… [yet], we were able to come up [with] the look and message we wanted to tell using this event as a platform to raise students concerns and also inspire other students to keep doing their best,” Cimacio stressed.
Moreover, one of the point persons of the Buhay Estudyante contests, Amanda De Vera, explained her fair share of challenges as a student that was in charge of a major event.
“Being an organizer of the short vlog competition was very challenging, especially [since] this was my first time handling this kind of event and being one of the head organizers [needs] a lot of effort and perseverance to make this event the best.”
De Vera continued, “I am happy for them (third-year students) and they deserve what they got… their efforts paid off [despite their] workloads, since they are working on their thesis papers [simultaneously].”
To watch the full replays of all the live-streamed segments from the two-day event, visit the official Facebook page of COMPACT 2021 through the link below.
