by: Ysabelle Andre Gorospe
4th-year Broadcast Journalism students secured the championship and three minor awards at the college division of the 5-minute Radio News Production category in the PUP Radio Festival 2023 on Sunday, April 16.
They took home the Best Radio News Production award for their entry titled “En Punto”.
On the other hand, “En Punto” also bagged the Best Script while Xyries Zeus Legaspi was hailed as Best Male Anchor and Hazel Laplana as Best Female News Presenter.
Along with Legaspi and Laplana, the production team also consisted of LJ Abadinas as one of the anchors, Xander Cipriano as one of the news presenters, Rechilda Estores as the infomercial writer, and Jaybelle Mataro as the technical director.
Almojano shared that the team never expected to win despite their excitement while producing their entry.
“Inside joke nga namin sa team na ‘hanggang leeg’ lang kami nung nagwo-wonder kami kung hanggang saan aabot ang entry namin, kaya hindi talaga kami makapaniwala na we won four major awards”, she added.
The team came up with the concept of “En Punto” for their news production aiming for it to be concise yet on point, just as the title portrays.
According to Legaspi, they strived for their news to be as brief and direct to the point as possible, eliminating ‘dead airs’ and deviating from the mainstream ‘OBBs’ and sound effects.
Meanwhile, Abadinas emphasized that they did not overproduce their newscast when asked about their edge over competitors.
“We just want to give the news straight ahead sa judges at listeners, gaya ng tagline ng newscast naming: walang paligoy-ligoy, diretso, at totoo,” he added.
They also expressed gratitude towards the Polytechnic University of the Philippines for conducting such an event despite the suppression of journalism and media manipulation in the industry.
“From silencing broadcasting companies and journalists to the proliferation of misinformation, this kind of event is a reminder na hindi aatras ang mga journo,” Almojano emphasized.
“Magandang platform ‘tong binigay nila para sa mga kabataang tulad namin na nais maging journo sa hinaharap.”, Abadinas added while also thanking their former adviser, Communication and Journalism professor Artin Umali, for his all-out trust and support ever since they were freshmen students.
The PUP Radio Festival is an annual event by the DZMC – Young Communicators Guild aiming to exhibit various skills and talents of Filipino students in the broadcasting and radio production field.
The event took place on the official Facebook page of the PUP Radio Conference, with 233 entries across all categories from different universities in the country.
To watch the full replay of the PUP Radio Festival, click the link below:
https://www.facebook.com/PUPRadioConference/videos/3023444004617286
