THE BEST Inquirer president and CEO Sandy P. Romualdez (second from right) and members of the Inquirer Read-Along Team receive on Monday the 2011 Philippine Quill Overall Winner Division 1 trophies. With Romualdez are (from left) Ellen Caparros, Kate Pedroso, Bianca Kasilag, Ruth Navarra, Nita del Rosario, Margie dela Vega, Minerva Generalao and Chito dela Vega. RODEL ROTONI
Not once but twice!
The Inquirer Read-Along program shone once more and bagged two trophies at the 10th Philippine Quill Awards, considered the most prestigious national citation and yardstick for international competence in business communications.
The read-along program was declared overall grand winner in the Communication Management division for staging 25 simultaneous storytelling sessions across the country on Dec. 4, 2010. It bested 23 other finalists in that grouping, including entries from Ayala Land Inc., Globe Telecom, Manila Electric Co., Metrobank Foundation Inc. and Smart Communications.
Before being called for the top prize, the program also received an award of excellence for the same project which was held in 25 locations nationwide as part of the paper’s 25th anniversary celebration.
Not bad for a company activity that humbly began four years ago with a couch, a rubber playroom mat, and some 20 attentive kids gathered one Saturday at a corner of the Inquirer library.
“It is heartwarming to see that others have recognized the Inquirer Read-Along, which started as a simple program to get children to rediscover love for reading,” said Inquirer president and CEO Alexandra Prieto-Romualdez, who received the award on Monday night at the Crowne Plaza Galleria Manila.
“I thank all the read-along volunteers, who come from various departments in the Inquirer, as well as our partners last year—SM malls, McDonald’s, Pilipinas Shell, Vibal Publishing and Adarna House—who made the simultaneous sessions possible,” she added.
Given out by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Philippines, the Philippine Quill is an annual award recognizing excellence in business communications.
Not doable?
More than 2,000 children attended the simultaneous sessions organized at the different venues by the Inquirer Read-Along Team, the four Inquirer regional bureaus, more than 120 Inquirer employee-volunteers and various reading advocates, nongovernment organizations and corporate partners.
“Initially considered ‘ambitious, not doable in a year’s time, and even impossible,’ the project was a success, a testimony to what planning, training, and judicious use of resources and volunteerism can do,” the IABC said of the feat.
Romualdez, who served as storyteller in the Dec. 4, 2010, read-along session held at the Inquirer’s main office in Makati city, led more than 70 returning and first-time storytellers in the other sessions held in Batanes, Baguio, Pampanga, Tarlac, Pangasinan, Bulacan, Pasay, Pasig, Quezon City, Marinduque, Legazpi, Lucena, Naga, Laguna, Iloilo, Bacolod, Cebu, Dumaguete, Ormoc, Davao, Cotabato, Lanao del Norte, Cagayan de Oro and Tawi-Tawi.
The locations were selected in keeping with the sessions’ theme, “Telling the story to empower, to inspire from Batanes to Tawi-Tawi.”
The roster of readers included regular Inquirer Read-Along partners Rich Rodriguez and Alitaptap Storytellers Phils., Ann Abacan and Sophia School storytellers and Dyali Justo of Adarna House, as well as celebrities and professionals.
Earlier Quills
Monday’s awards marked the third time the Inquirer Read-Along soared high in the Philippine Quill.
The program was just over a year-old when it won an award of excellence in 2008. Its extension program in the bureaus, dubbed “Inquirer Read-Along 2–Across The Nation,” won an award of merit in 2009.
The simultaneous readings later spawned two “copycat” events. Sessions were held in nine sites using the Philippine Navy’s video teleconferencing system in May this year, and another simultaneous reading event was held in 41 SM malls in the Philippines and three SM malls in China to celebrate National Children’s Book Day in July.
Launched in May 2007 by Inquirer Research, Inquirer Library and Junior Inquirer, their read-along program sought to promote love for reading among children aged 6 to 12 years old through storytelling sessions with celebrities, volunteer storytellers, and other like-minded individuals and organizations.
The program has also been recognized by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and the Reading Association of the Philippines.
Other awardees
Other companies who won Philippine Quill Awards of Excellence in Communication Management include Banco de Oro, Energy Development Corp., Holcim Philippines, Inc., Manila Doctors Hospital, Maynilad Water Services Inc., Philippine Veterans Bank, Strategic Works, Inc., San Miguel Foundation and Sun Life Financial-Philippines.
Lopez-controlled First Gen Corp. received an award of merit for its in-house magazine Pulse in the internal publications category under the communication skills division.
Green Bulb Public Relations Inc. earned an award of merit in the communication management division for its Rizal@150 campaign in partnership with the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.
The latest Quills won by the Inquirer Read-Along Team came at a time when it was halfway through the first-ever Read-Along Festival held on November 28 and 29.
The storytelling marathon held at the GT-Toyota Asian Cultural Center in UP Diliman, Quezon City, drew hundreds of children from all over Metro Manila.