Inquirer stories among winners in Lasallian Scholarum Awards

RECOGNITION | Connie Kalagayan (center), Inquirer assistant vice president for corporate affairs, receives one of the Inquirer’s trophies during the Lasallian Scholarum Awards from Br. Bernard Oca (left), FSC, president of De La Salle University (DLSU), and Br. Richie Yap, DLSU faculty member. (EUGENE ARANETA)

MANILA, Philippines — An Inquirer story featuring “refreshing perspectives” of young cancer patients and how their pediatric battle affected their education has bagged one of the top honors in the 19th Lasallian Scholarum Awards (LSA), an annual recognition given by De La Salle University (DLSU) to outstanding media reports on youth and education.

The story “When Young People Conquer Cancer,” written by Inquirer Lifestyle contributor Marge Enriquez, was recognized as Outstanding Published Feature Article on Youth and Education in a Nationally Circulated Publication.

The article, which was published on Dec. 26, 2022, bested five other finalists, including three shortlisted stories in the same category also from the Inquirer: “Baguio kids perform poorly in English-DepEd survey” by Vincent Cabreza, “Kids’ yoga: Teaching empathy, cooperation, compassion” by Jessa Pizarro Boga, and “School, DepEd execs endorse ‘mass promotion’ – ACT” by Jane Bautista.

“The article is a refreshing perspective about the youth of today, a compilation of stories of hope, determination and triumph. It is a moving insightful journey of resilience that opens us to the various perspectives of children, their families and government, as they tackle the inevitable realities of pediatric cancer and its impact on the patient’s education,” Sachie Nadal Reyes, executive director of the Academe Foundation, said during the awarding ceremony at DLSU on March 20.

“The article underscores the need to provide genuine love and holistic support in order for these young patients to live their lives apart from their disease,” she added.

Connection

DLSU President Br. Bernard Oca recalled how the past year was marked by stories tackling different issues facing the youth and education sectors — from changes in the curriculum to the growing power of artificial intelligence, challenges confronting young peoples’ mental health, and the promotion of diversity and inclusion.

“These accounts of realities have no easy way of getting into the consciousness of people. Stories are important in our lives. As Pope Francis said, ‘We need stories that build up, not tear down. We make stories that tell us about how we are all connected,’” Oca said.

Four other stories published by the Inquirer made it as LSA finalists. Russel Loreto’s “Millennial leaders driving positive change — in schools, at sea” was shortlisted in the category of Outstanding Online Feature Article on Youth and Education.

An INQUIRER.net special report on the teenage pregnancy crisis in the Philippines — Kurt dela Peña’s “Numbers fell but teen pregnancies persist, mirror economic, learning gaps” — won in the Outstanding Online Feature category.

READ: INQUIRER.net’s INQFocus team wins 2nd Lasallian Scholarum Award

“La Salle engineers develop AI-aided tech to help manage traffic” by Krixia Subingsubing and “DLSU research links poor studies to bullying, youth alienation” and “DLSU’s robotic medical aid gets Singapore patent,” both written by Bautista, were shortlisted in the Outstanding Feature Story on DLSU category.

Other award winners

In partnership with the DLSU Student Media Office, LSA also presented the Outstanding Media Personality Award to Kara David of GMA News and Public Affairs.

The other winners of this year’s LSA are: “Will AI Chatbots Take Over Education” by Patrick Kyle Adeva of the University of the Philippines’ Philippine Collegian (Outstanding Published Feature Article on Youth and Education in a School Organ); “Batas Bata” by Atom Araullo, The Atom Araullo Specials, GMA Public Affairs (Outstanding Video Feature on Youth and Education); and “Filipino invention that could give robots human-like feeling wins robotics award in UK” by Rhia Gana, ABS-CBN News (Outstanding Feature Story on DLSU).