PDI columnist, contributor win La Salle awards

A columnist and a contributor to the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) were two of the big winners of De La Salle University’s Ninth Scholarum Awards held recently in Makati City.

University of the Philippines law professor Raul Pangalangan won for Outstanding Published Column Article on Youth and Education for his Passion for Reason column titled “Schools as Facebook Patrol.”

The article, which came out on March 30, was about the senior high school student from the Visayas who was barred by her school from attending her graduation after she posted a photo of herself in a bikini and holding a drink on Facebook.

For his part, Inquirer Mindanao contributor JB Deveza won the Outstanding Published Photograph on Youth and Education award for his photograph of a boy reading a book that had been thoroughly soaked the morning after a typhoon.

Among the other nominees from the Inquirer was contributor Miguel Avanceña, who wrote “Remember Heroic Band of (La Salle) Brothers.” Avanceña, however, died last July 4.

Established in 2004, the Scholarum Awards recognizes outstanding coverage by media practitioners of youth and education issues that “aim to generate awareness of their critical needs and concerns and encourages proactive initiatives toward the development of the country’s educational system.”