Read-Along bags its 4th Philippine Quill Award

THE Inquirer Read-Along program bagged another award at the 11th Philippine Quill Awards held at Crowne Plaza Galleria in Quezon City Monday night.

The program received an Award of Merit for staging the 1st Inquirer Read-Along Festival in November last year, the biggest and most diverse group gathered in a single venue to celebrate the joy of reading with a marathon of events.

“We take pride in this advocacy of developing the habit of reading through Inquirer Read-Along, and in the process empowering the community of readers to become agenda-setters and positive contributors to society,” said Inquirer senior vice president for sales and marketing Rene Reinoso, who received the award.

Hundreds of children from all over Metro Manila joined the two-day event last year, which was held at the GT-Toyota Asian Cultural Center on the University of the Philippines campus. It featured six storytelling sessions, a living museum of well-loved storybook characters, a book fair, storytelling competition and a seminar for elementary and preschool teachers on the strategies for teaching early love of reading.

With the theme, “The Filipino Child and the Stories of the World,” the event featured Miss Earth beauty queens, representatives of the Spanish, Japanese and South African embassies, veteran celebrities Cesar Montano, Jon Santos and Gary Valenciano as readers.

The sessions also featured kid champion storytellers from the Alitaptap-Lampara storytelling contest, Trumpets Playshop and members of the University of Santo Tomas Communication Arts Students Association.

They were joined by regular Read-Along partners Rich Rodriguez of Alitaptap Philippines, Dyali Justo of Adarna House and Ann Abacan of Sophia School.

Also crowned during the two-day event was Festival Storytelling King Quemer Bagaporo, a 15-year-old high-school student from Sauyo High School in Quezon City, who bested six other storytellers during the first Inquirer Read-Along Storytelling Competition.

Given out by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Philippines, the Philippine Quill is an annual award recognizing excellence in business communications.

This is the fourth time the program was recognized by the Philippine Quill Awards. After its first year, the program received an Award of Excellence, and bagged an Award of Merit the following year for expanding the read-along sessions to the regions. Last year, it received the grand prize in the Communication Division for staging 25 simultaneous nationwide Read-Along sessions in December 2010, for which

it also received an Award of Excellence.

The program, launched in May 2007 by Inquirer Research and Junior Inquirer, has also been recognized by the Reading Association of the Philippines and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.

This year’s Inquirer Read-Along Festival will be held on Nov. 26-27 at the Amphitheater at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center and will feature six storytelling sessions, including three storytelling competitions for students aged 7-9, 10-12 and adults.