Inquirer education story wins Lasallian Scholarum Award

Inquirer contributors Curtis Chin and Jose Collazo received the Lasallian Scholarum Award for Outstanding Published Feature Article on Youth and Education in a Nationally Circulated Publication from De La Salle University (DLSU).

The award was one of three received by the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

The other awardees were photographer Niño Jesus Orbeta, Outstanding Published Photograph on Youth and Education; and columnist Michael Tan, Outstanding Published Column Article on Youth and Education.

Chin and Collazo’s article “Education in Asia: A region at risk?” appeared on

July 2, 2013.

DLSU vice president for administration Edwin Santiago, in introducing the award, said,  “The issues tackled in the article, which include how students in the United States are underperforming, shed some light on how similar scenarios prevail in Asia.”

Santiago said the article suggested that merely allocating more funds to education was not enough. “Holistic improvements must be made through partnerships with different stakeholders,” he said.

“How exciting about our Inquirer piece winning the Lasallian award,” e-mailed Chin. “Jose and I write such articles to inform and to spark change, not the recognition, but the latter is of course great, too!”

Both Chin and Collazo reside abroad.  Their cash prize of P25,000, according to Chin, will go to Community & Family Services International, “a Manila-based humanitarian organization that for some 35 years has helped rebuild lives of people across Asia, with a particular focus now on Mindanao in support of peace-building efforts and in the Visayas region, following [Supertyphoon] ‘Yolanda/Haiyan’ and other recent disasters.”

Other Inquirer stories short-listed for the award were “Graduation hope: Closure for a trying year” by Nestor Burgos Jr., “Young Yolanda survivors still groping for answers” by Tarra Quismundo, and “At age 70, this new high school grad is looking forward to college” by this author.

Aside from the winning photo, another Orbeta photo, “Dangerous Life,” was among the 10 finalists that included three other pictures published by the Inquirer. Two photographs by Marianne Bermudez and another by Delfin Mallari Jr. were in the Top 10.

Michael Tan, who writes the Pinoy Kasi column in the Inquirer, won for his Jan. 29 piece, “Child rights and WCST.”

Tan’s column was among seven Inquirer Opinion pieces that were finalists in the category. The others were: “Pinay child brides” by Rina Jimenez-David, “Continuing the education revolution” by Butch Hernandez, “It’s our children’s turn” by Conchita Razon, “PDAF scholars” by Randy David, “We need to band together to fight cyber child pornography” by Audrey Tan-Zubiri and “From Payatas to St. Scho: Magna cum laude” by Ma. Ceres Doyo.

Theme of the 11th Lasallian Scholarum Awards was “Shift Happens: Advocating Change for Youth and Education.” It aimed to bring into focus the critical needs and concerns in the youth and education sector, while encouraging proactive initiatives toward the development of the country’s educational system.

Judges this year were Sen. Juan Edgardo  Angara, former Pasay City Rep. Lorna Verano,  film director Pepe Diokno, DLSU’s Student Government president Carlo Inocencio and Office for Strategic Communications executive director Jose Mari Magpayo.

Each winner received a metal sculpture crafted by renowned artist Daniel de la Cruz plus a cash prize.