FIRST ISSUE EVER! April to May 2021 The Official e-Newsletter of the BDCP Designers and Creatives PH
1st online Olympiad for PH campus scribes kicked off MANILA, Philippines — Thinking that the pandemic might have snatched you the chance of grabbing a national journalistic stint? No NSPC? Worry no more! Campus journalists and student publication advisers can now continue to #PushThePressPower amidst the pandemic by joining this year’s NCPO! READ NCPO on PAGE 2
BLOOMING SEEDS, HAND IN HAND EDITORIAL PAGE 8
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FIRST ISSUE EVER! April to May 2021 The Official e-Newsletter of the BDCP Designers and Creatives PH
CALABARZON shines in NCPO side-events by AJ LOZANO
Despite having the national press competition online, the CALABARZON Region still shines bright against the competition. Region IV-A (CALABARZON) was hailed as the top performing region, bagging four gold, five silver, and five bronze, in the Side-Events of the 2021 National Campus Press Olympiad (NCPO), May 2 via Zoom and Facebook Live. Falling behind CALABARZON is Bicol Region and the National Capital Region, tallying three gold, three silver, and four bronze and two gold, six silver, two bronze, respectively. Additionally, the NCPO sideevents include: Infographic Design Contest, Front Page Design Contest, 1-Minute Infomercial Making, Radio OBB Making Contest with Spiel, TV OBB Making contest, Literary Graphics Illustration, Photography Contest (3 pics + 1 word), Poetry Writing, Paglikha ng Maikling Kwento, and 4-Panel Comic Strip. The NCPO is the country’s first online press olympiad that aims to emphasize the importance of multiplatform campus journalism in the new normal. Moreover, the NCPO will begin the conduct of the Main Events on May 12 and will conclude on June 20, 2021.
scan this QR code to see the outputs, know the results and check timely updates on the 2021 National Campus Press Olympiad
Taguig-based school pub hailed as country’s best-designed campus paper BDCP starts release of awards for season 2 victors Taguig City-based school publication The Pole of Western Bicutan National High School was hailed as the country’s best-designed campus paper in the second season of the Best-Designed Campus Paper (BDCP) Awards organized by the BDCP Designers and Creatives PH, Inc.
Other than being awarded as the nation’s best, the Taguigbased campus paper also bagged other minor awards such as the best communitybased story, best editorial page design, and the medallion for visual and creative excellence. Meanwhile, BDCP Designers and Creatives PH, Inc. are now asking for shipment
scan the QR code above to see the 2020 BDCP Awards Recipients of Medallion of Visual & Creative Excellence
by AJ LOZANO
details of the BDCP Season 2 winners for the shipment of the awards that they bagged in the competition. Moreover, the organization seeks to produce its second edition of the BDCP magazine by the second half of 2021 and to start the third season of the BDCP Awards by June 2021.
NCPO from PAGE 1
This year, the school paper award-giving body BDCP is launching the National Campus Press Olympiad (NCPO), the firstever country-wide online journalism tournament that features series of competitions for grade school, high school, and college students, with the theme: “Promoting Community Development through Multiplatform Campus Journalism.” Aiming to help campus journalists hone their craft through friendly competitions, the event is divided into two parts: the side events on March 21-May 2 and the main events on May 12-20. Access event’s primer and mechanics of different contests here: tinyurl.com/ NCPO2021ContestGuidelines The side events, which are open for all, include 10 side events comprising a wide range of journalism and creative contests that promote critical and artistic thinking. Meanwhile, the 15 main events covering interactive multimedia publishing, mobile journalism, and print and visual media will be exclusive for grade school, high school, and college categories. Interested campus journalists joining the main events must pay the registration fee of P100, P200, P300, or P500 depending if they belong to the individual, duo, trio, or group events, respectively. The fees for side events are waived. No limit on the number of participants per publication or school is imposed by the management. Similarly, participants are allowed to join in as many categories they wish granted that there is no conflict in the schedule of competitions. A pre-determined schedule for registration for main events according to region has also been posted on the official NCPO 2021 page. Read: tinyurl.com/FAQsNCPO2021 Each event will have 10 finalists of which only three will be recognized and awarded with e-certificates, medals, and others depending on the sponsors (e.g. Nikon lens cup, cash prize, BDCP magazine, etc.). The winning entries will also be featured in the BDCP Digest. Celebrities including TV host Robi Domingo, teacher-vlogger DanVibes, doctor-Youtuber Doc Adam, PBA player Jeff Chan, and journalists Maey Bautista and Julius Segovia even encouraged campus journalists to take part in the said event. For more information, contact the management via their email ncpo.bdcp@gmail.com or visit their official Facebook page. The event is co-organized by the Laguna-based events firm Aloha PH.
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FIRST ISSUE EVER! April to May 2021 The Official e-Newsletter of the BDCP Designers and Creatives PH
: 1 2 0 2 O P C N
s r e t a W l a it ig D in m is l a Journ MIENTOS by AILAH JANELLE RA
NCPO SIDE EVENTS WINNERS
BRICE SUAZO TV OBB CHAMP
As for TV OBB champ, Brice Suazo, NCPO opened doors which paved the resumption of his pursuit to discover and experience the field of broadcasting even more.
“Noong nalaman kong may ganito pa lang contest eh minessage ko agad yung team ko para sumali. Una pa lang akong sumali sa campus journalism eh alam ko na yung magiging profession ko in the future,” said Suazo.
PHOTO COURTESY BRICE SUAZO
A TV broadcaster in the making, 19- year-old Suazo sees the big role that broadcasters take especially amid a global health crisis. It is during these times that we are fighting two unseen problems- the virus and the proliferation of fake information, both inciting fear.
for your eyes only scan the QR code beside to watch the NCPO 2021 TV OBB Making Competition Champion’s output.
Amid indistinct cheers and applause, you can only hear your sped up heartbeat. Within you, tension and anticipation mingles, but all you can feel is your sweaty palms firmly clutching your pen. Names get called one by one while you whisper a prayer that yours be called next. You’re now drowning in the emotions of the people around you, but your face remains a calm sea despite the storms of nervousness and what- ifs within you. To calm the rough waves of panic and morose thoughts, you comfort yourself by saying that this won’t be your last national press conference, there’ll be more in the next few years. But then there was none. Since the pandemic swept changes in our lives, we’ve been living under the bubble. We’ve been staying inside but we’ve been out of our annual calendar of events and plans, like in journalism. But while we’re thinking that the doors of chances to be national winners have closed, a digital vestibule opens through the first ever National Campus Press Olympiad (NCPO). Launched by BestDesigned Campus Papers of the Philippines, NCPO is the first ever online journalism tournament in the Philippines which features competitions open for grade school, high school, and college students. With the theme: Promoting Community Development Through Multi-Platform Campus Journalism, the event is a splendid blend of skill and creativity aimed at quenching the thirst for competitive adrenaline. The event is divided into two main categories- the main events and the side events. Open to all, contests under the side events category were overwhelmed by a plethora of journalistic and creative prowess of journos in all ages across the country. The winners truly did not take lightly the challenge of spilling vision and wits in today’s most relevant issues.
READ JIDW on PAGE 7
FIRST ISSUE EVER! April to May 2021 The Official e-Newsletter of the BDCP Designers and Creatives PH
PHOTO COURTESY CARL GRIÑO
Carl GriÑo RADIO OBB WINNER
Radio OBB winner Carl Grino believes student journalists can use their voice to ‘trumpet the truth’. 19-year-old Grino sees his NCPO experience as an opportunity to take part in the fight against disinformation. Because while CoViD-19 has infected millions of people across the world, the dilemma of fake news has infected just as much. Hence, the need to counter false information by pushing the press power. And how do we begin the fight? By loading our guns with bullets of factual information.
hear hear scan the QR code beside to watch and hear the NCPO 2021 Radio OBB Champion’s output.
Joash malimban INFOMERCIAL MAKING CONTEST CHAMP
With everything within the reach of our fingertips, we indulge in a buffet of information. Confused on what to take, we often engage in cursory reading online. This rather unhealthy way of taking in news leads to an unwanted ingestion of misinterpreted data. That’s why Infomercial Making champion, Joash Edric Malimban gives importance in laymanizing the information he serves his viewers.
“You have to always consider your target audience. Kailangan direct to the point ang content para mas effective na maiparating ang message,” he said when asked on how he came up with his infomercial.
for your eyes only
scan the QR code beside to watch the NCPO 2021 Infomercial Making Contest Champion’s output. PHOTO COURTESY JOASH MALIMBAN
features CARL DONOR INFOGRAPHIC DESIGN CHAMP
PHOTO COURTESY CARL DONOR
In line with this, Infographic Design champ, Carl Dexter Donor heeds the visual palates of information consumers. In making his infographic, Donor explained that his reason for choosing a red gradient background was to ‘signify the danger and severity’ of the pandemic. Inspired by the works of Jacek Utko, a Europe-based newspaper designer, Donor has truly mastered the craft of splendidly blending figures and facets, and factual information and creative vision. In the digital age, a glance at an informative image can be as impactful as reading an entire manuscript only if it builds a connection to the viewers.
PHOTO COURTESY OWEN DEL CASTILLO
Apart from emotions that inspire, looking through camera lenses provides for stories that transpired behind every good photograph. Digital Photography winner, Owen Del Castillo shares how he had to patiently wait at Legazpi Boulevard to capture the most honestly raw stories of people as they do their morning routines.
“I was able to capture some fishermen catching some fish and also the people swimming by the beach. It may seem to be ordinary but the story is deep because it happened during an Easter Sunday when the entire province was under the MECQ.” said Del Castillo when asked about the story behind his winning entry “Dagat”.
‘Dagat’ depicts a hopefilled story captured in one frame on how people go on with their lives despite pandemicinduced restrictions and amid the downpour of challenges.
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OWEN DEL CASTILLO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY CHAMP
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features Mc Luis Glen Aserdano FLASH FICTION CHAMP
The eye is the gnarliest part of the storm. In our lives’ cloudburst, coming out from the eye unscathed is revival. But for the survivors of COVID-19, recovery sets them to another thunder that’s just as fatal to the soul - discrimination. Inspired by a conversation he’d overheard from two gossipers in his town’s plaza, Flash Fiction champion Mc Luis Glen Aserdano wrote ‘Survivor’. The story is heightened with tension between two gossiping ladies who were shaming and accusing a COVID-19 survivor of still being infected although it has been months since the survivor actually survived. Then it leads to their personal dilemmas, linking their misfortune to the COVID survivor until they find out that the person they’re talking about is the one driving them home.
PHOTO COURTESY LUIS ASERDANO
Earl Joseph Salapantan PASPASANG PAGKUKUWENTO CHAMP
Within the storm of the COVID-19 is another hurricane of dilemma faced by the people. Paspasang Pagkukuwento champion, Earl Joseph Salapantan highlights poverty as another thunderclap shielded against by the Filipinos and in his story, “Pamamangka sa Magkabilang Dulo”, an ongoing downpour experienced by the Badjao tribe. A line from the flash fiction says “Sigurado ako kung saan tayo dadaong,” connotes a solution often sought as refuge by the people amid these most desperate times - to trust the process. Because when the raging winds have ceased and we’re out of the unbroken powerful downpours in the eye of the storm, victory will be ours. But how can victory be communal when we are divided in the same boat we’re in as we get through the roughest of waves, when the enemy we fight is not just the storm of the pandemic but among us, and when trusting the man in the steering wheel becomes too difficult? It takes cooperation to balance and weigh things properly for our ship to not sink.
Eddie Marie Talens
PHOTO COURTESY EARL SALAPANTAN
For Ms. Eddie Marie Talens who won the Digital Comic Strip Category, NCPO gave her drawings the power to speak on her behalf in her concerns for the current happenings in the country.
“Napaka-effective po na platform ang social media para maibahagi ng mga mamamayan ang mga suhestiyon hingil sa pagresolba ng mga isyung pangkomunidad,” (If just used right, social media is a very effective platform for citizens to share their suggestions on how to resolve matters in the community),said Talens.
DIGITAL COMIC STRIP CHAMP
PHOTO COURTESY EDDIE TALENS
Her four-panel comic strip titled ‘Band-aid Solutions’ depicts a problematic scenario that has gone worse because of the character’s refusal to listen to other people’s suggestions. In the end, the character can be seen drowning because of his own incompetence while embroiling those who were with him.
FIRST ISSUE EVER! April to May 2021 The Official e-Newsletter of the BDCP Designers and Creatives PH
Paul Angelo Fronda
The best way to connect to any audience is by evoking their emotions - a skill that has been honed by Mobile Photography champion and photojournalist, Paul Angelo Fronda. For the 19-year-old champ,sticking with the theme of ‘Isolation’ and drawing his subjects’ most chasmic emotions was how he aced the side event.
“At some point, it (isolation) contributes to my creativity and thinking process since it helps me take a break from the deafening world,”
He also adds how isolation gives him peace which helps him take pictures and everything with face value.
Chantal Manalili LITERARY GRAPHICS CHAMP
MOBILE PHOTOGRAPHY CHAMP
PHOTO COURTESY PAUL FRONDA
Still, no matter how deep we go under, Filipinos have a way to ascend from devouring waters. As depicted by Literary Graphics champion, Chantal Manalili’s art, faith is the anchor that can pull us up from the deepest of seas.
“I wanted my piece to be inclusive and symbolize different kinds of faith, that whenever someone looks at my piece, their own faith can be reflected,” said Manalili when asked about her winning piece entitled ‘Sa Pag-aho’y Ikaw’.
PHOTO COURTESY CHANTAL MANALILI
JIDW from PAGE 3
NCPO 2021:
Journalism in Digital Waters
NCPO 2021 is a whole new experience pioneering an initiative in keeping campus press sailing - a testament that national journalistic titles earned amid a storm is just as rewarding. COVID- 19 is yet another storm attempting to hold us back from traversing the vast waters of life. But if we remain collected and undivided in the boat we’re in, we’re far from sinking. Because while we’re in the waters of the most pressing issues, we’ve been diving deeper in the vastness of the digital realm while holding on to an anchor of community development - journalism.
EDITORIAL
BLOOMING SEEDS, HAND IN HAND Together with the terrors brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, communication and the spread of information has been a difficult task for the people. Although activities for development has been put in halt due to community restrictions, journalists and common people alike spares no effort to provide services and information access to the rest of the community. In line with the country’s first online campus press olympiad, the National Campus Press Olympiad focuses on the theme: “Promoting Community Development through Multi-platform Campus Journalism.” The event aims to emphasize the importance of multiplatform campus journalism in the new normal and to highlight the role of the campus press in community building and development. One common narrative of community development with the help of the multi-platform press would be the
FIRST ISSUE EVER! April to May 2021 The Official e-Newsletter of the BDCP Designers and Creatives PH
EDITORIAL BOARD AJ LOZANO Editor-in-Chief AILAH JANELLE RAMIENTOS Associate Editor ANTONIO MIGUEL LADRA JAMES PUNSALAN Layout Artists CATHERINE CAMBURA Cartoonist ALVIN HIZON Consultant
Art by CATHERINE CAMBURA and JAMES PUNSALAN
recent rise of community pantries around the country. Patricia Non’s Maginhawa Community Pantry began with the concept of “Magbigay ayon sa kakayahan, kumuha batay sa pangangailangan.” According to Non, the pantry aims to help ease the hunger of Filipinos going through difficult times. Once the word has spread all across the internet, the concept of community pantries spread nationwide, and that is through the help of multi-platform journalism. The social media landscape and the netizens shared the word to help the community go through the toughest of times, especially in this pandemic. Initiatives such as Patricia Non’s, with the help of the social media community, are just one of the multiple instances where multi-platform journalism helped in shaping the landscape of the community.
Thus, the pandemic we are under right now uncovered the importance and relevance of community journalism in a way that its purpose is not limited in the academe. Because journalists who were taught to be fair, to communicate, and to lead are now able to use these skills to partake in doing a collective action and creating solutions to the problems in our community. While the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic is still there, it has proven that nothing can stop the people in helping each other build a better community. Aside from this, developing a community has been made easier with the help of multi-platform journalism. This way, if the community continues to serve hand in hand, we would be able to bloom a developed community— one that is built strong to fight amidst adversities.
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The pandemic we are under right now uncovered the importance and relevance of community journalism in a way that its purpose is not limited in the academe.