Two journalists, an arts community advocate, a development communicator, an education innovator, and a producer-writer of hit television shows are this year’s six outstanding alumni of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication (UPCMC) who will receive the Glory award.
Second row (left to right) Lutgardo Labad, Karen Davila, and Criselda Yabes
The “Glory” honors UPCMC alumni who did not only produce excellent work consistently but also made an impact in mass communication and society.
Selected by a jury of their peers, the 2020 Glory awardees are Karen Davila (broadcast journalism), Dr. Rey de la Cruz (special education), Deo Endrinal (television arts), Dr. Monina Movido-Escalada (development communication), Lutgardo Labad (arts & culture advocacy), and Criselda Yabes (literary journalism).
UPCMC Alumni Association president Malou Choa Fagar announced that due to the continuing public health crisis, the Glory awards presentation on November 14 would take place in a virtual environment.
The Glory Awards were inspired by the legacy of honor and excellence of Dr. Gloria Feliciano, the founding dean of UP mass communication programs, who served from 1965 to 1985. UPCMC produced some of the best practitioners in broadcasting, film, journalism, and communication research in the past 55 years.
Many alumni also shone in allied fields like marketing communication, social advocacy, public relations, and the performing arts.
The seven jurors of the 2020 Glory Awards were UPCMC dean and film professor Dr. Arminda Santiago; UPCMC communication research department chairperson Dr. Julienne Thesa Baldo-Cubelo; PR expert and former UP vice president for public affairs Tessa Jazmines; broadcast news veteran Jose Magsaysay, who also represents the family of Dean Feliciano; writer-director and 2019 Glory awardee Floy Quintos; film and TV director, writer and educator Jose Javier Reyes; and 2018 Glory awardee Luz Rimban, executive director of the Asian Center for Journalism at the Ateneo de Manila University.
The Awardees
• Karen Davila, news anchor and correspondent of ABS-CBN, has a long-running daily Q&A show Headstart on ANC; she began her career as a writer-presenter of documentaries for The Probe Team and was part of the ABS-CBN investigative journalism series The Correspondents. She also moderated presidential debates and the televised sessions of the World Economic Forum-East Asia Summit.
• Author and special education expert Dr. Rey de la Cruz is also a Palanca award-winning playwright, pioneering alternative filmmaker, gender-equality advocate, and developer of innovative teaching strategies. Peer-reviewed journals and conferences recognized his research showing the effects of creative drama on social and oral-language skills of children with learning disabilities.
• As head of ABS-CBN’s content production unit Dreamscape Entertainment, Deo Endrinal is one of television’s top ”showrunners” who has overall creative authority and management responsibility for TV shows. He started as a writer and producer for GMA Network (Martin After Dark and Lunch Date), TV5 (Pops) and ABS-CBN, his home network for the past three decades.
• Dr. Monina Movido-Escalada, acclaimed development communicator and a professor emeritus at the Visayas State University in Baybay, Leyte. She rose from a research assistant to assistant professor of broadcast communication in UP Diliman in the 1970s. In the past three decades, her research pursued a deeper and better understanding of farmers’ management and decision-making practices.
• Lutgardo Labad has stood at the vanguard of Philippine arts and culture advocacy for almost half a century. He is a multi-awarded theater artist, teacher, cultural worker, and arts & heritage promoter. Labad was instrumental in developing the creative arts and theatre curriculum of the Philippine Educational Theater Association.
• Criselda Yabes, a freelance journalist and award-winning author of 10 books. Her long-form journalism written in engaging literary style has been the trademark of her craft, just like how she immerses herself for lengthy periods in her subjects and locales. Yabes released her newest book last August 31 (National Heroes Day) titled The Battle of Marawi.
