Eco-Business has won the top accolade at the Globe Media Excellence Awards 2024 for its coverage of the growth of a thriving mangrove forest in Iloilo City, Philippines, following the completion of a man-made floodway.
Philippine telecommunications giant Globe, which began the yearly awards in 2014 to reward good reporting across the archipelago, selected Seeing mangroves regrow: Documenting the surprise resurgence of Iloilo’s coastal forests as the winner of the Globe of Good Story of the Year, under the special awards category.
The award recognises narratives of triumph amid adversities, and recognises reporting of initiatives that help uplift lives and that encourages discourse or action within communities, Globe said on its website.
A special report penned by Eco-Business writer Rhick Lars Albay was awarded the Globe Good Story of the Year. Image: Globe
Iloilo-based Eco-Business writer Rhick Lars Albay worked with freelance photographer Ruperto Quitag to produce the story for International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem. The story, published last July, included aerial drone shots of pristine mangroves co-existing in a highly urbanised city. It also included satellite imagery showing rapid growth of coastal vegetation at the mouth of the man-made Jaro Floodway.
Albay interviewed academics and experts who detailed ways to preserve the mangrove ecosystem, including the government’s push to put a price tag on the country’s natural reseources and natural capital.
The recognition comes at an uncertain time for mangrove conservation in the Western Visayas region where Iloilo is located, said Albay, as approvals have been finalised last month for a mega-bridge project which locals fear will not only destroy endangered marine species but also put at risk thousands of hectares of coastal mangroves.
“I’m thankful for recognition and for opportunities like this to amplify stories important to our communities today. This also fuels newsrooms to greenlight more longform in-depth reporting that often are not published by mainstream media,” said Albay.
“Globe will also be donating directly to the mangrove restoration project of the local government unit of Iloilo City, which is much more significant to me than any trophy,” he added.
This is the first year Globe has expanded its annual media awards to consider stories from writers based in Luzon and outside Metro Manila, which expands the search nationwide.
Other entries that were shortlisted for the Globe of Good Story of the Year category were A blind librarian’s vision: Visually impaired Cebuanos exploring a web of worlds by Joshua Glenn Solano of SunStar Cebu, An Obo-Manuvu tribe leads protection of Davao’s watershed by Kathyrine Xerxis M. Cortez of Davao Today and Patricia Andrea Matheu of MyTV Cebu, who penned Beyond the Harvest: Discovering the Thriving Farm Village of Arka.Asia.
The awards also honoured stories in categories like the year’s best news stories for online, radio, television, and digital storytelling. The online news report of the year was awarded to Morexette Marie Erram from CDN Digital who reported on how schools had suspended classes in a heat wave and described extreme heat as the “new pandemic”.
Read our report on the Iloilo’s mangroves here. Know of inspiring individuals who are driving real change across government, business and civil society? Nominate them for the Sustainability Leadership A-List awards.
