Media Wise Communications/Muse Books raced out into 2020 with a rare repeat of last year’s trophy haul with a gold and a platinum at the 55th Anvil Awards held at the historic Manila Hotel on Feb. 28.
The gold and platinum Anvils were for the coffee-table book The Manila Jockey Club: The Front Runner that Media Wise produced for the Manila Jockey Club, Inc. for its 150th anniversary.
The Platinum Anvil, the rarest and most coveted of the Anvils, is given only to the cream of the year’s crop of Gold Anvil awardees. Normally, just one or two are given by the awards body per year out of hundreds of entries. Media Wise’s platinum last year was for the award-winning coffee-table-book On the March: The Jesuits in the Philippines Since the Restoration.
The Front Runner chronicles the evolution of horse racing in the Philippines, as embodied in the 150-year history of the Manila Jockey Club. It celebrates a century and a half of local horse-racing history, nostalgia, and excitement.
The Anvil Awards are given annually by the Public Relations Society of the Philippines to the best public-relations programs and individual practitioners of the year. Media Wise’s The Front Runner bagged the Platinum Anvil in the PR Tools Publications category. Although a boutique publication house, Media Wise has won many awards in PR and publications from various prestigious award-giving bodies locally and abroad.
Manila Jockey Club president Alfonso Reyno III and Media Wise president Ramoncito Cruz, together with their respective teams, received the gold and platinum trophies at this year’s Anvil awarding ceremonies.