GMA Network gives the Philippines another set of international recognitions as it brings home two Gold and two Bronze medals, and five Finalist Certificates at the prestigious 2023 New York Festivals TV & Film (NYF) Awards. Winners were revealed yesterday April 19 (Philippine time) during the virtual Storytellers Gala.
Setting another record is the award-winning public affairs show and multi-platform leader Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho (KMJS), earning its first-ever NYF World Gold medal for “Sugat ng Pangungulila (Wounds of Woes).” Besting other entries in the Documentary: Health/Medical Information category, the segment featured a 14-year-old boy suffering from wounds all over his body and later diagnosed with lamellar ichthyosis. Its host, Jessica Soho, is the first Filipino to win a Bronze medal in the Best News Anchor category at the NYF Awards in 2018.
Documentary program The Atom Araullo Specials adds another World Gold medal to its roster of NYF trophies after conquering the Documentary: Social Issues category with “Mata sa Dilim (Eye in the Dark).” First aired in 2022, the story by Atom Araullo showed how and why online sexual abuse and exploitation of children has become a silent pandemic.
GMA Integrated News – Digital Video Lab’s online newscast Stand for Truth receives its first NYF award, taking home the Bronze medal in the Documentary: Cultural Issues category. The Integrated News and Public Affairs’ entry, “Runaway Child Brides: Ang Kuwento ng mga Tumakas sa Buya (Stories of Escape from the Manobos’ Buya),” tackled arranged marriages or a tradition called “buya” among Manobo tribes.
Maria Clara at Ibarra, GMA Entertainment Group’s primetime masterpiece, makes history anew as it won a Bronze medal in the Entertainment Program: Drama category. The series, which made waves on-air and online during its TV run, featured the story of Klay Infantes, a nursing student who is transported to the world of Dr. Jose Rizal’s novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. The series was by Barbie Forteza as Klay, Julie Anne San Jose as Maria Clara, and Dennis Trillo as Ibarra.
On top of their Gold medals, KMJS and The Atom Araullo Specials made it to the NYF shortlist for their other stories. KMJS’s “Onse” and The Atom Araullo Specials’s “Ang Nawawala (The Missing)” each received a Finalist Certificate in the Documentary: Human Concerns and Documentary: Health/Medical Information and Documentary: Human Concerns categories, respectively.
Also scoring Finalist Certificates for the Philippines are GMA Public Affairs programs Reporter’s Notebook, I-Witness, and Born to be Wild.
Nine-time NYF World Medalist Reporter’s Notebook was conferred with Finalist Certificate for “Baha to School (Our School is Sinking)” in the Documentary: Community Portraits category. Long-running public affairs program I-Witness made it to the list of finalists in the Documentary: Science & Technology category for “Ang Langaw na Hindi Binubugaw (Black Soldier Fly).” Completing the Public Affairs shows was the environment and wildlife program Born to be Wild which won a Finalist Certificate for “Primate Planet” in the Documentary: Environment & Ecology category.
Held annually, the New York Festivals TV & Film Awards honors content in all lengths and forms from over 50 countries. GMA Network has been representing the Philippines at the NYF, consistently getting the most nominees and winners for the country over the years.