MANILA – November 12, 2013 – Smart Communications Inc.’s “Jump In” campaign, Sanserif Inc.’s “Adobo Magazine: Project Reinvention,” and University of Santo Tomas’s “Balik USTe” campaign dominated the Philippine Quill and Philippine Student Quill Awards 2013, taking home the highest honors in the prestigious annual business communication awards.
The awards were presented by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Philippines to honor excellent communication work by organizations and students nationwide.
The winners were celebrated in a colorful fiesta-themed awards ceremony at the Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria. Contributing to the festive mood were upbeat music by Voice of the Philippines grand champion Mitoy, Voice of the Philippines 1st runner up Klarisse, and an energetic performance from Myxx Dancers. The parade of winners was abuzz with excitement as the night unfolded, revealing this year’s crop of winners.
Smart Communications Inc. won its second straight Top Award in Communication Management for its groundbreaking campaign “Jump In,” which exceeded its target SIM activations and cemented the company’s youth-friendly wireless provider by enjoining the Filipino youth to “jump in” to new life experiences.
Adobo Magazine, meanwhile, made a Philippine Quill record when it earned its third Top Award in Communication Skills via its “Project Reinvention,” which was entered by the premier publication’s publisher Sanserif, Inc. The entry detailed the successful content and aesthetic makeover of adobo Magazine as a reflection of the ever-evolving nature of the industries it serves.
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Completing the big winners is University of Santo Tomas (UST) student Ivana Victoria T. Bito, whose entry “Balik USTe” won the Student Quill Top Award. “Balik USTe” is a back-to-school initiative in social media and on the university TV channel The Tomasian Cable TV (TOMCAT) that stirred excitement among returning Thomasians and incoming freshmen. The Top Award goes to the entry with the highest score in the division.
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This year’s Quill Awards featured the second time that IABC Philippines conferred Special Awards to the company, agency, and school with the most Excellence Awards. Manila Electric Co. was named Company of the Year, edging Smart Communications, Inc. (1st runner-up) and the Energy Development Corporation (2nd runner-up). Campaigns and Grey PR Inc., DDB Philippines, Studio 5 Designs Inc. had a rare triple tie for Agency of the Year, while UST emerged as School of the Year.
Record-high number of entries
The IABC also gave almost 200 awards of excellence and merit covering communication research management, communication management, communication skills, and communication training and education across 42 categories in this year’s staging of the prestigious annual awards program, according to Philippine Quill Awards 2013 Chair and IABC Philippines Vice President Kane Errol Choa.
According to Choa, this year’s bigger and brighter staging of the country’s most comprehensive business communication awards gathered the most number of entries ever, with almost 500 entries across four divisions and 42 categories.
"These are exciting times for us Philippine communicators," said Choa, who shared tips on winning a Philippine Quill, using popular internet memes to illustrate his key points.
IABC Philippines Chairman Elpi Cuna in his welcome remarks expressed his hope that the awards "will mean that excellence isn’t just for one night, rather it is the way we carry out our work every day." Cuna also announced that the IABC will donate P100,000, coursed through various charity organizations, to help the recovery efforts after Super Typhoon Yolanda, which hit the Philippines over the weekend.
IABC Philippines President and IABC Regional Director for North Asia Ritzi Villarico Ronquillo said the Quill’s trademark stringent judging procedure and emphasis on results are the Awards’ come-ons as participants seek expert validation of their work.
In her keynote address, IABC International Executive Board chair Robin McCasland remarked, "We’ve seen our profession elevated to what it should be." According to McCasland, in this age of social media, "Our profession is now needed more than ever."
This year’s Quill Awards was made possible by Gold sponsors ABS-CBN Corporation, Air Asia Zest, Pru Life UK, SMART Communications, and San Miguel Corporation; Silver sponsors Energy Development Corporation, Manila Electric Company, and Security Bank; and Bronze sponsors PAGCOR, PAG-IBIG, Petron Corporation, and Unilever Philippines. Other sponsors were Sun Life Financial Philippines and UNILAB.
The media partners, meanwhile, were adobo Magazine, ANC (ABS-CBN News Channel), BusinessWorld, DZMM TeleRadyo, Manila Bulletin, and The Philippine Star, with iSENTIA as media intelligence partner and Reyes Tacandong & Co. as the official tabulator.
The IABC Philippines, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, is the first chapter outside the United States of America of the international IABC, a global network of around 15,500 business communicators in 80 countries. The IABC presents the Gold Quill Awards, considered as the global standard in business communication.
The awards were presented on November 11, and will be aired on ANC, the ABS-CBN News Channel (SkyCable Ch. 27) on a later date.
Adobo Magazine: Project Reinvention
