MANILA, PHILIPPINES — GMA Network won a total of seven medals for the Philippines — including one World Gold medal — at the 2024 New York Festivals TV & Film (NYF) Awards, marking the first time all the GMA shortlisted entries won in their respective categories.
At the virtual Storytellers Gala held on April 17 (Philippine time), multi-awarded GMA Public Affairs once again dominated the country’s winning entries with six medals.
The bi-monthly public affairs program The Atom Araullo Specials clinched a World Gold Medal again, this time for the powerful documentary Batas Bata (Child’s Game) in the Documentary: Social Justice category.
The said episode showed Atom Araullo exploring the lives of minors entangled in the complex web of crime and conflict within the heart of Manila. The documentary also assessed the Philippines’ existing legal framework and whether it adequately addresses the unique challenges faced by these young individuals.
A second The Atom Araullo Specials documentary, Hingang Malalim (One Deep Breath), earned a Silver Medal under the Documentary: Human Concerns category. The episode featured the life of the Badjao people in Mindanao, who make a living out of diving for pearls.
GMA Public Affairs’ flagship documentary program I-Witness earned three medals this year.
Bawat Barya (The Price of Dreams), also a documentary by Atom Araullo, won a Silver medal in the Documentary: Social Issues category. It featured the story of two young boys who search for coins in a dirty water channel for a living.
Winning Bronze medals each were Howie Severino’s documentary Boat to School and Mav Gonzales’ documentary Sisid sa Putik (Rise from the Mud).
Boat to School, which won under the Documentary: Heroes category, showed the plight of the students in Liaonan Siargao, who had to traverse the sea using a boat just to go to school. It also told the story of how one resident took it upon herself to gather children in her small home to teach them what she could with the little knowledge she had.
Meanwhile, Sisid sa Putik took home the Bronze medal in the Documentary: Community Portraits category. Mav’s documentary featured the old tradition of Agusan Del Norte residents diving into the waters to get mud that will be used to plant frog grass.
Arriving on the global stage for the first time was GMA Public Affairs’ action-packed drama series Black Rider, which won a Bronze medal in the Entertainment Program: Drama category. Bannered by Primetime Action Hero Ruru Madrid, Black Rider weaves together elements of heroism, revenge, justice, and family drama in a compelling narrative on a cinematic scale.
Rounding off the accolades of GMA Network this year was GMA Integrated News’ Sundo: A GMA Integrated News Documentary, which won a Bronze Medal in the News Program: News Documentary/Special category. This marks a significant milestone as this is the first news documentary under GMA Integrated News 360. Sundo chronicles the war between Hamas and Israel as told through the lenses of GMA Integrated News’ veteran journalists Raffy Tima and JP Soriano and Video Journalist Kim Sorra. GMA Integrated News was the first Philippine news organization to deliver live and exclusive reports straight from the Middle East in the Israel-Hamas conflict at that time.
The New York Festivals TV & Film Awards recognizes content in all lengths and forms from over 50 countries. GMA Network was the only local broadcast company to make this year’s shortlisted entries.
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