TWO FEATURE stories by the Varsitarian were named finalists in the 2025 Lasallian Scholarum Awards, a De La Salle University flagship program recognizing exemplary media coverage on youth and education.
Stories about the graduation of the Class of 2024, written by Janica Buan, Karis Tsang, and Faith Gelacio, were among the 11 finalists for outstanding feature articles published in a school organ.
Buan was nominated for “The inspiring journey of a visually impaired UST Commerce graduate,” a feature on Jerome Santiago, a College of Commerce and Commerce graduate born with glaucoma.
It delves into Santiago’s extraordinary journey in college, where he had to navigate through the academic and personal challenges that come with being visually impaired.
Gelacio, Tsang, and Buan were also nominated for “Stories of survival as first ‘pandemic batch’ graduates from college,” narrating the experiences of the Class of 2024, which entered college at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
UST journalism instructor Neil Servallos, a Philippine Star reporter and former Varsitarian editor, was nominated for outstanding published feature article in a nationally circulated publication, with his story, “Private school scholarship program needs to be expanded,” joining the finalists.
The merit-based awards program’s categories are as follows:
- Outstanding Media Personality;
- Outstanding Feature in a School Organ;
- Outstanding Online Feature Article;
- Outstanding Published Feature Article;
- Outstanding Video Feature Story;
- Outstanding Feature Story on DLSU; and
- Outstanding Youth and Education Feature Film.
La Salle tapped an independent media-monitoring agency to review the work of various news publications in print, broadcast, and online.
Entries were shortlisted by a pool of award-winning faculty members and field experts from La Salle, including renowned film screenwriter and director Clodualdo del Mundo, Jr.; Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino Commissioner Arthur Casanova; Bato Balani Foundation Executive Director Natalie Christine Jorge; National Youth Commission Executive Director Leah Villalon; and faculty member Br. Richie Yap.
The group of film screeners is headed by DLSU faculty member and Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino Chair Shirley Lua, with fellow DLSU faculty and Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino member Anne Sangil, filmmaker Ida del Mundo, and Quezon City Film Commission Executive Director Liza Diño-Seguerra.
The awarding ceremony will be held on March 13 at DLSU Manila.
Winners will receive a Toym Imao sculpture and recognition in campus papers.
In partnership with the DLSU’s Student Media Office, the Scholarum Awards will feature the recipient of the Outstanding Media Personality, voted by DLSU campus journalists.
