CUTTING-EDGE reportage in agriculture once again came to the fore with BusinessMirror writers’ winning some of the top honors at the latest Bright Leaf Awards Thursday night.
Cai U. Ordinario, BusinessMirror’s Banking and Macroeconomy reporter, was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Bright Leaf Agriculture Journalism Awards. It is an honor bestowed on those who have won a total of five Bright Leaf Awards in any category.
The paper’s Baguio-based veteran correspondent Marilou C. Guieb, meanwhile, won the Best Agriculture News Story National Award for “Baguio, Loving Flies, But the Good Kind.” The special report by Guieb focuses on Baguio’s trailblazing experience in using black flies for various food and sustainability purposes, illustrating how an LGU can aspire for a so-called “circular economy.”
Meanwhile, receiving the Hall of Fame/Oriental Leaf Award during the 17th Bright Leaf Awards makes Ordinario now the third Hall of Famer produced by the BusinessMirror.
The two other Bright Leaf Hall of Famers of the BusinessMirror are: another Baguio-based journalist, Mauricio Victa (2015); and Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas (2021), BM’s erstwhile agriculture reporter
Ordinario’s road to the Hall of Fame can be traced back to the agriculture stories she wrote in 2018,2021,2022 and 2023, some of which she crafted with her colleagues at this paper.
In 2023, Ordinario, along with BusinessMirror Reporters Jovee Marie De La Cruz and Jovy Noelle Rodriguez, bagged the Best Agriculture Feature Story (National) award for “Skyrocketing Sugar Prices Stroke Industry Liberalization Stakes.”
In 2022, she secured the Agriculture Story of the Year award with former BusinessMirror reporter Tyrone Jasper C. Piad for “Global Shipment Woes: Additional Shocks to Philippines’ Food Supply Chain (PART 1) Supply Stiffness to Stay as Shipment Issues seen Spilling Past Yule Season (PART 2).”
In 2021, Ordinario bagged two awards: the Tobacco Story of the Year for “Gold Leaf Farming Sector Still Searching For Own El Dorado” and Best Agriculture News Story-National for “Pre and Post Rice Trade Liberalization Law, Big Traders Gaming Farmer Groups.”
Ordinario bagged her first Bright Leaf Award in 2018: Best Agriculture News Story-National for “Snapshot of Rice Consumption Data Remains Grainy As Pinoys Grapple” with former BusinessMirror reporter Jasper Emmanuel Arcalas.
A total of 13 Awardees were recognized at the 2024 Bright Leaf Awards ceremony across these categories: Agriculture Story of the Year, Agriculture Photo of the Year, Tobacco Story of the Year, Tobacco Photo of the Year, Best Television Program or Segment, Best Radio Program or Segment, Best Agriculture News Story-National, Best Agriculture News Story-Regional, Best Agriculture Feature Story-National, Best Agriculture Feature Story-Regional, Best Online Story and Best Story in Tobacco Product Alternatives and the Oriental Leaf Award.
The Bright Leaf Journalism Awards is an annual competition open to individuals and teams producing agricultural stories in the Philippines.
The theme for this year is “Illuminating Change.”
