STAR bags 3 Anvil Awards

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine STAR bagged three Anvils at the recently concluded 49th Anvil Awards of the Public Relations Society of the Philippines for its ventures that aim to showcase the publication’s moves to revolutionize print journalism.

Garnering three Anvil Awards of Merit were The STAR’s “PhilStar 2.0” anniversary trade show, the broadsheet’s “Read It, Live It” and its “Live It!” augmented reality (AR) mobile application.

The trade show PhilStar 2.0, which heralds The STAR as “the newspaper of the future” was cited by Anvil for “showcasing the new Philippine STAR and the paper’s readiness in moving forward towards the digital frontier.”

The STAR currently enjoys top readership in the country, selling over 200,000 copies daily.

On the other hand, The STAR’s “Read It. Live It” campaign, done in conjunction with Harrison Communications Inc., was also cited by Anvil for advocating positivism and the celebratory spirit. The said campaign has allowed The STAR to capitalize on its strength of fair, unbiased and objective news reportage by inviting its readers to not just read the news and issues printed on the paper, but to also take a stand, as well as share their opinion and live positive values.

The pioneering “Live It!” a mobile app which brings augmented reality to STAR readers, was also cited by the awards body for its revolutionary functionality, which allows both readers and advertisers to see beyond the printed page, giving them another, more intuitive view into stories and information presented in the paper.

Currently, the augmented reality feature enables readers to see video clips of the featured stories in the day’s paper, thus giving them a more immersive reading experience.

Dubbed as the Oscars of local public relations, the Anvil Awards is considered as the most prestigious award-giving body in the local public relations industry today, with this year’s program hailed as the most competitive thus far with a record number of entries totaling 408.

The PRSP is currently headed by Ramon Osorio, with Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas and MTRCB chairman Eugenio Villareal co-heading the program’s board of judges.