DOST council launches 2018 R&D reporting award

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna, Philippines — A Department of Science and Technology (DOST) research and development council based here has launched the 2018 edition of its annual R&D reporting program.

Billed Ulat SIPAG Award, the agriculture journalism contest is sponsored by the DOST-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD).

SIPAG stands for Strategic Industry Science and Technology Plan for Agriculture-Aquatic Growth. 

The award, said PCAARRD acting executive director Reynaldo Ebora, recognizes “the important role and valuable support of media practitioners as a vital link between the S&T sector and its clients in technology promotion, commercialization and adoption.”

Through Ulat SIPAG, PCAARRD acknowledges print and broadcast media journalists in popularizing science and technology in relation to the council’s priority concerns, primarily on its Industry Strategic S&T Program (ISP), said Ricardo Argana in his report “Sowing S&T Innovations through the Press for Agri-Aqua Growth.”

PCAARRD is the government sectoral council established in 1972 “to coordinate, evaluate and monitor government-supported agriculture and natural resources research in the country.”

The Ulat SIPAG Award is open to professional media practitioners. The entries of contestants from the print media pertaining to agriculture, aquatic and natural resources should have been published in national, regional and local dailies, magazines and professional newsletters from 2016 to 2017.

Qualified for the broadcast category award are broadcasters of radio programs in AM radio stations that continually aired S&T-related information with AANR content, with emphasis on any of the PCAARRD Industry strategic programs.