NUMERO UNO. Officials of the Bulacan State Univeristy in Malolos and staffers of its official publication, the Pacesetter, flashed the “no. 1” sign after ruling the 8th Regional Tertiary Press Congress for the second year in a row. The said congress drew 230 campus journalists from 26 colleges and universities across the region, and was held at the Sitio Lucia Resort and Hotel at Pulong Buhangin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan. Photo by Rommel Ramos
MALOLOS CITY—Pacesetter, the official publication of the Bulacan State University (BulSU) here set the pace and ruled the 8th Regional Tertiary Press Congress organized by the Association of Tertiary School Paper Advisers in Region III (Atspar-III), for two consecutive years.
Pacesetter was followed by The Guilds, the official publication of the Bataan Peninsula State University (BPSU) main campus based in Balanga City.
The fourth and fifth place were taken by The Industrialist of the Don Honorio Ventura College of Arts and Trades (DHVCAT) based in Bacolor; and Regina, the official publication of the University of the Assumption (UA) in San Fernando City, both in Pampanga.
The 8th Regional Tertiary Press Congress was held at the Sitio Lucia Resort and Hotel in Pulong Buhangin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan last week.
“We didn’t expect we will repeat as over-all champion again, but hoped and prayed for it,” said Rose Ann Sanciango, editor-in-chief of the Pacesetter.
Sanciango was one of the editors of the Pacesetter when it was padlocked by BulSU officials in 2005, but rejoined the publication a year later.
Romulo Mercado, the director for student publications at BulSU and outgoing president of the Atspar III told Punto that series of trainings and workshops on journalism paid off for staffers of the Pacesetter and other student publications in Central Luzon.
He said it was evident with the individual and group performance of staffers from Pacesetter and The Industrialist who along with students of the Central Luzon Doctors’ Hospital-Educational Institution (CLDH-EI) participated in a workshop last August.
“The training workshop made the difference, considering that there were 230 students from 26 colleges and universities that participated in the annual regional press congress,” Mercado said.
He said that they hope to retain the over-all championship in the 9th Regional Tertiary Press Congress next year.
This year, BulSU’s Pacesetter, topped the broadsheet, tabloid, magazine and literary folio categories, while placing second to Lumos, a BPSU-Balanga Campus official newsletter.
In the individual categories that include newswriting, opinion editorial, sports, poetry,
feature writing, copy reading and headline writing, photojournalism, editorial cartooning, comic strip drawing, and literary graphic illustration, The Pacesetter trailed The Guilds.
Other schools that participated in the 8th Regional Tertiary School Congress were Columban College, Ramon Magsaysay Technological University (RMTU) campuses from Iba, Candelaria and Masinloc in Zambales, Central Luzon State University, Bulacan Agricultural State College, Wesleyan University Philippines, Mondrian College, BPSU-Orani Campus, Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific, Pampanga Agricultural College, University of Regina Carmeli, Republic Central Colleges, Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology, Tarlac College of Agriculture, and the Tarlac State College.
