After going through some 204 entries sent in this year, the judges have finally spoken, revealing the winners of the 16th Henry Ford Awards (HFA), which had an awarding ceremony on December 1, 2016 at the Bayanihan Center in Mandaluyong City.
This year’s contest saw a host of motoring journalists vie for ten regular and five special categories in print, online, and broadcast media.
For the print category, Niky Tamayo of Top Gear Philippines bagged the Automotive Print Feature, Aris Ilagan, also from TGP, got the Automotive Column award, Steven Edward Yu of Malaya for Smart Technology Feature story, Forbes Philippines’ Paul John Cana for his Automotive Lifestyle piece, and Alfred Mendoza from TGP for Published Photograph.
The digital class saw winners like Vince Pornelos garner the Automotive Road Safety Feature on autoindustriya.com, Ray Gonzalez of topgear.com.ph for his Automotive Video Feature, Ruby Shaira Panela of Rappler for her Automotive Green Feature, and Paulo Rafael Subido of topgear.com.ph for his Automotive Online Feature—which was his second in a row.
As for the special categories, these include Ulysses Ang of the Philippines Star for the Ford Automotive Feature, Jerel Fajardo of C! Magazine for the Ford Published Photograph, and Ronald de los Reyes of Business Mirror for the Ford Go Further piece.
The HFA also recognized the Hall of Fame awardees who have won in their respective categories three consecutive years. Fast Times, the automotive section of the Manila Times go the Best Automotive Broadsheet prize while James Deakin’s jamesdeakin.ph took home the Best Automotive blog—both Hall of Famers. Deakn’s Drive on CNN Philippines was also awarded for its Ford Automotive Video Feature story.
As in previous years, the panel of judges included a distinguished set from the corporate world, academe, and motoring industry. Each of the winners received a trophy with P20,000 for the regular category and P25,000 for the special prizes.
Congratulations to all the winners. We tip our hats off to you for a job well done.