GMA Network brings home seven awards, including a World Gold Medal
GMA-7 is triumphant with seven medals at the recently concluded New York Festivals TV & Film (NYF) Awards 2024.
For the first time ever, all the shortlisted entries of GMA-7 won in their respective categories, securing wins left and right with one Gold, two Silver, and four Bronze medals.
Under the category of Documentary: Social Justice, the lauded “The Atom Araullo Specials” clinched a World Gold Medal for its episode titled “Batas Bata (Child’s Game).”
The episode tells the lives of minors entangled in Manila’s web of crimes and conflict, tackling the Philippines’ effectiveness of the country’s legal framework in terms of addressing these challenges.
“Hingang Malalim (One Deep Breath)” is another winning piece from the “The Atom Araullo Specials” with a Silver Medal in the Documentary: Human Concerns category. It ventures through the life of the Badjao people in Mindanao, who make a living out of diving into the waters to hunt pearls.
GMA Public Affairs’ flagship documentary program “I-Witness” earned three medals this year. Its episode “Bawat Barya (The Price of Dreams),” which was also by Atom, takes a Silver medal in the category of Documentary: Social Issues. The story featured two young boys who make a living out of scavenging for coins in dirty water.
Meanwhile, the episodes “Boat to School” by Howie Severino and “Sisid sa Putik (Rise from the Mud)” by Mav Gonzales are Bronze medal awardees.
“Boat to School,” a winner from the Documentary: Heroes category Bronze, showed the plight of the students in Liaonan Siargao, who had to travel by boat just to attend school, as well as a woman’s initiative to teach children in her tiny home with all the knowledge she could share.
“Sisid sa Putik” won under Documentary: Community Portraits category. It featured the traditional process of planting frog grass with mud from the waters in Agusan Del Norte.
GMA Public Affairs’ action-packed drama series “Black Rider” gained a Bronze medal in the Entertainment Program: Drama category. Headlined by Ruru Madrid, the series was lauded for putting together heroism, revenge, justice in one family drama.
READ ALSO: Rio Locsin Bares Truth Behind Emotions In “Black Rider” Viral Video
A milestone for GMA Integrated News
Last but not the least, GMA Integrated News’ “Sundo: A GMA Integrated News Documentary” also received a Bronze medal in the category “News Program: News Documentary/Special.
This serves a huge achievement for the first news documentary under GMA Integrated News 360.
Documented by veteran journalists Raffy Tima and JP Soriano and video journalist Kim Sorra, “Sundo” covered the conflict between Hamas and Israel and they were the first Philippine news organization to do so at that time.
The New York Festivals TV & Film Awards recognizes content in all lengths and forms from over 50 countries. GMA Network was the only local broadcast company to make this year’s shortlisted entries.
GMA-7 was the only Philippine broadcast company to be recognized by the NYF awards among this year’s shortlisted entrees.
Text Pamela Torres
Banner Art Paulo Correa
