Two initiatives of the UP Department of Communication Research (Comm Res) won the gold and silver awards in the 57th Anvil Awards.
Comm Res was awarded the Gold Anvil for its “Primer on Communication and Media Research,” while its “Gender in Ads Research and Communication Initiative” took home the Silver Anvil.
The Anvil Awards, which is considered to be one of the country’s most prestigious professional recognition programs, selected the Comm Res initiatives from a pool of some 540 entries.
The “Primer on Communication and Media Research” is a freely downloadable learning resource that addresses the demand for the long-standing scarcity of updated local reference materials on the topic. It consists of 18 sections and a special pandemic framework that covers the communication and media research process from conceptualization, implementation, to dissemination.
In mid-2020, at the height of the pandemic, classes began shifting to remote learning. Comm Res chair, Prof. Randy Jay C. Solis, PhD, said the shift to the online mode of learning highlighted the need for students and faculty members to have readily accessible learning materials.
“The Comm Res faculty agreed that it was an urgent mission to fill this need for a locally-contextualized reference on communication and media research,” he said.
The primer’s handout format was designed so that it can be reproduced and followed easily. Since its launching at the Philippine Association for Communication and Media Research, Inc. General Assembly in January 2021, it had over 6,000 downloads, as some 4,000 individuals registered to download it. The registrants included 57 percent students and 30 percent teachers. The primer also met its objectives to serve as primary reference material for the discipline, solicit feedback for the department’s upcoming handbook, and reinforce Comm Res’ status as a public servant leader. The primer may still be downloaded at http://bit.ly/UPCResPrimer2021.
Meanwhile, the research paper “The Gender in Ads Research and Communication Initiative” comprises the conduct of a culturally contextualized content analysis and a communication program involving practitioners and scholars of communication.
Both projects addressed diversity and inclusion issues about the visibility and representation of gender in advertising and allied practices. The research component, using 2018 data, revealed weak objectification and commodification but persistent gender stereotyping.
The research paper, as uploaded on the website of the project’s partner organization Investing in Women, has had 7,409 page views, of which 3,818 were unique. The communication component involved face-to-face and virtual workshops, forums, and roadshows from 2019 to 2021. The main online forum reached about 8,000 people, with 3,000 engagements. Meanwhile, the infographic series, posted in a partner unit in UP, has reached over 30,000 people.
The Comm Res faculty members are assistant professors Jon Benedik A. Bunquin, MA, Ma. Aurora Lolita Liwag-Lomibao, PhD, and Randy Jay C. Solis, Ph.; associate professors Julienne Thesa Y. Baldo-Cubelo, PhD, Jonalou SJ Labor, PhD, and Ma. Rosel S. San Pascual, PhD; and professors Fernando dlC Paragas, PhD (editor), Elena E. Pernia, PhD, and Violeda A. Umali, PhD They all contributed sections to the primer.
Meanwhile, the research paper proponents were Paragas (project lead), Comm Res instructor Mariam Jayne Agonos, UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies senior project assistant Marrhon Mangalus, and Comm Res project assistant and Asian Center graduate student Czekaina Esrah Rapanot.
The Anvil Awards is organized by the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP). Established on Feb. 19, 1957, the PRSP is the country’s premier organization for public relations professionals, with practitioner members representing the government, business and industry, non-profit organizations, hospitals, schools, hotels, and professional services among others.
The awards were given during the Gabi ng Parangal on Feb. 24. – With a report from Comm Res