Ford Philippines celebrated its 12th Annual Henry Ford Awards (HFA) by recognizing outstanding work and contributions in automotive journalism. A total of 12 awards were given out in eight regular categories and four special categories.

The Henry Ford Awards celebrates the critical roles that journalists play in both chronicling and driving the automotive industry, and remains unparalleled in its efforts to acknowledge excellence in print, broadcast and online media.

“We always look forward to hosting the annual Henry Ford Awards and to celebrate the excellence of automotive journalism in the Philippines,” said Randy Krieger, president, Ford Philippines. “On our 12th year, we thank our partners in the media for their continued commitment to accurate news information and for helping us tell our One Ford story to our customers.”

2012 Henry Ford Awards Winners

HFA winners include Jason Ang of Philippine Daily Inquirer for ‘Best Automotive Feature Story in Print’; Kap Aguila of the Philippine Star for ‘Best Automotive Column in Print’; Ulysses Ang for ‘Best Automotive Online Feature’ for his piece in carguide.ph and though carguide.ph received a finalist nod (first runner-up) as ‘Best Automotive Blog’, Paulo Subido of topgear.com.ph won ‘Best Automotive Blog’.

Ford was also proud to award Dinzo Tabamo of Top Gear Philippines for ‘Best Green Technology Feature,’ Marco Subido of topgear.com.ph for ‘Best Automotive Television/Online Feature’ and Kai Huang of Top Gear Philippines for ‘Best Published Photograph’.

Iñigo Roces of Autoindustriya won ‘Best Smart Technology Feature’ – one of two new categories added to this year’s HFA. The ‘Best Smart Technology Feature’ focuses on technology and innovation in the automotive industry.

Winners for the Ford special categories are Kevin Limjoco of C! Magazine for ‘Best FGP Feature Story’ and Igor Maminta of Top Gear Philippines for ‘Ford Published Photograph’. Iñigo Roces of Manila Bulletin won ‘Best Ford Go Further Feature Story’, the second new category to this year’s HFA which highlights Ford’s brand promise and commitment of “Go Further.”

The most anticipated award – ‘Best Motoring Section’ – was won by Fast Times of The Manila Times headed by Motoring Editor Brian Afuang. All national broadsheet automotive sections are automatically included the competition and judged on content, relevance, consistency and layout quality.

HFA is part of Ford’s commitment to give due recognition to journalists who have showed unparalleled excellence in automotive journalism and have made a significant contribution to growing the automotive industry and influencing Filipino consumers in their decisions.

2012 Henry Ford Awards Board of Judges

An esteemed panel of judges lent their time and expertise to this year’s Henry Ford Awards to carefully evaluate all entries through a rigorous two-phase process.

The phase one judges included representatives from the academe: Danilo Arao (Assistant Vice-President for Public Affairs, University of the Philippines), Dr. Francince Racho (Assistant Professor and Vice Dean, School of Communications, University of Asia and the Pacific) and Severino Sarmenta, Jr. (School of Communications of Ateneo de Manila University).

Phase two judges are Mr. Jonel Borromeo (Ford Dealer Principal), Minnie Valencia (Vice President for Sales and Marketing, Ford Philippines) and Mr. David Celdran (ANC Host and Producer).

An addition made to this year’s HFA was the participation of Ford employees in the second phase judging for the ‘Ford Published Photograph’ and the ‘Ford Go Further Story’ categories.

HFA also solicited the help of special judges who are experts in their field including broadcast veteran, Sev Sarmienta; photojournalist Revoli Cortez and advertising photographer Miguel Miranda; and Alnair Langkay, creative director of Ogilvy & Mather.