MANILA, Oct. 28, 2013—Lingayen-Archbishop Socrates Villegas, incoming president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) will be the guest of honor and keynote speaker in the Catholic Mass Media Awards (CMMA) on Nov. 15 at the GSIS Theater, CCP Complex, Pasay City.
Villegas, who starts his CBCP term on Dec. 1, will speak on the topic “Social Networks: portals of truth and faith; new spaces for evangelization,” which is the theme of the 2013 CMMA, based on the message of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI for World Communications Day.
The CMMA is an annual awards tradition established in 1978 by the late Jaime L. Cardinal Sin, then Archbishop of Manila, to honor “those who serve God through the mass media.”
The award body is headed by Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua as president and chairman of the board of trustees, and Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio G. Cardinal Tagle, as honorary chairman.
Cabangon Chua has been heading the organization since 2000, when the post was offered to him by Cardinal Sin.
Fr. Rufino C. Sescon Jr., a member of the board of trustees, is executive director, while Fr. Joselito Buenafe, also a trustee, is chairman of the CMMA Production. Fr. Hans Magdurulang is special coordinator with the CMMA panels of judges.
To date, the CMMA has been conferred on more than 2,000 practitioners whose works were deemed best values-oriented mass media projects in the fields of print, radio, television, music, cinema, advertising, Student CMMA and the Internet.
The panels of judges agree upon the awards chosen by organizers and confirmed by the Archbishop of Manila.
Judges are mostly communication practitioners but also include academicians, civic and religious leaders and members of the clergy. (CBCPNews)
