Four Filipino/a Journalists were finalists in different categories: Cher Calvin, Ruben and Janet Nepales and Prosy Abarquez-Delacruz.

Janet Nepales won third place for celebrity feature on Garner. She said, “I won in the “Celebrity Feature (Under 1,000 words) – Print”, Third Place for my article entitled “Jennifer Garner on her life and its miracles,” printed in Manila Bulletin on March 16, 2016.”

Janet Nepales was a finalist in 3 categories, while Ruben in 1 category and Cher in 1 category. We were all proud to represent the Fil-Am community and wished each other good luck.

I was thrilled to be a finalist in the column category with LA Times, Jewish Journal, LA Weekly and The Hollywood Reporter. I was also a finalist in the online culture critic with New York Times, The Daily Beast and Truthdig.

The Hollywood Reporter bagged most of the awards. We were seated with California Rocker’s Donna Balancia who won the best action photo and her colleague, Suzanne Allison Witkin for best photo essay.