Southville students made it to the finals of the 2010 Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP) Students Grand Prix Competition with the theme “Bagong Pinoy, Bagong Pinas!” This despite the challenge of facing different schools nationwide, in what is considered as the most prestigious interschool competition for PR.

The team of students from the Colleges of Mass Communication and Media Arts is composed of Mary Camille Arce (ABMC 4), Juan Daniel Talion (ABMA 2), Jaresa Felipe (ABMC 2), Jahdiel Abigail Mae Gay (ABMC 3), Clarisse Jean Torres (ABMC 4), Monica Diaz (ABMC 3), Nicollo Ramon Alessandro Lopez (ABMC 3), Gian Marco Lazo (ABMA 4), and Anthony Chris Quijano (ABMC 2).

Since last summer, the team had been working on their campaign plan “Taas Noo, Bagong Pilipino” for the competition. The theme of the campaign addresses a strong desire for national pride especially among the youth who are the fair hopes of this nation. The “Taas Noo, Bagong Pilipino” is a campaign that targets the youth for change and at the same time as advocates for this change.

They were coached by one of Southville professors in the College of Mass Communication and

Media Arts, Mr. Roel Ramirez, APR.

This year’s screening committee of the competition is composed of a dynamic and competent line-up of PR Practitioners. This list includes Stratworks PR Manager Harold Geronimo, WestRim, Inc. Communications Head Lou de Guzman, Publicus’ General Manager Malou Tiquia, former MeadJohnson’s Corporate Communications Manager Judd Sales, Globe Telecoms’ Head of

Community Relations Division, Jeff Tarayao, Full Circle Communications Account Executive Paolo Escalona, MRM Worldwide (McCann-Erickson) Project Manager Mabie Encarnacion and Chito Maniago, Chairman of the 2010^th PR Education and Student Affairs Council of PRSP and Senior Manager for Corporate Communication of Pfizer Inc.

PRSP stated that “After hours of thorough screening, deliberation and ascertaining which entries met PRSP’s high standards of excellence, the screening committee made the final decision of choosing seven entries that represents seven schools.”

The final leg of the competition includes an oral presentation of the campaign at the 2010 National PR Students Congress on September 11 and 12. (written by Jaresa Felipe)