Sinag Printing Press: world young reader prize

PART 5 By Raia Dela Pena

The World Young Reader Prize awarding ceremonies

The main event, the reason for the whole trip, of course, happened not in Paris but in Vienna, Austria. We arrived in Vienna on October 11 and checked in at the pleasant, hip, central and uber clean Wombats Hostel at the Naschtmarkt. This hostel came highly recommended by our hosts and it was good we took their advice because the location was fantastic – a few steps away from the nearest metro station and right in front of the oldest outdoor market in Vienna. It was wonderful! And all possible conveniences were on hand – supermarket next door and asian supermarkets all around. What more can one ask? It was perfect. I would go back to Vienna if only for the convenient and wonderful location of the Wombats Hostel. Vienna is an equally beautiful city, more relaxed and laidback than Paris, less tourists and people more friendly. We have a load of wonderful experiences in Vienna. We visited the famous Schonnbrunn Palace (another breathtaking sight never before seen or imagined by the Dela Pena-Landicho family) and saw pandas and flamingoes in the oldest zoo in the world (the Tiergarten Zoo in the Schonnbrunn Palace grounds). We watched a classical music concert at the palace orangery but we also saw a concert given by a string quartet that performed rock songs with their classical instruments. It blew us away!

The unbelievable views at the Schonnbrun Palace, Vienna

The biggest emerald we have ever seen! This is one of the treasures featured in the National Treasury at the Hofsburg Palace.

We went to the Saturday market and flea market of the Naschtmarkt, saw Gustav Klimt’s paintings in the Belvedere palace and rode the Riesenrad, one of the oldest ferris wheels in the world and one of Vienna’s cultural icons.

Of course, I am mentioning the side trips. The main event happened on October 12. It was a rainy morning and we were picked up from the hostel by Ms. Mcmane’s assistant, Teemu Henrikson, a nice and very accommodating young man who comes from Denmark, I think. He brought us to the event venue, the Messe Wien near Vienna’s Prater Park, one of the biggest convention and conference venues in Vienna, the Messe Wien was appropriately impressive.

After our Philippine Embassy visit, we visited the main drag of Vienna, the ringstrasse area.

We arrived early at the Messe Wien even though the awarding ceremonies were set for that afternoon. Most of the morning was exploring the Messe Wien, looking through the conference literature provided to us and nervously writing our acceptance speech for the award.

About an hour before the event, we finally got to meet the wonderful Aralynn Mcmane! We gave each other big hugs and although we saw each other for the first time that day, it felt like seeing someone you know quite well. She was as nice as I imagined, very friendly, approachable and unassuming. She was running the whole show and she didn’t look at all stressed out or frazzled. I can say with finality that Aralynn Mcmane is an amazing person.

Aralynn Mcmane with WAN-IFRA President Jacob Mathew

The awarding ceremonies were quick and efficient and horror of horrors, Sinag was the first one on the line up of awardees. I was so nervous and tense that I don’t quite remember what I was thinking right before the actual awarding. All I know is that I kept reminding myself not to make a mess of it during the acceptance speech. And true enough when we got to the podium, I felt the rush and the excitement but I can say with pride that I was able to say what I wanted to say and we may have looked a bit Pollyanna to the other more jaded participants of the awards but we were very pleased with how it all turned out. We got a really loud applause from the audience and I remember people clapping enthusiastically when I mentioned that we had our mother and our son with us who also came all the way from the Philippines.

Our trophy was the most beautiful piece there. It was unique and had a miniature of the Gutenberg press as a symbol for the printing plant. I love our trophy. It doesn’t occupy a place of honor in our office yet (due to budget constraints) but soon, it will be the star of the Sinag office.

After the awards, Mr. King Bueno of ABS-CBN/The Filipino Channel, did an in-depth interview of us at the halls of the Messe Wien. The feature on Sinag printing came out in Balitang Europe of the TFC and also here in the Philippines thru the ANC or abs-cbn’s news channel.

With Ms. Aralynn Mcmane and Ms. Gloria B. Anderson, the New York Times Vice President for International & Editorial Development News Services Division

I think I didn’t realize how tired I was until we got back to the hostel after the awards and I promptly fell asleep. We didn’t even get to the welcome cocktails at the Rathaus (Vienna’s Municipal/City Hall) for all the participants of the Newspaper congress that night. Hehe.

With one of the Indonesian participants after the awarding ceremonies

After the awards, everything was pretty much normal. We went to the Messe Wien everyday as participants of the World Newspaper Congress. We got a lot of new ideas for the Sinag Journalism Training Seminars, new stuff we can try that were shared with us by other newspapers in the congress. All in all, it was a very fruitful trip and one we won’t forget! We met so many new people and learned a lot of things, not just for business but for life in general.

My husband, Ruel, while visiting booths during the World Newspaper Congress

We came back home last October 20 and now everything is pretty much back to business as usual.

And that is the complete and unabridged story of our greatest adventure so far or how Sinag printing won an international award. It was fun writing this blog and re-living the whole experience thru writing. I remember during our interview with TFC, we were asked what we think will change in our lives because of this award and my husband honestly said we don’t know yet what will happen but one thing is for sure, we will definitely work harder at making bigger and better social responsibility programs for our community’s youth.

It sounds chummy I know but that’s really what it’s all about, the community work that we’ve been doing is really what won the award and so with the recognition and the credibility that the international award has brought Sinag and the Sinag JTS, we would have more leeway to do bigger and better journalism training seminars. And that, I think, is the whole point of the matter.

So we are now thick in the planning of our social responsibility programs for next year and we are very excited for other new adventures to come!

Thank you to all our family, our Sinag family, friends and supporters! This has been a great year for Sinag and we will never forget this! THANK YOU!

Sinag Printing owners Ruel Landicho and Raia Dela Pena-Landicho with Dr. Aralynn McMane, Director of Young Readership Development, and Jacob Mathew, WAN-IFRA President.

For their corporate social responsibility program, a husband-and-wife team of small entrepreneurs based in Calamba, Laguna received an international publisher’s award last Oct. 12 in Vienna, Austria.

Ruel Landicho and wife Raia Jennifer dela Peña-Landicho, proprietors of Sinag Publishing and Printing Services, received the Nataza Prize from the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) in ceremonies held at the Reed Exhibitions Wien in Vienna.

The occasion was the 63rd World Newspaper Congress and the 18th World Editors Forum.

Speaking for her husband before editors and publishers from around the world, dela Peña-Landicho said, “The joy of being recognized in a big way for connecting with and giving back to the community in a small way is simply amazing. It goes without saying that this award will inspire us to do more and do better.”

Sinag Publishing and Printing Services won the award for the Sinag Journalism Training Seminar, a free seminar that has catered to more than a thousand students from both public and private schools in Laguna.

“I was away from my hometown for so long because I was studying in Metro Manila and doing some NGO work. When I came back, my father wanted me to take on his publishing business, but my problem was how to re-connect with Laguna, which was supposed to be my market,” dela Peña-Landicho said.

“That’s how we thought of this idea, from the need to re-connect with Laguna,” she added.

“So I dedicate this award to the memory of my father, Victorino dela Peña, who passed away recently. It was him who instilled in me the need to be of service to others even as we do business,” she said.

The Nataza Prize is named after Nataza Vuckovic Lesendric (1966-2011), a Serbian who owned a distribution system and set up a printing plant for the alternative press under the government of Slobodan Milosevic.

Lesendric modernized the management of the distribution system and the printing plant while supporting and promoting freedom of the press.

Dela Peña’s father set up a small printing company which publishes two free community newspapers, Tambuling Batangas and Ang Caviteño News Weekly. He died last January 2010.

“When we received the invitation via e-mail to apply for the award, I thought, like many people receiving such invitations in this age of e-mail, that it was all a scam. We still submitted our papers but without expectations,” dela Peña-Landicho said.

“We are very happy. What we thought was a scam turned out to be real, and a generous way of recognizing our small efforts. We are very grateful to WAN-IFRA” she added.

“I hope this award will make other companies, even small ones like ours, to value their Corporate Social Responsibility programs. My father always told me that ‘No one is too small when it comes to giving back to the community and helping others’,” she said.