What VT Staffers Say About the Migration Advocacy and Media “2019 Best Print Magazine” Award

By: Veronica Leighton

 

It is so inspiring…it is a great recognition of the work we do as an ethnic print media all these years. Am talking about the recent prestigious award “Via Times Newsmagazine” received from the Commission on Filipinos Overseas under the Offi ce of the President of the Philippines, as the “2019 Best Print (Filipino) Magazine on Migration Advocacy.” There were various media nominees from different countries internationally and twenty were declared winners and honored at the Diamond Hotel in Manila, Philippines last December 17, 2019. Sad, I could not travel to the Philippines to receive the award, but I sent my niece as my representative in accepting the award for me.

To be recognized in this regard is great, and it makes us realize that what we stand for is making a difference in the community that we serve. In unison, with the VT staffers, “it’s a feel good emotion!” Please read what the equally-proud VT staff feel about the VT award that we received. Thank you to all, thank you so much to our many well-wishers, VT readers and advertisers.

Writing for 19 years with the VIA TIMES is a whirlwind of self-fulfi lling experiences in mounting a positive image of different leaders and organizations, and at the same time, helping build a rich and thriving Filipino American community in the Midwest. After all those years, I am so proud of still making my column, Club President, a moving and active platform to defi ne the many contributions of Filipino Americans in uniting and building our community. The 2019 Best Magazine that VIA TIMES won at the recently concluded Migration Advocacy and Media (MAM) Awards is a living testimony of how we impact our community in what we do. I am so honored to become part of this award-winning TIMES/ CPRTV Family! Ryan Tejero(Columnist, “Club President”)

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My timely membership as the newest columnist of the VIA TIMES/CPRTV Family is truly a blessing! I would like to congratulate the VIA TIMES for recently winning the 2019 Best Magazine at the Migration Advocacy and Media (MAM) Awards in Manila, Philippines. It is because of this award that I feel inspired to give other young Filipino Americans a place to speak in my column, Young Fil-Ams on Campus, about their dreams and aspirations in life. We want to hear what young people say about their future, because they are our future. Thank you VIA TIMES for creating a space for me in this award-winning magazine in the world! Kayla Tejero(Columnist, “Young Fil-Ams on Campus”)

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Honoring VIA TIMES – 2019 MAM Awardee It is with great honor, privilege and joy to be one of the writers of Via Times Magazine which has won the MAM (Migration Advocacy Media) Awards for 2019. It was well deserved. Best wishes to Ms. Veronica, (aka Gorgeous V.) and Joe (aka Irog). Rev. Nancy H. Abiera & Dr. Jonathan N. Abier

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The MAM Award encourages thinking of migration in global terms by focusing on the rewards of diversity in society. VIA Times News Magazine supports that focus through its articles and its pictures celebrating Filipino life and culture in the American context. The best way I can illustrate this idea is through the song, “Getting to Know You,” from “The King and I,” a movie largely about diverse cultures enriching each other when given the chance. The English school mistress sings the lines to the King of Siam: “Suddenly I’m bright and breezy, Because of all the beautiful and new, Things I’m learning about you, Day by day.” East and West can meet. Robert Boyer(Columnist, “Philippines”)

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I am so thrilled and proud that the Philippine Commission for Filipinos Overseas has recognized VIA Times Magazine with the 2019 Best Print Magazine for Migration Advocacy Award. Excellence is a habit that, when applied to something larger than ourselves, makes for greatness. That’s why I’m deeply grateful to our publishers Veronica Leighton and Joe Mauricio, who, by offering me my own VIA Times column eight years ago gave me the opportunity to be part of something meaningful through their and the magazine’s devotion to the larger causes of the immigrant Filipino community in the United States. It’s been an honor being a member of the VIA Times family. Thank you, dear Vero and Kuya Joe, for this privilege. Thanks much and here’s wishing you, Kuya Joe, and all of us at VIA Times: More power in this new decade! Best, Victoria Smith(Columnist, “Notes from the Sound”)

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Honored and Grateful: To be part of something iconic in Chicago, vetted as “The Best Print Magazine 2019”, Via Times has served the Filipinos in the Chicagoland for nearly 40 years. It is truly an honor to be associated with Chicago’s longest-running publication. To have been under the wings of our very own, Ms. Veronica Leighton, has been a dream come true. I know, as a VT staffer, how hard everyone works. It is but fi tting and deserving of an award especially coming from a prestigious giving- body, Commission on Filipinos Overseas Migration Advocacy & Media, I couldn’t be any prouder and any happier for our VT publisher, executive producer of CPRTV, our one and only locally-produced TVshow, my colleagues and the Filipinos who patronized VT magazine all these years. Melody Dizon(Columnist, “Health Matters”)

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What a way to end the year with a bang! Congratulations to our Executive Publisher and my Ninang-Mentor Veronica Leighton, Ninong Joe Mauricio and the whole staff of Via Times News Magazine for being recognized as the Best Magazine on Migration for the 2019 MAM Awards by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas under the Offi ce of the President of the Philippines. It is a testament to the service each and every writer and staff commit to in keeping the Filipino American community in Illinois and in the Midwest abreast of news and happenings relevant to all of us and in amplifying the good work of exemplary FilAms to the community at large. Our win is the win of the FilAm community in the USA! Lou Cabalona(Columnist, “News & Personalities”)

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Congratulations to ViaTimes Publication on your receiving the recent media honors. You provide us with an important platform to communicate valuable information on Social Security. Doug Nguyen(Columnist, “Social Security News”)

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Again this was a tremendous honor. This wonderful forum through ViaTimes has allowed me to continue to educate the community that I am a Filipino-American attorney willing to fi ght for our fellow kababayan. It is also an honor as a Filpino woman and mother that there is a place for us in the professional working world, particularly in a male-dominated and predominantly caucasian legal profession. I hope that this exposure will encourage future generations of Filipino men and women to enter the legal profession to provide much needed services to our community. Atty. Janice Dantes(Columnist, “What Would Janice Do”)

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When I heard that my boss, colleague and wife’s Via Times Publication was nominated and won THE 2019 BEST PRINT MAGAZINE AWARD Migration Advocacy and Media (nominees came from all over the world, and VT was the only winner from US in print mag). I was truly pleased. I feel honored that the work we are doing has been recognized, and I hope that this means we will continue this way in serving the community. I am proud that the work we carry out has gained international recognition for Via Times. The honor we received goes to the loyal and dedicated writers of VT. Keep it up! This one is for you! Mabuhay! Joe Mauricio(VT Editorialist & Columnist)

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Veronica Leighton started as a reporter for the fi rst Filipino national publication in California founded by Alex Esclamado called Philippine News in the ‘70’s, based in San Francisco. After ten years, she decided to start her own newspaper publication locally in Chicago — that was almost four decades ago, a one-woman operation that has outlasted any other newsmagazines in Illinois, and the only one recognized by mainstream media today, thus all the accolades and honors in 2019, all 7 of them, this being the major award given to our humble but very VIA-ble paper. Kudos to our original Alpha Female who we love dearly and who has inspired generations of empowered women before her, myself included. Thank you for your hard work and dedication, your vision and tenacity through the years. Congratulations on an accolade that was longtime in coming and defi nitely-well deserved! Girlie Pascual(Columnist, “G-Mail”)