MANILA, Philippines – A special lecturer at the Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) Manila has been recently named one of the finalists in the second annual Covering Climate Now Climate Journalism Awards.
Jhesset Thrina O. Enano, who handles journalism subjects at the LPU Manila College of Arts and Sciences, has been shortlisted under the Emerging Journalists category of the 2022 CCNow Awards.
Apart from teaching journalism at LPU, Enano also works as a freelance journalist, writing on “interesting new angles such as the psychological toll of climate disasters.” CCNow noted that “through excellent storytelling Enano captures the struggle and suffering of people confronting rising seas.”
The LPU journalism lecturer shared that she is “deeply humbled by this recognition of my work that amplifies our voices and our fight for climate justice here in the Philippines.”
“I’m thankful to my former editors at the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and more importantly, to my sources whose trust I carry with me always. I’ll continue telling stories of our planet and our people,” she added.
At Inquirer, Enano wrote compelling stories and produced multimedia reports on the climate crisis, biodiversity, natural hazards, and the interaction of communities with the natural environment. Her previous assignments focused on human rights, local governance, criminal justice, and education.
As an environment reporter, she was able “to shed light on the climate crisis, the environmental defenders, our country’s rich biodiversity, and the challenges that beset our planet and the people.”
Enano previously won Best Special Feature in the 2020 Catholic Mass Media Awards for her three-part series on wildlife trafficking and illegal trade in the Philippines published by the Inquirer in August 2019. She was also a recipient of a story grant in 2019 from Internews’ Earth Journalism Network, where she reported on the impact of climate change on the mental health of Filipinos. She also covered the 35th Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Nonthaburi, Thailand.
Her works have been published in local and international media. She has spoken on BBC Newshour and CGTN’s Asia Today on domestic events with global and regional significance. Beyond her daily journalistic work, she also gives seminars and workshops on news, feature, environment and science writing to students, scientists, and researchers.
CCNow is a project co-founded by Columbia Journalism Review and The Nation committed to bringing more and better coverage on the climate crisis. The global journalism initiative now includes more than 460 partners worldwide, with a combined audience of more than one billion people.
The Emerging Journalist award goes to an early-career journalist (five or less years of professional experience) whose body of work shows exceptional promise.
Other categories include short and long form print coverage, short and long form video and audio coverage, investigative reporting, newsletters, multimedia project, commentary, social media engagement, photography, student journalists, and industry innovation.
This year’s finalists for the different categories were chosen from 900 entries from 65 countries by an international jury of 90 distinguished journalists around the world.
Winners will be notified individually and will be publicly announced this September.