1167 Word and Life Magazine is Philippine's Best Youth Mag
austraLasia 1167

Word & Life Magazine is Philippine's Best Youth Mag

MANILA: 15th June 2005--  Word & Life magazine, already in its 16th year of production from the Don Bosco Makati Centre, bears the banner '2004 Catholic Mass Media Awardee' on the front cover of each of the 2005 editions.  It comes out bimonthly and is aimed at the younger generation, students in particular.  Word & Life was acclaimed as the Philippine's 'Best Youth Magazine' at the 2004 annual Catholic Mass Media Association's gathering last October.  In the strongly Catholic culture of the Philippines, CMMA awards are taken very seriously by many sectors of society.  Philippines President, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, was herself present at the nominations.
    A glance at seven of the most recent editions easily demonstrates why the magazine has won this accolade.  Each edition is approximately 50 pages of full-coloured content with attractive layout.  It is in no sense a 'glossy' production, nor is it garish, but the brightness attracts nonetheless.  Word & Life's General Editor, Fr Salvatore Putzu, has a hands-on approach to the magazine's production, and styles himself also as 'conceptualiser and script editor' for the comic-book section of each edition.
    Word & Life is well named: the February-March edition, as an example, begins with a page of editorial comment which interprets events in the light of God's Word, in this case the Tsunami.  Two pages per Sunday are then dedicated to the Sunday readings for the next two months - explanations, challenges to action, even a 'message for God' opportunity for the reader to write down his or her reflections.  The following section is a comic-book section, in this case "He died and is risen' and part 18 of The Acts of the Apostles, an ongoing series.  There follow several feature articles by regular columnists, a students' page (in this edition contributors ranged from 13-18 years of age), a movie review - Ocean's Twelve. Then two pages given over to 'Heart to Heart', not quite your typical agony column, but a chance for some unique advice to young people who write in, then finally an in-depth reply to a letter on some issue touching life and faith at its core, this time round the Tsunami: 'Why does God allow immense tragedies...?'.
    Word & Life has a website: www.wordandlife.faithweb.com and an email address: wordlife@mozcom.com

VOCABULARY
bimonthly: twice a month.  Two times a month would be semi-monthly, though some do accept bimonthly do mean both things.
accolade: an award or honour.  Has its origins in the act of creating a knight by striking him with the flat of his sword
garish: coloured with clashing colours
agony column: a column for lonely hearts to pour out their problems where an 'agony aunt' usually responds.