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.
