GMA's 'Dapat Totoo' campaign wins Best in Audience Engagement at Digital Media Awards Worldwide

GMA News and Public Affairs' "Dapat Totoo" campaign bagged the Best in Audience Engagement award at the Digital Media Awards Worldwide organized by the World Association of News Publishers.

The announcement was made at the World News Media Congress 2022 on Thursday in Zaragoza, Spain. The awards body described the campaign as "right on the money on its approach in trying to engage with a younger, more difficult to reach audience with an election process." One of the judges said it was "imaginative" to utilize the social media platforms of the generation.

"Our 'Dapat Totoo' election campaign is a year-long collaboration between various teams," said GMA News Social Media Manager Justin Joyas. "All to provide the Filipino people with news coverage, online and on ground, that empowers them and strengthens our democratic process. It is important to provide users with trusted sources of information amid the emergence of new digital platforms."

Designed to educate and engage readers for the 2022 Philippine elections, the digital campaign used multiple platforms extensively to impart facts and knowledge to everyone, especially the youth.

Also aimed at resisting fake news and misinformation, the campaign included GMA Network's first AR quiz filter about election basics. It was developed in partnership with GMA New Media Inc.

There's also WordEleksyon, a game that reminds voters about the traits of an ideal candidate, and a webinar series on how to inspect, spot, and question misinformation.

Apart from these, "Dapat Totoo" also collaborated with personalities, including Ychan Laurenz, who further helped reach the youth. 

The project garnered 34 million views and over 800,000 interactions across social media platforms.

"GMA Network continues to be committed to delivering Serbisyong Totoo to Filipino viewers, from television to digital media. Our social media teams work hard to figure out ways to inform and engage Filipino audiences on whatever platform or device they may prefer," News and Public Affairs consultant Marissa L. Flores said.

"It's wonderful to be recognized because our team works hard fighting to make sure that our most important pieces of journalism, from videos to articles, find the attention they deserve. We've always suspected we're in the leading edge of social media innovation in the world; this award just confirms that," News and Public Affairs Digital Media Sr. AVP Jaemark Tordecilla said.

Other nominees for the Best in Audience Engagement award were "Pulse Instagram" from Pulse in Ghana and "Give me all the details - content universe" from VGTV in Norway.

Digital Media Awards Worldwide recognizes "news publishers who have delivered unique and original digital media projects." — Franchesca Viernes/MGP/KBK, GMA News