CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, LA UNION (DepEd RO1) – As part of the upskilling for the Non-Teaching Personnel, the Department of Education (DepEd) Regional Office 1 through the Public Affairs Unit (PAU) conducts three-day Capability Building and Workshop on News and Feature Writing with Basic Photography.

The activity was held at the National Educators Academy of the Philippines Region 1, San Vicente, this city on Feb. 5-7 with the aim of producing competent writers and documenters for the various events of the regional office.

It was attended by the designated DepEd RO1 Pool of Writers from the Regional Office Functional Divisions, Units and Sections.

Resource Speakers for Day 1 include Education Program Supervisors, Maria Teresa M. Bautista and Juner Windel M. Valdez of the Human Resource Development Division who discussed on the basic concepts on Feature Writing and Basic Photojournalism, respectively.

In her lecture, Ms. Bautista emphasized that a feature article is not an editorial, which offers opinion or suggestion. “It is just presenting and telling the story of the subject,” she added. On the other hand, Mr. Valdez presented useful tips in photo shoot and captioning. “A good photo explains a story,”, he emphasized.

On Day 2, Information Officer III of the Philippine Information Agency Region 1 discussed on Basic News Writing, Press Release writing, and Social Media in the Government. Ms. Dilim explained the important elements in writing a press release. In addition, she encouraged the participants to practice developmental style of writing press releases.

Completing the last day of workshop, the GMA Stringer and Photo Correspondent, Vicente B. Alhambra, Jr. presented a lecture on Basic and Mobile Photography. Mr. Alhambra reminded the group on the importance of timing in taking photos.

Prior to this activity, the Pool of Writers accepted the challenge of writing during their First Coordination Meeting with the PAU last January 31.