Recognition: Excellence Award In Journalism

Edwin A. Sumcad has been a publisher and a hard-hitting journalist in investigative reporting and editorial writing for more than 45 years. He is a recipient of several excellence awards in journalism.

The latest addition to his laurels for mastering the art of reporting and editorial writing was received on June 21, 2008. In an appropriate ceremony, the prestigious and legendary Fil-American Humanitarian Foundation, Inc.’s Library & Historical Heritage Museum, Gaslamp Quarter, San Diego, California honored Sumcad with the Foundation’s “Excellence Award in Journalism & Community Service”.

Inscribed in a specially crafted diamond-shaped commemorative tablet that this honoree received is the Foundation’s tribute to Sumcad’s writings:
“In recognition and appreciation of his exemplary and outstanding community service through his column ‘Union Trail’ and his fearless advocacy of freedom of expression in development journalism whose erudite discussion of world events and its implication to parochial and local situations have raised the awareness and knowledge of the community that we serve.”

This veteran journalist is also a certified public relations practitioner specializing in community relations. In Illinois where he originally came from, he was Vice Chairman & Presiding Officer of the Human Relations Commission of Freeport City. Mayor Richard Weiss appointed Sumcad to this difficult task of handling the city’s community relations. He eventually became a dedicated advocate of fairness, justice and equal opportunity -- for both the entrepreneurs and the community, as well as the socially and economically disadvantaged -- and had been preoccupied in solving community problems, especially those resulting from employment and housing discrimination.

While deeply engaged in community relations, Sumcad wrote widely acclaimed editorials for several newspapers, among which were the Journal Standard of Freeport, and the Rockford Register Star.

Sumcad’s multi-faceted editorial insights appear in numerous publications and published in several websites. As a writer and columnist, he has written and published editorials, essays, feature articles, novelettes and short stories. His book in Development Journalism may be off the press early next year.

This author’s educational background includes degrees in literature and journalism, philosophy & letters [Litt.B. Journalism]; master in development economics, and master in civil law [M.A. Economics and LLM leading to his doctorate]. He was a UN-World Bank-ILO scholar that specialized on monetary and fiscal policies, multilateral trade negotiations and regional economic cooperation.

His careers in private and public life cover long years of experience as a journalist, lawyer, Finance Attache, ASEAN specialist [Association of Southeast Asian Nations], retired diplomat and former deputy permanent representative to the United Nations. #