Gawad Urian Award

The Gawad Urian Awards are annual film awards in the Philippines held since 1977. It is given by the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino (the Filipino Film Critics) and is currently regarded as the counterpart of the United States' New York Film Critics Circle.

Establishment

The MPP was formed by a host of scholars, film writers and other award-winning writers in May 1, 1976 as a critics' voice to rival the then-only award-giving body in the Philippines, which is its Oscars', the FAMAS Awards. Three years earlier, what would be the members of the MPP were included in the judges' roster of the FAMAS after a shocking 1972 Best Actress tie materialized between major star Boots Anson-Roa and then-rising star Vilma Santos. A tie was unheard of at that time, which resulted in accusations of lessening prestige on the part of FAMAS. After a voting stint at the FAMAS, these future MPP members set up the Gawad Urian Awards.

Members

The members of the MPP who judge the annual Gawad Urian are all accomplished writers in their part:

• Lito Zulueta, president of MPP.
• Grace Javier Alfonso
• Butch Francisco
• Mario Hernando
• Bienvenido Lumbera
• Miguel Rapatan
• Dr. Nicanor Tiongson
• Rolando Tolentino

Awards

The Gawad Urian Awards were established to, in Tagalog, "suriin ang mga pelikulang Pilipino, pasiglahin ang diyalogo ng mga manonood at ng industriya ng pelikula, pag-aralan ang mga tunguhing makapagpapahusay sa pelikula, at linangin ang kaalaman sa tungkulin ng pelikula bilang medyum ng ekspresyon at komunikasyon, ayon sa mga kondisyon ng paggawa ng pelikula sa ating bayan (examine Filipino films, bolster the interest of the masses and the Philippine film industry, study and celebrate the achievement that will help define the good Filipino film, and cultivate the knowledge and skills that the film medium was designed for, which is to be a medium of communication and expression of our culture according to the standards and conditions of filmmaking in our country)."

The MPP then chose the name "urian" for its awards An urian is a standard for gold in Tagalog. Gawad, on the other hand, is the Tagalog word for "award." Due to this choice, the Gawad Urian became the first and the only major award-giving body in the Philippines (the others being the FAMAS Awards, the Luna Awards and the Star Awards for Movies) to use the vernacular in awards shows and in the presentation of the awards.

The Gawad Urian is given in twelve categories and have been annually awarded since 1977. In 1988, the awards for the films of 1987 were not held because the MPP deemed that there was a "lack of deserving winners," which was a first in Filipino awards history. The thirteen categories of the awards, named in Tagalog, are the following:

• Pinakamahusay na Pelikula (Best Picture)
• Pinakamahusay na Direksyon (Best Direction)
• Pinakamahusay na Dulang Pampelikula (Best Screenplay)
• Pinakamahusay na Pagganap ng Isang Pangunahing Aktor (Best Actor)
• Pinakamahusay na Pagganap ng Isang Pangunahing Aktres (Best Actress)
• Pinakamahusay na Pagganap ng Isang Pangalawang Aktor (Best Supporting Actor)
• Pinakamahusay na Pagganap ng Isang Pangalawang Aktres (Best Supporting Actress)
• Pinakamahusay na Disenyong Pamproduksyon (Best Production Design)
• Pinakamahusay na Sinematograpiya (Best Cinematography)
• Pinakamahusay na Musika (Best Musical Score)
• Pinakamahusay na Tunog (Best Sound)
• Pinakamahusay na Editing (Best Film Editing)

The Gawad Urian also awards the Natatanging Gawad Urian (Gawad Urian Lifetime Achievement Award) to a film artisan whose contributions to film have helped shaped the great Filipino film.

In addition to these, the Gawad Urian Aktor at Aktress ng Dekada (Urian Award for Ator and Actress of the Decade) are given every first year of the decade to actor/s and actress/es who had won the most number of Gawad Urian Awards for acting in the past decade. Here are the recipients of the award:

• 1980s: Vilma Santos, Nora Aunor, Gina Alajar, Philip Salvador
• 1990s: Vilma Santos, Nora Aunor, Richard Gomez

In 1992, the Gawad Urian gave the Ginintuang Gawad Urian (the Golden Urian Award) to Mike de Leon. It would be the first and the last time that the MPP would give out the award.

The choices: criteria and quality

The MPP, like the Luna Awards of the Film Academy of the Philippines, has criteria in judging the winners of the Gawad Urian.

The Gawad Urian is arguably the most prestigious film award-giving body in the Philippines if the number of scandals and dubious choices are taken in account. For the thirty years that the MPP has existed, it has not been tainted with any accusations of vote buying or scandals that tainted all of its counterparts in the Philippines. This distinction made the Gawad Urian a highly coveted award in the Philippine film industry that is only given to the most deserved winners. If a person wins the Gawad Urian, the person is held in high regard and in clean victory.

The Gawad Urian is also famously known for its curious choices over the hugely popular choices in the Philippine film awards season. For example, in 2005, Dennis Trillo won all of the awards for Best Performance by an Actor in his landmark portrayal in the Japanese occupation drama Aishite Imasu 1941: Mahal Kita but lost out the Gawad Urian to Wendell Ramos for his portrayal in Sabel. In 1999, the "Best Picture of 1998" and the most awarded Filipino film of all time, Jose Rizal of GMA Films, lost to Bata, Bata, Paano Ka Ginawa and won only 6 Gawad Urians. Before the Gawad Urian, Jose Rizal won at least 10 awards from each of the award giving bodies in the Philippines.

The awards is also known for its infamous ties. At a time when the Filipino award-giving bodies were adamant about awarding ties after the FAMAS rock-up in 1972, the Gawad Urian has given ties in the Best Picture category (3 ties), Best Screenplay category (1), Best Actress category (6) and Best Supporting Actress category (2), a dozen ties all in all.

Gawad Urian is also known for bolstering the awards radar of several lesser-known films produced by little-known and small independent production companies by awarding them with highly-deserved awards that would have been otherwise looked over by the other award-giving bodies. For example, in 2004, Ebolusyon ng Isang Pamilyang Pilipino, a landmark Filipino drama, was awarded Pinakamahusay na Pelikula (Best Picture) by Gawad Urian, while it did not receive a single nomination from any award-giving body that year.

In 2006, the Gawad Urian became the first award-giving body in the Philippine to welcome digital films into competition. Its nominees were swamped with achievement from digital films that year, which prompted the other award-giving bodies to include digital films in its roster of nominations the next year.

Best Pictures at the Gawad Urian since 1977

Year	Film winner
1977	Ganito kami noon, paano kayo ngayon (1976)
1978	Hubad na bayani (1977)
1979	Pagputi ng uwak, pag-itim ng tagak (1978)
1980	Jaguar (1979)
1981	City After Dark (1980)
1982	Salome (1981)
1983	Oro, Plata, Mata (1982)
1984	Broken Marriage (1983)
1985	Sister Stella L. (1984)
1986	Bayan ko: Kapit sa patalim (1985)
1987	Takaw tukso (1986)
1988	NOT HELD due to "lack of deserving winners"
1989	Itanong mo sa buwan (1988)
1990	Pahiram ng isang umaga (1989)
1991	Gumapang Ka Sa Lusak (1990)
1992	Ipagpatawad mo (1991)
1993	Ikaw pa lang ang minahal (1992)
1994	Makati Ave. (Office Girls) (1992)
1995	The Fatima Buen Story (1994)
1996	Sana Maulit Muli (1995)
1997	Segurista (1996)
1998	Milagros (1997)
1999	Bata, bata... Paano ka ginawa? (1998)
2000	Bayaning Third World (2000)
2001	Tuhog (2001)
2002	Batang West Side (2002)
2003	Dekada '70 (2002) Munting tinig, Mga (2002)
2004	Babae sa Breakwater (2004) Magnifico (2003)
2005	Ebolusyon ng isang pamilyang pilipino (2004) Panaghoy sa suba (The Call of the River) (2004)
2006	Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros (2005)
2007	Kubrador (2006)
2008	Tirador (2007)
2009	Serbis (2008)

External links

• Gawad Urian Awards at the Internet Movie Database
• Manunuri.com