LA press award for PDI man in Hollywood

RUBEN Nepales won for an article on troubled actor Charlie Sheen.

Inquirer’s man in Hollywood, Ruben V. Nepales, won the third prize for personality profile, international journalism, in the Los Angeles Press Club’s 55th Annual Southern California Journalism Awards, for a feature that appeared in his entertainment column “Only in Hollywood.”

The awards were handed out Sunday night, June 23, at the Crystal Ballroom of the historic Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

Nepales was cited for “Charlie Sheen After the Meltdown,” in PDI’s Only In Hollywood (July 6, 2012). He was a double nominee in the same category; his other finalist piece was “Tim Burton Reveals the Origin of His Famously Dark Fantasies” (May 4, 2012).

Meanwhile, he is also on the cover of the maiden issue of Salamin Magazine as “The Pinoy Among the Stars.” In an extensive feature, writer Lorenzo Paran III refers to Nepales as “the pride of the Filipino-American community.”

The story of the “reporter to the stars… may not be as dramatic as the trans-Pacific rags-to-riches fairy tales that we know,” Paran points out, “but just as compelling.” Nepales, he says, chased and fulfilled a dream much simpler than economic success—“to earn a living doing what one loves.”

Invariably, Paran lauds Nepales’ “top-class work as an entertainment reporter,” but also the latter’s election in 2012 as chair of the board of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which gives out the annual Golden Globe awards.

Also highlighted in the cover story is Nepales’ trademark pursuit of stories about Filipinos on the world stage, many of which were compiled in his book, “My Filipino Connection: The Philippines in Hollywood,” released by Anvil Publishing Inc. in 2011.

Paran recounts asking Nepales to define success. The response: “When you’re with your family, when you have peace of mind… and as long as you do good—that, for me, is success.”