GadgetMatch has officially made it back-to-back at the Henry Ford Awards, as our associate creative director MJ Jucutan won the Ford Launch Story of the Year plum at this year’s HFA for his  “What happens when the car you once loved returns as a Hybrid?” piece.

It is the second consecutive trophy for MJ, after also being recognized last year at the 24th edition of the HFA.

GadgetMatch entered the 25th HFA with two nominations, as news editor Luigi Leonardo also earned a nomination under the Automotive Vehicle Review of the Year (Article) category.

The 25th HFA was themed “Stars and Stories in Silver”, with Ford Philippines’ awards program marking a milestone.

In the landmark year, Ford Philippines honored 19 Silver Mile Luminaries, composed of 15 esteemed journalists and four media outlets, who have garnered the most awards throughout the HFA’s 25-year existence.

Here are the awardees:

Silver Mile Luminaries (journalists)

• Jason Ang
• Ulysses Ang
• James Deakin
• Manny de los Reyes
• Ronald de los Reyes
• Junep Ocampo
• Vince Pornelos
• Iñigo Roces
• Tessa Salazar
• Vernon Sarne
• Paulo Rafael Subido
• Dinzo Tabamo
• Niky Tamayo
• Eric Tipan
• Steven Edward Yu

Silver Mile Luminaries (publications)

• BusinessMirror Motoring Section
• Philippine Daily Inquirer Motoring Section
• Fast Times of The Manila Times
• Top Gear Philippines

Lifetime Achievement Award

The 25th HFA also handed out the Butch Gamboa LIfetime Achievement Award to Manila Bulletin Executive Editor Pinky Concha-Colmenares.

The prestigious award recognizes a journalist whose body of work has made profound and lasting impact on the industry, informing and inspiring audiences while elevating the standards of automotive storytelling.

Industry, Ford category award winners

Meanwhile, the Industry and Ford category awards saw five winners from close to 100 entries:

• Automotive Vehicle Review of the Year (Article) – “What the Mazda Miata means to my family despite never having owned one” by Carlo Chungunco for Top Gear Philippines
• Automotive Vehicle Review of the Year (Video) – “2025 Nissan Z NISMO Review | Sharper, Faster, Greater” by Earl Lee for AutoDeal
• Ford Launch Story of the Year – “What happens when the car you once loved returns as a Hybrid?” by MJ Jucutan for GadgetMatch
• Ford Automotive Video Feature of the Year – “2025 Ford Bronco Review | The Best Off-Roader Yet?” by Jack Gutierrez for AutoDeal
• Ford Automotive Short-Form Video of the Year – “FORD BRONCO: Can you tame this beast?” by Roy Robles for Zigwheels Philippines

GadgetMatch has earned two nominations at the 25th Henry Ford Awards.

The award-giving body has just announced its finalists for the five submission categories under the HFA, and nominated are our associate creative director MJ Jucutan and news editor Luigi Leonardo — both of whom cover the auto beat.

MJ won the Ford Automotive Article Feature of the Year award at last year’s HFA, and this time, he is nominated for the story, “What happens when the car you once loved returns as a Hybrid?”.

This is for the Ford Launch Story of the Year category under the Ford Category Awards.

Meanwhile, Luigi joins the cast of nominees for his “Starting the newly engaged life with the Kia EV9” piece.

This nomination is under the Industry Category Awards, which also honors content made by motoring journalists, regardless if it was about a Ford offering or not.

The Henry Ford Awards is the industry’s lone awards program that honors excellence and impact in Philippine motoring journalism.

All entries underwent two rounds of judging with respected members of the academe and leaders of business and allied industries.

In particular, audio-visual submissions were evaluated by special judges in creative industries, including:

• Ogilvy Executive Creative Director Chino Jayme
• brand filmmaker for Provill Studios and Sidekick Collective Sid Maderazo

The winners will be awarded on May 5, 2026, together with the Silver Mile Luminaries composed of motoring journalists who have won the most number of HFA awards over the last 25 years.

The award-giving body will also hand out the first-ever Butch Gamboa Lifetime Achievement Award.

25th Henry Ford Awards

Here’s the complete list of nominees:

Industry Category

Automotive Vehicle Review of the Year (Article)

• “Starting the newly engaged life with the Kia EV9” by Luigi Leonardo (GadgetMatch)
• “What the Mazda Miata means to my family despite never having owned one” by Carlo
  Chungunco (Top Gear Philippines)
• “When my 87-year old mother rates the 2025 Mitsubishi Xpander” by Raymond Gregory
  Tribdino for (The Manila Times)

Automotive Vehicle Review of the Year (Video)

• “2025 Nissan Z NISMO Review | Sharper, Faster, Greater” by Earl Lee (AutoDeal)
• “2026 Hyundai IONIQ 9 Review | Big and Bold” by Caco Tirona (AutoDeal)
• “BYD Seal 5 DMi Dynamic Full Review – Can this Sub 1M Sedan Change the Game?” by Alexander Zosa (Jaywalkur Motoring)

Ford Category

Launch Story of the Year

• “Ford Enters the Electrified Era with the Hybrid Territory and Mustang Mach-E” by
  Kristoffer Lim (Megabites)
• “The new Territory Hybrid is ready to usher in Ford’s electrified era in PH” by Leandre
  Grecia (Top Gear Philippines)
• “What happens when the car you once loved returns as a Hybrid?” by MJ Jucutan
  (GadgetMatch)

Automotive Video Feature of the Year

• “2025 Ford Bronco Review | The Best Off-Roader Yet?” by Jack Gutierrez (AutoDeal)
• “2025 Ford Ranger Raptor V6 | Better than Diesel? RAPTOR ADVENTURE with F-150
  and Bronco” by Roy Robles (Zigwheels Philippines)
• “2025 Ford Ranger Raptor V6 Review | An Exercise in Excess” by Caco Tirona (AutoDeal)

Automotive Short-Form Video of the Year

• “FORD BRONCO: Can you tame this beast?” by Roy Robles (Zigwheels Philippines)
• “Ford Mustang GT Fuel Eco Run” by Charles Banaag (Top Gear Philippines)
• “Not your ordinary Ranger Raptor” by Isaac Atienza (Go Flat Out PH)

As the year comes to a close, we take a moment to look back at the devices that stood out in our everyday use.

This roundup of gadgets are what genuinely impressed the team behind our reviews and stories. These are the devices we relied on and kept talking about, long after the embargoes lifted and the hype settled.

Each pick reflects personal experiences shaped by different priorities and preferences, but together, they form a snapshot of what mattered most in consumer technology this year.

“The phone I couldn’t put down”

Rodneil Quiteles: This is such a tough pick. Three gadgets really spoke to me in 2025. So, I’m shouting out two honorable mentions: The ROG Flow Z13 (2025) and the ROG Xbox Ally X. But the one I just couldn’t put down is the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7.

The Galaxy Z Fold7 just really feels good to hold. The thinness, weight distribution, button placements… they’re all, dare I say, perfect. I was initially afraid to put a case on it as it might disrupt this feeling. Thankfully, PITAKA came through with just the right fit.

This is the best a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold has ever looked and felt. Of all the foldables I’ve touched so far – and I’ve touched quite a few – this has been my favorite to hold. I wouldn’t be mad if they kept this form factor for a few years… so long as they upgrade the cameras.

It’s great for casual browsing, fantastic for my productivity, and the interior screen is perfect for watching 4×3 aspect ratio content. It’s just flat-out a joy to use.

“Earned a place in my life”

MJ Jucutan: For an athlete, a device that accompanies me through sweat and long days easily becomes a top pick for a must-have gear in my arsenal.

The Shokz OpenFit 2+ earned a place in my life longer than any other open-ear earbuds I’ve owned. Long enough that when I lost one pair, I got another. That alone tells the full story.

After all, it feels like a steal especially when you consider how much higher other open-ear wearables cost for similar quality.

“One thing I couldn’t really live without this year”

Luigi Leonardo: Before this year, I didn’t care about tablets. I’m too old to have been an iPad kid, and I’m too young to rely exclusively on a simple tablet. All of that changed when I met the Xiaomi Pad 7.

The Xiaomi Pad 7 is the one thing that I couldn’t really live without this year. More than just a big screen, the tablet was the best all-around device for practically anything.

It was a travel buddy, a portable workstation, and a secondary screen for my home office.

On the outside, it’s so elegant in its minimalist design. It doesn’t attempt to wow with unnecessary features or gimmicks. Inside, it’s capable of everything I need in a tablet: hours of writing, streaming movies, and playing games. Oh, and the vast ecosystem of accessories, especially the Focus Keyboard, turns the Pad 7 from great to indispensable.

“A godsend daily driver”

Vincenz Lee: Despite being a hardcore camera guy, I never got to try any new mirrorless cameras this 2025. But that’s not to say I’m disappointed as camera-centric flagship smartphones keep getting better.

Even if I have used its older brother for 6.5+ months, the refinements made on the vivo X300 Pro simply makes it an irresistible, more complete package of an already superior smartphone to begin with.

And by that, an even faster chipset, newer camera bells and whistles, additional Pro-grade improvements in video shooting, camera kit support (which I don’t have), and several more not present in its predecessor.

Although I am somewhat missing the former’s curvaceous body, subtle display curves PLUS the longer battery endurance, OriginOS 6 is a huge godsend for making me daily drive an Android phone not just for its overhauled phone look, more so with plethora of functions that wasn’t even there during its Funtouch crisis *coughs* vivo’s Office Kit addition for a long-time MacBook user like yours truly.

“Confidence in the air”

Deric Claveria: Some gadgets impress on paper. But this one impressed me when it came time to create.

The Antigravity A1 earns my confidence in the air. Movement is smooth, predictable, and easy to control, which lets me focus on flying instead of fighting the drone.

In good lighting, the camera delivers clean, detailed footage with enough flexibility for reframing and storytelling in post. It’s not about cinematic gimmicks, it’s about getting usable shots consistently.

“Sneaky good tool that doesn’t even cost a fortune”

Levi Verora Jr.,: As of the moment, the BOYA Mini 2 is my favorite gadget to use. Given how I do various slice-of-life content for my personal vlog, Manila Connoisseur, including voice-overs and talking head videos, it’s a sneaky good tool that doesn’t even cost a fortune.

I wouldn’t go as far as saying it produces studio quality sound but it does improve my overall audiovisual output. It’s a breeze to use it, and you can customize settings further via BOYA’s app.

Noise cancelling also works wonders in various scenarios. Be it food reviews, quick interviews, and everything in between for emphasis, it delivers what it chiefly promises.

“The flexibility that matters in daily use”

Jeanne Penelope: I’ll admit, I was doubtful about open-ear sound quality, but the QCY Crossky C50 changed my mind. With a solid bass, it sounds better than some more expensive in-ear buds I’ve tried. And it stays put. Most of the time, I forget they’re even on.

What really sold it for me is the interchangeable left-and-right design. No fussing over which earbud goes where. And if one runs out of battery because I left it outside of the case (AGAIN), I can still use the charged one in whichever ear I want while maintaining stereo sound.

I usually go for the left as I hear more clearly on that side, so that flexibility actually matters in my daily use.

I have my Sony ULT noise-cancelling headset that has spoiled me with bass quality. But whenever I don’t need full ANC or just getting headset fatigue, the Crossky C50 is my go-to and daily driver.

A big thank you from the GadgetMatch Team

Taken individually, each favorite tells a personal story of how technology fits into our lives this year.

Viewed together, they reveal broader patterns in what worked and what truly delivered value beyond first impressions.

This collection is less about declaring universal winners and more about sharing honest perspectives from a team that lives with these products day in and day out.

As we move into a new year of launches and evolving needs, these picks serve as a reminder that the best gadgets are the ones that meaningfully improve how we work, create, and unwind.

From all of us at GadgetMatch, thank you for spending another year exploring technology with us, and we look forward to what’s next.