It was a night of literary celebration, filled with people from all walks of life coming together to indulge in each one’s contribution to literature and everything it stood for at the 68th Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature. Held last October 5 at the Rigodon Ballroom in the Peninsula Manila, the Palanca Awards has been recognized as a gathering of creative minds with a shared passion for finding ways to surface the truth through prose and rhyme. It continues to uphold its tradition of literary excellence and support for seasoned and burgeoning writers by acknowledging notable pieces through national awards and prize grants.
Coming a long way since its inaugural year in 1951, the Palanca Awards has grown to be a treasury of 2,441 winning works spread across 20 categories: among them being short stories, poetry, essays, and plays in the Filipino, English, Kabataan, and Regional Languages Division. Aside from being a candidate for any of the 20 categories, vying first prize winners are also eligible to be awarded the Palanca Hall of Fame if an awardee has received five first prizes in the regular categories, or the Kabataan Award of Distinction if an awardee is below 18 years of age and has won four first prizes in the Kabataan Division.
This year’s batch of winners had the opportunity to witness Speaker and Guest of Honor Sir Alfred “Krip” Yuson to be awarded the Gawad Dangal ng Lahi for his contributions to the Philippine literary scene. A recipient of 13 Palanca Awards across various categories and the Palanca Hall of Fame in 2001, he shares his best piece of advice based on his own humbling experience:
Write. Just write, and the rewards come after. Don’t be discouraged if it takes a while for people to read what you have to say.
He says this in reference to winning his first Palanca in 1968 at the age of 23 when Nick Joaquin spotted his article in a newspaper and submitted it to the Palanca Awards, and it took him seven years after to receive his second Palanca.
In that same year, as a more practiced writer at the age of 30, he won first prize in the Philippines Free Press Literary Awards. From then on, he founded the Manila Critics Circle, was invited as a judge at the Nick Joaquin Literary Awards, and became an executive editor and board member for the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB).
Though relatively young, Katrina Bonillo, first prize winner for her one-act play entitled Burying Mamang In Sugar, stands as a testament to Yuson’s message that great writing takes time. Katrina’s first Palanca was in 2012, where she got first prize for her essay entitled Chapter One: DOWNLOADING under the Kabataan Division. She was only 17 years old at the time but she submitted her essay nonetheless knowing she had nothing to lose. Eventually, she took up Bachelor of Fine Arts Major in Creative Writing at the Ateneo de Manila University, where she decided to choose Drama as her track despite being intimidated because she had no background in theater. When asked what led her to pursue play writing, she recalled how the first ever play she watched during the Palanca Awards 2012, Joe Cool: Aplikante by Joshua Lim, was life-changing because it was “a work of art that criticized society”. From then on, she has dedicated herself to improving her craft without thinking of the awards, for what’s more important are the lives her words has touched.
Literature is meant to open discussion – whether passionately or dispassionately, agreeably or contestingly – and it connects us to each other. Your words, though you may think insignificant, may keep a person off the streets and touch someone’s life in the other end of the world. (Mrs. Criselda “Dang” Cecilio-Palanca, 2018)
The Carlos Palanca Foundation continues to support Philippine literature, culture, and education by striving to make the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature a beacon of inspiration and inclusivity for writers all over the Philippines. It stands to be the gold standard in writing excellence, highly-coveted by Filipino writers, young and old alike.
Below are the first prize winners for each of the categories. This year’s batch of awardees consisted of 54 writers, 28 of which were first time awardees, with the roster of judges comprising 57 handpicked luminaries from their respective areas of expertise.
Kabataan Division:
- Sanaysay – “Paglaya Mula sa Pagtakas” ni Jack Lorenz Acebedo Rivera
- Essay – “Worlds Behind Words” by Floriane T. Taruc
Filipino Division:
- Maikling Kuwento – “Gina” ni Eugene C. Soyosa
- Maikling Kuwentong Pambata – “Ang Higad at ang Paru-paro” ni Jerwin Eileen G.C. Tarnate
- Sanaysay – “Amoral Ang Siyensya Subalit May Boses Din Ang Mga Maso” ni Engr. Gil A. Dulon, Jr.
- Tula – “Luna’t Lunas” ni Paul Alcoseba Castillo
- Tula Para sa Mga Bata – “Paumanhin ni Kuting” ni Paterno B. Baloloy, Jr.
- Dulang May Isang Yugto – “Kaharian ng Pinto” ni Michelle Josephine G. Rivera
- Dulang Ganap ang Haba – “Walang Nagwagi”
- Dulang Pampelikula – “11 Septembers” ni James Ladioray
English Division:
- Short Story – “Describe the Rapture” by Joe Bert Lazarte
- Short Story for Children – “I Have Two Mothers” by Maryrose Jairene Cruz-Eusebio (third prize winner)
- Essay – “Buhay Pa Kami: Dispatches from Marawi” by Jefry Canoy
- Poetry – “Self-portrait with Plastic Bag” by Rodrigo V. Dela Peña, Jr.
- Poetry Written for Children – “Lola Elina Maria’s Savory-Sweet Cookbook of Poetry” by Maria Amparo Nolasco Warren
- One-Act Play – “Burying Mamang In Sugar” by Katrina M. Bonillo
- Full-Length Play – “Mango Tree” by Beryl Andrea P. Delicana
Regional Languages Division:
- Short Story (Cebuano) – “Baradero” by Januar E. Yap
- Short Story (Hiligaynon) – “Sa Lum-ok Sang Imo Suso” by Early Sol A. Gadong
- Short Story (Ilokano) – “Gasanggasat” by Ariel Sotelo Tabag
Note: The winning pieces have not yet been published in the Palanca Foundation’s website. However, for Burying Mamang In Sugar, a staged reading of it was produced in April 2017 at the Ateneo Fine Arts Theater as part of Katrina’s thesis.
The Literary Folly 