The deadline for the 68th Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature is on May 31 this year. Entries will be accepted up to 6:00 p.m. only, so participants are encouraged to send their entries now.
This year, the Palanca Foundation is accepting entries for 20 categories:
• English Division—Short Story, Short Story for Children, Essay, Poetry, Poetry Written for Children, One-act Play, and Full-length Play;
• Filipino Division—Maikling Kuwento, Maikling Kuwentong Pambata, Sanaysay, Tula, Tulang Para sa mga Bata, Dulang May Isang Yugto, Dulang Ganap ang Haba, and Dulang Pampelikula;
• Regional Languages Division—Short Story-Cebuano, Short Story-Hiligaynon, and Short Story-Ilokano;
• Kabataan Division—Kabataan Essay and Kabataan Sanaysay, with the theme “How will you encourage the Filipino youth to read more books?” for the essay, and “Paano mo hihikayatin ang mga kabataang Pilipino na magbasa pa ng mga aklat?” for the sanaysay.
Entries may be submitted directly or by mail or courier to the Palanca Foundation office at Ground Floor, Greenbelt Excelsior Bldg., 105 C. Palanca Street, Legaspi Village, Makati City.
Winners will be honored in a ceremony later this year.
For more information, visit the website www.palancaawards.com.ph or contact [email protected] / (632) 843-8277. Look for Ms. Leslie Layoso.
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The Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature (Palanca Awards) was established in 1950 to commemorate the memory of Don Carlos Tanguinlay Palanca Sr. through an endeavor that would promote education and culture in the country.
Palanca was born in 1869 in Xiamen, China, and immigrated to the Philippines in 1884. His original name was Tan Quin Lay. He worked as an apprentice in a relative’s hardware store for six years until opening his own store in 1890.
He diversified into textile trading and later established a distillery, the famed La Tondeña. An astute businessman, he propelled his company into the ranks of the country’s top liquor purveyors and became one of the most prominent Filipino-Chinese businessmen and philanthropists during the American era.
Among his pet charities were educational institutions and he instilled in his descendants the value of education. He died on Sept. 2, 1950, at age 81.
Today, the CPMA is the most enduring and prestigious literary award in the country, even being dubbed “the Pulitzer Prize of the Philippines.” It aims, according to their website, to “develop Philippine literature by providing incentives for writers to craft their most outstanding literary works, by being a treasury of the Philippines’ literary gems from our gifted writers, and to assist in their eventual dissemination to our people, particularly students.”
Most major Philippine authors have a Palanca or more under their belt, and several have been elevated to the CPMA Hall of Fame, which recognizes writers who have won five first prizes in the regular categories. Among the ‘Hall of Famers’ are Jose Y. Dalisay Jr., Alfred A. Yuson, Eugene Y. Evasco, Reuel Molina Aguila, and Peter Solis Nery.
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The CPMA has become a veritable institution in the world of Philippine letters. It changes with the times; for instance, it recently allowed entries that have been previously published within a certain time period (they only used to accept unpublished works).
It’s probably every writer’s dream to win a Palanca, but competition is getting tougher now that entries are accepted from Filipinos and those of Filipino descent from all over the world.
In its nearly 70-year history, the Palanca Foundation now possesses a large archive of among the best works of the best Filipino writers. From time to time it comes out with anthologies of works, but they’re not caught up and the latest is from some years back.
Ideally, the book featuring the previous year’s winner’s works should be released not later than submission time the following year. If they can be released by Christmas the same year, that would be even better—the books would make great holiday gifts.
I hope that they can somehow fast-track the publication of the annual winners so that we all can savor the works while they are fresh, and make the CPMA’s endeavors more meaningful. (I volunteer as editor!)
Dr. Ortuoste is a writer and communication consultant. FB and Twitter: @DrJennyO