Winning time
It’s been winning time, in sports as well as in the literary scene. Congrats to our young archer Gabriel Luis Moreno, our Dragon Boat racers, and the Smart Gilas Filipinas basketball team that all did us proud abroad.
On the literary front, September has traditionally been associated with the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, which sets off the month on its very first day with prizes of distinction spread out over various genres.
Our hearty congratulations to all the winners, most especially the two new Palanca Hall of Fame awardees: our friend Rodolfo C. Vera who won his fifth 1st prize with “Lakambini” for Dulang Pampelikula; and Alice Tan Gonzales, who did the same with her Short Story in Hiligaynon, “Balay sang Monyeka.”
Kudos as well to other friends, including a few former students, who figured among the winners: Alvin B. Yapan who won 1st Prize with “Ang Bugtong ng Manok at Agila” for Maikling Kwento; Jose Marte A. Abueg, 3rd prize with “Musikerong Bulag” for Tula; Hall-of-Famer Edgardo B. Maranan, 1st Prize with “Tugma at Sukat sa Panahon ng Pagmulat” for Tula Para Sa Mga Bata; John Enrico C. Torralba, 3rd prize with “Lola Manghuhula” in that same category; Hall-of-Famer Peter Solis Nery with yet another 1st prize with “Gladiolas” for Dulang May Isang Yugto, 3rd prize with “Agimat” for Dulang Ganap ang Haba and 3rd prize with “Those Colorful Parts” for Poetry Written For Children; Joshua L. Lim So, 3rd prize with “Sa Syquia, Malate, Kabanata I: Maraming Nagugutom sa Pilipinas” for Dulang May Isang Yugto and 1st Prize with “Tungkol kay Angela” for Dulang Ganap ang Haba; 
Sasha Martinez, 1st prize with “The Auroras” for Short Story; Maria Carmen A. Sarmiento, 2nd prize with “Zurbaran” in the same category; Catherine Rose Torres, 3rd prize with “The Ragpicker’s Son” for Short Story for Children; Ana Maria Katigbak-Lacuesta, 1st prize with “We Won’t Be Tending Gardens” for Poetry; Mikael De Lara Co, 3rd prize with “This Tender Gravity” for the same category; Elyrah Salanga-Torralba, 2nd prize with “Punny Poems” for Poetry Written For Children; Karlo Antonio Galay-David, 2nd prize with “Killing the Issue” for One-Act Play, and Erlinda Mae T. Young, 3rd prize with “Photo Finish” for the same category.
Among these young winners, Joshua So, Sasha Martinez, Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta, Kael Co, Karlo Galay-David and Mae Young were Fellows of the Silliman Unversity National Writers Workshop in Dumaguete over the past decade, with Mae of the latest batch. In fact I recall a one-on-one mentoring session with her last May at Kri restaurant on Silliman Avenue, where we discussed her eventual winning play.
Elyrah Salanga-Torralba, not a first-time winner, is a daughter of our late lamented Goodfriend Freddie Salanga, while John Torralba is her husband. It wasn’t the fitst time either that Palanca Night had conjugal winners.
Also very much in the family is the lady we’ve called “Goddess” all these years: the do-it-all Gilda Cordero-Fernando, who was the guest of honor and speaker for the evening, as the recipient of the Palanca Foundation’s Gawad Dangal ng Lahi.
In her own Sponsor’s Remarks, Atty. Christine Marie Quirino-Pacheco, daughter of CPMA Director-General Sylvia Palanca-Quirino and taking over the podium from her mom for the first time, announced the latest CPMA thrusts, among these “the launch of Project Suhay — a new creative endeavor sparked by Miriam College President Dr. Rosario Oreta-Lapuz and Miriam College Principal Dr. Edizon Fermin,” with Miriam College developing “teaching exemplars using selected Winning Works of the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, which will be released and posted on the CPMA website by the end of this year and may be downloaded by all educators for free.”
Then there’s also the establishment of the first Carlos Palanca Reading Corner in the same college, accessible to all students from other educational institutions.
Atty. Tintin Quirino-Pacheco added: “These complementary new programs manifest the different ways in which Palanca-winning works have been transformed through further expression — in print, by way of performances, and now as teaching tools.”
Last Friday, Sept. 5, the Gintong Parangal para sa Literatura was launched with its first awarding ceremonies, as a partnership between Fortune Life and Philippines Graphic magazine, in coordination with the Department of Education.
High school teachers in all 17 regions nationwide were invited to compete with essays in English to honor the teaching profession. This writer was one of the judges, together with Graphic Editor-in-Chief Joel Pablo Salud and Manila Standard columnist Jenny Ortuoste. We came up with the following winners: Ma. Melanie Mangulabnan of Baliuag, Bulacan for 1st prize; Jaquilyn T. Belagan of Makati City for 2nd prize, and Jasmin P. Mendoza of Doña Remedios Trinidad, Bulacan for 3rd prize.
Last Friday, each of these winners received cash prizes and insurance cash cards worth P50,000 at Bulwagan ng Karunungan, DepEd Central Office in Pasig City. The Gintong Parangal Awards are supported by Amb. Antonio L. Cabangon Chua in line with his mission to spread the benefits of writing and literature.
Graphic EIC Salud announced that in the works is a short fiction contest for public school children. Of course there’s also the traditional Nick Joaquin Awards for Literature courtesy of Graphic magazine, with the top prizes for published short stories being handed out this Thursday, September 11, at the Magsaysay Center. Also being given supreme distinction is the “Poet of the Year” — anent which this writer’s lips are still sealed. The same goes for the top three winners and set of honorable mention awardees for the short story. The contest was judged by Susan Lara, Sarge Lacuesta, and yours truly.
On Friday, Sept. 12, the top three winners in the 2014 Maningning Art Competition will be awarded at The Art Circle Gallery, 4th Level, Shangri-La Plaza in Ortigas Center.
In association with The Art Circle Gallery and Erehwon Center for the Arts, the Maningning Miclat Art Foundation, Inc. (MMAFI) will hand out cash prizes of P28,000, P15,000 and P10,000 to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prize winners, respectively, plus certificates of merit for each and a Julie Lluch Sculpture trophy for the 1st-prize winner. Additionally, a Special Gallery Prize will be awarded by The Art Circle Gallery.
This year’s art contest was an open-themed competition for painters of 28 years of age or below, with entries of any media or a mix, and three-dimensional works also allowed, provided that the final product is wall-bound.
All winners will also receive MMAFI books, including a special hardbound edition of Fairground: A Literary Feast, a festschrift in honor of Mario Miclat, which will be launched during the art awards.
Jointly published by the Maningning Foundation and Erehwon Center for the Arts, the anthology edited by Gémino H. Abad and Alma Cruz Miclat contains poems, essays, monologues and stories by 40 of the best poets and writers in the country. The book’s cover is an artwork by artist-writer Migs Villanueva, while Maningning Miclat’s artworks serve as dividers for the book sections.
