59th carlos palanca memorial awards for literature now accepting entries

Introduces `Poetry for Children' As New Category

On its 59^th year, the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature (Palanca Awards), the country's most prestigious and longest-running literary contest, officially opens on March 1, 2009.

This year, the Palanca Awards announces the introduction of two new categories – Poetry Written for Children in the English Division and Tulang Isinulat Para sa mga Bata in the Filipino division.

In these new categories, envisioned to encourage the development of a body of poetry for young children, an entry must consist of a collection of at least 10 but not more than 15 poems. It may deal with any subject and must be comprehensible within the grade-school reading level of children ages 6-12, but accessible in its oral form by younger children.

The complete regular categories under which participants can submit their entries are: English Division – Short Story, Short Story for Children, Essay, Poetry, Poetry Written for Children, One-act Play, Full-length Play; Filipino Division – Maikling Kuwento, Maikling Kuwentong Pambata, Sanaysay, Tula, Tulang Isinulat 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-Iluko. Each contestant may submit only one entry per category.

Meanwhile, in the Kabataan Division, Palanca Awards' special division for young writers below 18 years old, the Kabataan Essay theme in the English category is "How can the Filipino youth help build a globally competitive nation?" and in the Filipino category "Paano makatutulong ang kabataang Filipino sa pagtataguyod ng isang maunlad na bansa na maihahanay sa mga nangungunang bayan sa buong mundo?"

The literary contest is open to all Filipino (or former Filipino) citizens, except current officers and employees of its organizing body, the Carlos Palanca Foundation, Inc. Contest rules and official entry forms are available at Palanca Awards' official website, www.palancaawards.com.ph.

Entries with complete requirements may be submitted to the Foundation's office at the 6^th Floor, One World Square Bldg., 10 Upper McKinley Road, McKinley Hill Town Center, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City or may also be entered online through the Palanca Awards website or sent through email at palancaawards@yahoo.com.

Deadline of submission of entries for this year's awards is midnight of April 30, 2009. Winners will be announced on September 1, 2009.

For further information, you may call telephone number 856-0808.

stratification

PLANET ENGLISH / Jose Wendell P. Capili

Business Mirror Monday, 23 February 2009 02:38

ALTHOUGH Sampaloc is largely composed of people who are not wealthy, a fraction of its population can be considered comfortable. But I did not know anything about stratification until I entered prep school at age five and half. One of my playmates remarked often that I had been fortunate to learn the English language properly by gaining admission to the University of Santo Tomas (UST) elementary school. His father could only afford to send him to a public school along Dapitan. When I turned seven or eight, the distinction between private schools and public schools loomed larger than what I had previously supposed. In Sampaloc, a child’s ability to speak well was attributed often to a school. Kids from affluent families were usually sent to Dominican School, a private school located at the corner of Pi y Margal and Governor Forbes (now Arsenio Lacson). It was probably the grade school in our area that charged the most exorbitant school fees. The conventional Catholic families sent their children to UST or Holy Trinity in Balic-Balic. The old rich and the financially upcoming sent their children to St. Theresa’s along D. Tuazon, Quezon City, Lourdes along Retiro, or San Beda along Mendiola. There were parents who sent their kids to Ateneo in faraway Loyola Heights. Many Chinese Filipinos sent their kids to St. Jude (near Malacaňang), Chiang Kai-Shek or Uno (along Jose Abad Santos). Those who missed the deadlines set by most private schools ended up in schools with later application deadlines: St. Jude along Dimasalang or Perpetual Help School along V. Concepcion (between Dapitan and Laong Laan). I also had playmates from schools within the Mendiola-Morayta hub: Far Eastern University, University of the East, La Consolacion College, Centro Escolar University and National University. Most of my playmates, however, were educated in public schools: P. Gomez along Andalucia (near Central Market and Zurbaran), Alejandro Albert (surrounded by Dapitan, Casanas, Pi y Margal and Instruccion streets), Moises Salvador (along Honradez, near G. Tuazon and Governor Forbes), Legarda (surrounded by S.H. Loyola, Craig, P. Leoncio, and Lepanto) and Juan Luna (along Cataluňa, near Lepanto). During my boyhood years, school pants and skirts were also indicative of wealth, money or power. Private school students blazed city streets daily with their custom-made school uniforms. As a statement of pride, school emblems were frequently highlighted in these uniforms to catch attention. Public school students, on the other hand, felt inferior and resentful because they wore generic khaki pants, faded blue skirts and white cotton shirts. Likewise, those who walked their way to school were envious of those who went to school by car or by school bus. Suddenly, we were no longer one happy bunch of kids in the neighborhood. Even Chinese kids stopped playing with us in the streets because their teachers and (some of their) parents called us “hua na”—a bunch of barbarians. Several other times, those who were studying in very exclusive schools were indifferent to us because we could not speak their brand of standard American English. As I got older, my boyhood friends became estranged from everyone else. I ended up hanging around with kids from UST. Aside from sharing teachers, UST students routinely got involved with communal exercises such as the annual sports intramurals. Escorted by pompom girls and muses, we wore lustrous uniforms then played basketball, volleyball or football in the athletic field. I was not particularly gifted as an athlete so I often sat on the bench. Overall, the level of competition was pathetic. Even more hideous were the names assigned to each team. In grade 4, athletic teams were named after birthstones: pearl (my class team), turquoise, ruby, emerald, diamond, and so on. In grade 5, the teams were named after pairs: beau and beauty (my class team), king and queen, lord and lady, duke and duchess, baron and baroness. In grade 6, the teams were named after cars: Ford Mustang (my class team), Volkswagen, Pontiac and Jaguar. Alternatively, we were also encouraged to sing and dance during school programs. But grade 5 was particularly traumatic. My homeroom adviser had initially selected me to recite a Tagalog poem by Lope K. Santos. Minutes before walking onstage, the school authorities bumped me off in favor of a top couturier’s nephew, largely because my presentation was not in English. Most important, the couturier’s nephew was the favorite of all our teachers and his famous designer uncle designed his princely suits and costumes during school presentations. I looked too shabby and dreadful compared with my favored classmate, whose impersonation of 1970s Motown artists was truly a class act. From the viewpoint of those who were brought up in style and extreme comfort, the little boys and girls who roamed across the streets of Sampaloc were generally lacking in refinement. But even then, there were family members, teachers and friends who kept Sampaloc kids afloat when things occasionally fell apart. In the long run, schools did not really matter for as long as one gets to acquire the certitude of vision to survive and move on.

26 april - 2 may 2009 - iyas creative writing workshop, bacolod

join national writers workshops in dumaguete and iligan!

4-15 May 2009 - 48th National Writers Workshop in Dumaguete

The Dumaguete National Writers Workshop is now accepting applications for the 48th National Writers' Workshop to be held 4-15 May 2009 in Dumaguete City.

This Writers Workshop is offering fifteen fellowships to promising young writers who would like a chance to hone their craft and refine their style. Fellows will be provided housing, a modest stipend, and a subsidy to partially defray costs of their transportation.

To be considered, applicants should submit manuscripts in English on or before March 27, 2009 (seven to ten poems; or three to five short stories; or three to five creative non-fiction essays).

Manuscripts should be submitted in hard copy and on CD, preferably in MS Word, together with a resume, a recommendation letter from a literature professor or a writer of national standing, a certification that the works are original, and two 2X2 ID pictures.

Send all applications or requests for information to Department of English and Literature, attention Prof. A.G. Soluta, Chair, Silliman University, 6200 Dumaguete City.

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25-29 May 2009 - 16th Iligan National Writers Workshop (INWW)

The National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA), the Mindanao Creative Writers Group, Inc., and the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology’s Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension (OVCRE) are accepting applications from writers to the 16th Iligan National Writers Workshop (INWW) to be held on 25-29 May 2009 in Iligan City.

Sixteen (16) slots, five each from Luzon and Visayas and six from Mindanao are available for writing fellowships to the INWW. Of the slots for Mindanao, one (1) is for the Manuel T. Buenafe Writing Fellowship for Muslim or Lumad applicants.

Applicants are required to submit five poems; or, one short story; or, for the novel, a summary and 2 chapters for the work-in-progress; and, a one-act play in Filipino, English or in Cebuano.

For entries in Hiligaynon, Kinaray-a, Waray and Chavacano, translations in English are required. Please submit along with the application form two, 2X2 photos. The application form may be downloaded here. Please submit a hard copy and a CD with the manuscripts encoded in MS Word97. Unpublished works are preferred. Applicants must have attended at least one regional/local writers workshop, no exceptions.

Writing fellows will be given free board and lodging and a travel allowance. Applications must be postmarked on or before 15 February, 2009. No applications or manuscripts will be accepted if sent after postmarked dates or by fax or e-mail.

Applicants are also advised to keep copies of their manuscripts since these will not be returned. Send all applications to the 16th INWW Director, Christine F. Godinez-Ortega c/o OVCRE, MSU-IIT, Iligan City. For more information contact Pat Cruz or Alice Bartolome or Cherly Adlawan, tels. (063) 3516131; or e-mail: patcruz@yahoo.com / cherlyadlawan@yahoo.com / aliciabartolome@yahoo.com.