Project: Atisan > Interviews, Reviews, Articles > Cheers for the Tagay 3 Winners
By Totel V. De Jesus
Manila Standard Today (6 May 2006)
“AS a writer, I haven’t done much to redeem our people,” remarked National Artist for Literature F. Sionil Jose, during the awarding ceremony for “Tagay 3: The National Commission for Culture and the Arts Writers’ Prize for 2005,” held at the NCCA building lobby recently.
Jose, whose novels and short stories have been translated into more than 28 languages, also posed the question, “Why are we still poor?”
Coincidentally, all the winners of the biennial Writers’ Prize come from the academe, and naturally, earn only a meager income to support their literary pursuit.
Joel Toledo, instructor at the Department of English of Miriam College, won in the poetry category for his collection, “What Little I Know of Luminosity.” Part of the collection also won first prize in 2005 Carlos Palanca Memorial Literary Awards.
He admitted that poetry alone can not sustain his family. Even his salary as a college professor isn’t enough. Coincidentally, his winning poems were inspired by his economically challenged childhood years in Silang, Cavite.
He recalled: “We didn’t have electricity in the house until I was eight years old and only because we needed it for my grandmother’s wake.”
Toledo belongs to an indie-favorite, literary rock band called Los Chupacabras. He plays drums with high hopes that one day, his band breaking into the financially rewarding mainstream music industry could liberate his poverty stricken existence.
Edgar Calabia Samar, an instructor at the Kagawaran ng Filipino of the Ateneo de Manila University, won in the novel category for his “Walang Diyosa ng Pagkahulog.”
Rebekah Alawi, associate professor at the English Department of the Mindanao State University in Marawi City, won in the essay category for her collection, “A Rose for Angela (The Muslim Filipino Woman Taking the Word to Create Textural Expression of her Psyche).” For this year, she is the only woman-awardee and the only one from Mindanao.
“I hope my winning the Writers’ Prize will inspire young writers born and based in Mindanao to improve their craft and join national contests like this one,” she said.
Alvin Yapan, instructor at the Filipino Department and School of Humanities at the AdMU, won in the short story category for his collection, “Sa Paghahanap ng Bagong Anyo para sa Moda ng Panlipunang Realismo: Isang Proyekto ng Labinlimang Kuwento.”
Danton Remoto, associate professor at the Department of English of AdMU, won in the translation category for “Awit Para Sa Tuyong Dahon,” from a collection of poems in English written by Emmanuel Torres.
Each will receive a total of P250,000, to be given in four installments for one year, the allotted time for the completion of each work.
The board of judges were: Dr. Efren Abueg and Jun Cruz Reyes for the novel; Dr. Marjorie Evasco, Herminio Beltran Jr. and Alfred Yuson, poetry; Dr. Bienvenido Lumbera, Dr. Florentino Hornedo and Prof. Cirilo F. Bautista, essay; Dr. Jaime An Lim, Dr. Jose Dalisay and Prof. Charlson Ong, short story; and Dr. Lumbera and Dr. Hornedo Cruz Reyes, translation.
The awarding ceremony had actors Ricky Davao and Irma Adlawan reading excerpts from the winning pieces. Nanette Moscadon Maigue rendered a few classical, opera and kundiman pieces.
The NCCA has the first option to publish the writers’ works upon completion.
In a fitting concluding statement, Jose cited that as a writer, one “must remain rooted in the soil, never to abandon the Filipino identity, because there’s no great art without nationality.”
The winners somehow agreed, each raising a bottle of ice-cold San Miguel Beer for the ceremonial tagay, a creative gesture from which most Filipino writers usually take their inspiration, in good or bad times.
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By Totel V. De Jesus
Manila Standard Today (6 May 2006)
“AS a writer, I haven’t done much to redeem our people,” remarked National Artist for Literature F. Sionil Jose, during the awarding ceremony for “Tagay 3: The National Commission for Culture and the Arts Writers’ Prize for 2005,” held at the NCCA building lobby recently.
Jose, whose novels and short stories have been translated into more than 28 languages, also posed the question, “Why are we still poor?”
Coincidentally, all the winners of the biennial Writers’ Prize come from the academe, and naturally, earn only a meager income to support their literary pursuit.
Joel Toledo, instructor at the Department of English of Miriam College, won in the poetry category for his collection, “What Little I Know of Luminosity.” Part of the collection also won first prize in 2005 Carlos Palanca Memorial Literary Awards.
He admitted that poetry alone can not sustain his family. Even his salary as a college professor isn’t enough. Coincidentally, his winning poems were inspired by his economically challenged childhood years in Silang, Cavite.
He recalled: “We didn’t have electricity in the house until I was eight years old and only because we needed it for my grandmother’s wake.”
Toledo belongs to an indie-favorite, literary rock band called Los Chupacabras. He plays drums with high hopes that one day, his band breaking into the financially rewarding mainstream music industry could liberate his poverty stricken existence.
Edgar Calabia Samar, an instructor at the Kagawaran ng Filipino of the Ateneo de Manila University, won in the novel category for his “Walang Diyosa ng Pagkahulog.”
Rebekah Alawi, associate professor at the English Department of the Mindanao State University in Marawi City, won in the essay category for her collection, “A Rose for Angela (The Muslim Filipino Woman Taking the Word to Create Textural Expression of her Psyche).” For this year, she is the only woman-awardee and the only one from Mindanao.
“I hope my winning the Writers’ Prize will inspire young writers born and based in Mindanao to improve their craft and join national contests like this one,” she said.
Alvin Yapan, instructor at the Filipino Department and School of Humanities at the AdMU, won in the short story category for his collection, “Sa Paghahanap ng Bagong Anyo para sa Moda ng Panlipunang Realismo: Isang Proyekto ng Labinlimang Kuwento.”
Danton Remoto, associate professor at the Department of English of AdMU, won in the translation category for “Awit Para Sa Tuyong Dahon,” from a collection of poems in English written by Emmanuel Torres.
Each will receive a total of P250,000, to be given in four installments for one year, the allotted time for the completion of each work.
The board of judges were: Dr. Efren Abueg and Jun Cruz Reyes for the novel; Dr. Marjorie Evasco, Herminio Beltran Jr. and Alfred Yuson, poetry; Dr. Bienvenido Lumbera, Dr. Florentino Hornedo and Prof. Cirilo F. Bautista, essay; Dr. Jaime An Lim, Dr. Jose Dalisay and Prof. Charlson Ong, short story; and Dr. Lumbera and Dr. Hornedo Cruz Reyes, translation.
The awarding ceremony had actors Ricky Davao and Irma Adlawan reading excerpts from the winning pieces. Nanette Moscadon Maigue rendered a few classical, opera and kundiman pieces.
The NCCA has the first option to publish the writers’ works upon completion.
In a fitting concluding statement, Jose cited that as a writer, one “must remain rooted in the soil, never to abandon the Filipino identity, because there’s no great art without nationality.”
The winners somehow agreed, each raising a bottle of ice-cold San Miguel Beer for the ceremonial tagay, a creative gesture from which most Filipino writers usually take their inspiration, in good or bad times.