THOMASIAN poet Paul Castillo won first prize in the Tula category of the 68th Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature.
Castillo, a resident fellow of the UST Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies, said winning the Palanca was partly a “validation” for a budding writer.
“Palanca is partly a validation for someone looking for [his or her] niche here in the writing community. However, this is not the only basis. This is just only one of the successes that you can be proud of as a writer,” he said during the awarding ceremony at the Peninsula Manila in Makati last Oct. 5.
Castillo’s winning poetry collection, titled “Luna’t Lunas,” was inspired by pharmaceutical names of plants and medicines.
“[My fiancée and I] went to Lucban and we saw these plants that are said to be hallucinatory…the kalampunay. It all started with that, I wrote my poetics out of that. [I also got the inspiration] from medicines because my mother worked in a hospital,” Castillo explained.
Castillo said the 12-piece collection he submitted to the Palanca would be part of a poetry book he intends to publish.
Two other Thomasian writers were also named winners in this year’s Palanca Awards.
Journalism alumna Iza Maria Reyes won third place in the Sanaysay category for her work, “Hindi Ako Dalisay.”
Chuck Smith, former Features and News writer of the Varsitarian, grabbed the third prize in the Essay category for his piece, “Origin Story.”
The Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature is an annual recognition of outstanding literary works in the country.
