FOR THE second consecutive year, the UST Publishing House (USTPH) was awarded Publisher of the Year by the Manila Critics Circle during the 24th National Book Awards last Sept. 4 at the World Trade Center, Pasay City.
“When you say ‘winner’, you are producing quality books,” USTPH Director Mecheline Manalastas told the Varsitarian. “We had six award recipients out of 11, the most number of award recipients among the publishers.”
The winning titles, released in 2004, included Hunyango sa Bato by Abdon Balde for the Juan C. Laya Award for best novel, Frank Rivera’s Oyayi (Sarswela ng Pamilyang Pilipino) for best play, and Roberto Anonuevo’s Liyab sa Alaala and Dinah Roma’s A Feast of Origins, which tied both for best book in poetry.
Wilfrido Nolledo’s Cadena de Amor was Best Book for Short Fiction. Nolledo was a former Varsitarian Literary editor and ika-20 Gawad Ustetika Parangal Hagbong recipient. (The latter award is given by The Varsitarian to senior Thomasian men and women of letters.)
Meanwhile, the first and second volumes of The History of the Bisayan People in the Philippines by Faculty of Arts and Letters Regent Fr. Lucio Gutierrez, O.P. and Cantius Kobak, OFM received a special citation for the History category.
On the other hand, Faculty of Arts and Letters professor Erlita Mendoza won in the best autobiography/biography category for her book Confradia of Two: Oral History on the Family Life and Lay Religiosity of Juan Nepomuceno and Teresa Nepomuceno of Angeles, Pampanga published by Holy Angel University Press.
Apart from consistently producing quality books, USTPH received the award for publishing books covering a range of subject matters, Philippine Star columnist Isagani Cruz said.
Meanwhile, USTPH launched 30 titles last Sept. 8 at the Thomas Aquinas Research Center Auditorium in line with its “400 books for UST’s 400th” project. The titles released were:
Philosophy and theology. Love, Compassion, Solidarity in a Globalized World by Fr. Fausto Gomez, O.P and Virgilio Suerte Felipe and A Pilgrim’s Notes by Fr. Fausto Gomez, O.P.
Literature. Retorika (revised edition) by Teresita Buensuceso and Jose Dakila Espiritu, Angkan ni Eba by Nonon Carandang, Mga Piling Dulang Pambata by Arthur Casanova, Else it was Purely Girls by Angelo Suarez, Pink Men in Love and Other Stories by Gerardo Torres, The China Squadron by Ross Anthony Cleofe, Makata sa Cellphone Books 1, 2 and 3 by Frank Rivera, 10 x 10 x 10 by Rody Vera, The Shanghai of My Past by Rustica Carpio, Family Album by Fanny Garcia, Build or Perish (Red’s Book) by Abe Margallo, Rite of Passage and her Father’s House by Glenn Sevilla Mas, Noelses by Noel Guivani Ramiscal, Elias and his Trees by Augie Rivera and Romeo Forbes, Ibang Daan Pauwi by Manolito Sulit, Kristong Mahal by Manuel Tejido, and Pintacasi by the UST Center for Conservation of Cultural Property and Environment in the Tropics.,
Medicine and bioethics. Understanding Total Joint Replacement: The Hip and the Knee by Jose Fernando Syquia, Sports Psychology by Roxel Apruebo, and A Guidebook to Plant Screening: Phytochemical and Biological (Revised Edition) by Beatrice Guevara,
Textbook. Case Management by Johnny Decatoria and Imelu Mordeno, and The Best PR Programs and Tools by Bong Osorio,
Culture and history. Classical Forms of Theaters in Asia by Natividad Crame Rogers, Miguel de Benavides, O.P. by Fr. Fidel Villarroel, O.P. and Angono, Rizal Books 6 and 7 by Ligaya Tiamson-Rubin.
More titles will be released in December.
