THE UST Publishing House hit a dry spell after none of its six nominated books won an award in the 28th National Book Awards held at the Ayala Museum in Makati.
The Publishing House had six finalists in the different categories. They are Nicanor Tiongson’s The Cinema of Manuel Conde, a study on the prolific Filipino director’s life and works, was nominated in the Autobiography/Biography category, Abdon Balde, Jr.’s Awit ni Kadunung, a story that weaves together the ethnic and modern in today’s society in Fiction, Everyday Warriors: The Faces and Stories of Breast Cancer by Cathy Paras-Lara and Jay Lara in General Nonfiction, while its designers Rachel and Sheree Ti were finalists for the Design category. The book is a collection of interviews with 21 breast cancer survivors from all walks of life.
Palanca award winner Rebecca Añonuevo’s silent ruminations in Kalahati at Umpisa Mga Tula and Joel Toledo’s debut collection Chiaroscuro: Poems are finalists for Poetry, while department of History chair Augusto de Viana’s Halo-Halo, Hardware and Others: The Story of the Japanese Commercial Community of Manila 1900-1945 is nominated for Social Sciences.
Vilma Labrador, chairperson of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, stood firm on her belief that books that won would let Filipinos be aware of our heritage.
“It is our hope that, by recognizing the best books this year, our countrymen will be happy to rediscover the wealth of our nation through the works of Filipino writers,” Labrador said in her message.
The NBDB, which judges the entries for the National Book Awards, bestowed 11 awards on four different publishing houses this year, including Anvil Publishing Inc. that won Publisher of the Year.
“The selection process for this year’s [awards] is an improvement from that of last year,” NBDB chairman Dennis Gonzalez said. “By raising the stature of these awards, we expect more Philippine titles to be promoted, sold and read in various formats, languages and dialects in the local and global markets these books should be able to reach.”
“[The selection process] is more streamlined, more rigorous and more exacting of the works so that it is a great honor to be a finalist,” he added.
National Artist for Literature Isagani Cruz urged the winners to not only take up the challenge of being role models to future writers, but to set the bar higher for them.
“I hope that the winners will not only be seen as the best in what they do but also to raise the standards so that others will be challenged to do their best,” Cruz said. Robin G. Padilla
