FOUR Thomasians won prizes in the 70th Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, the longest-running literary contest in the country, which returned this year after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
UST alumni Ramil Gulle (1st Prize, Poetry), Rebecca Añonuevo (2nd Prize, Tula Para sa mga Bata), Michaela De Leon (2nd Prize, Essay), and Sonny Sendon (3rd Prize, Tula) were awarded on Wednesday night at the Marquis Events Place in Bonifacio Global City.
Former Varstiarian associate editor Gulle bagged his third Palanca Award for his work “Bol-anon Prodigal.”
The psychology alumnus previously won in the Poetry category for “Twenty-fifth Fly” (1st Prize, 1996) and “Afterhours, Afterlives” (2nd Prize, 2000).
Añonuevo, a former associate at the UST Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies, earned her 12th Palanca Award for her work titled “Ale Babang.”
Añonuevo earned her master’s degree in literature at UST and her doctorate in literature at De La Salle University.
De Leon, a journalism alumna, earned her second Palanca Award for her “Filipino Millennial Monomyth,” which won second place in the Essay category.
The journalism alumna obtained her degree from the Faculty of Arts and Letters in 2010. She won third place in the 69th Palanca Awards for her essay, “Call Me A Book ‘Editor,’ I Dare You.”
Meanwhile, Sendon’s “Mga Anino sa Guho at Iba Pang Mga Tula” won third prize in the Tula category.
Sendon earned his bachelor’s degree in medical technology from UST in 2006.
Ralph Lorenz Fonte, a fellow in the 2020 UST National Writers’ Workshop, won first prize in the Tula category for his “Uyayi ng mga Patay na Buwan.”
The Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature were awarded to 59 writers, poets, and playwrights this year.
