SIX THOMASIANS reaped awards during the 72nd edition of the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature on Nov. 22 at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay.
Literature instructor Joel Morano Toledo won his third Palanca award with his short collection of poems titled, “Silangan.”
“The title is both a homage to my hometown Siláng, Cavite, and a thematic double-take on the idea of birth and being in the east,” Toledo told the Varsitarian.
According to the literature instructor, his winning 10-poem suite serves as a snippet for his next poetry book, which will also center on his hometown.
“That’s what pushed me to join the Palanca this year, to gauge how the first pieces in this big project would fare,” Toledo said.
“In a way, I was hoping that should the Palanca recognize these poems, then I’d take it as a sign that I am on the right track,” he added.
Toledo first won a Palanca award in 2004 for “Literature and Other Poems.”
This was followed in 2005 with his poetry collection titled, “What Little I Know of Luminosity.”
Filipino instructor Mark Anthony Angeles, a multi-awarded Palanca winner in the Tula category, earned his first Palanca award in the Maikling Kuwento category for his piece titled, “Gagambang-Bahay.”
According to Angeles, the short story depicts the experiences of an overseas Filipino worker stranded in the Middle East during the height of the pandemic.
“In general, tungkol ito sa resilience ng mga Filipino bilang mga indibidwal [at bilang isang] komunidad,” Angeles told the Varsitarian.
The Filipino instructor first won a Palanca award for his Filipino poem, “Asal-Hayop,” in 2013.
This was followed in 2016 by his piece, “Di Lang Lalang,” and in 2018 by his work titled, “Ang Babae sa Balangiga at iba pang Tula.”
Angeles says stories should give courage to readers in weaving their own narratives.
“Sa kabataan, isulat ninyo hindi lang ang mga gusto ninyong isulat, kundi, at lalo na, ang mga dapat ninyong isulat,” Angeles encouraged.
“Hasain ang panulat sa mga palihan. Makinig at matuto sa taumbayan na balon ng inyong magiging mga tauhan at kuwento,” he added.
UST High School alumnus Jan Kevin Rivera won the first prize for his short story, “Muted City.”
It tells the story of a Filipino scholar navigating Tokyo during the pandemic.
The alumnus was editor in chief of The Aquinian, the official student publication of UST High School, in 2007.
UST Publishing House authors U.Z. Eliserio (Dulang May Isang Yugto) and Ana Maria “Mookie” Katigbak-Lacuesta (Poetry), bagged third prizes in their respective categories.
Eliserio was recognized for his detective fiction piece, “Ang Trahedya ni Bert,” while Katigbak-Lacuesta was recognized for her poem, “We Are Not Yet Lost.”
This was Eliserio’s first Palanca award after joining the contest twice in the past.
Katigbak-Lacuesta, a multiple Palanca awardee in the Poetry category, said she had no fixed writing process for her winning piece this year.
“The biggest lesson I’ve learned [in writing this] is that the muse does not wait to strike,” Katigbak-Lacuesta told the Varsitarian.
The poet has served as a panelist for the Varsitarian’s Creative Writing Workshops.
Former Filipino assistant professor Eros Atalia also bagged awards in two different categories for his works, “Add to Cart at iba pang mga Tula” (3rd Prize, Tula para sa mga Bata) and “Thirty Virgins” (Pangunahing Gantimpala, Nobela).
Atalia also won the Palanca Hall of Fame award, an honor conferred to someone who has won five first-prize awards in any of the regular categories.
The 2024 Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards recognized 54 writers, poets, essayists, and novelists from a total of 1,823 submissions.
It is the country’s longest-running literary contest and the most prestigious literary honor given to Filipino writers. With reports from Rafael Paolo P. Salaya
