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Winners of 2008 NCCA Writers Prize Bared
Five Filipino writers will be awarded cash to be able to finish their projects in fiction, essay, biography and poetry by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), led by its chairman Dr. Vilma Labrador and executive director Cecile Guidote Alvarez, through its 2007 NCCA Writers’ Prize, one of the country’s top literary awards.

Ed Maranan, Elyrah Loyola Salanga, Telesforo Sungkit, Jr., Kristian Sendon Cordero and Rosario Cruz-Lucero will be honored with a trophy, a certificate and the first tranche of P50,000 each at the awarding ceremony on July 25, 2008, at the lobby of the NCCA Building in Intramuros at 6 p.m.

In the essay in English category, Maranan’s The Country in the Heart: A Writer’s Times and Travels is chosen. He is a veteran fictionist, poet, activist and teacher.

A professor at the University of the Philippines, 28-year-old Elyrah Loyola Salanga wins in the literary biography category. Her project, Alfrredo Navarro Salanga: Sa Mga Pahina at Ibang Salaysay, will tell about his father, the great late writer Alfrredo Navarro Salanga. Elyrah has already won a Carlos Palanca Award for essay in 2006.

In the novel in Cebuano category, the prize goes to Telesforo Sungkit, Jr., who is now based in Laguna but hails from Bukidnon, for his project Mga Gapnod sa Kamad-an.

Kristian S. Cordero wins in the poetry in Bicolano category for his project Segunda Mano. Hailing from Iriga City, Cordero teaches at the Ateneo de Naga University, is author of two collections of poetry and has won several awards including a Palanca Award for short story and the Madrigal-Gonzales Best First Book Award in 2006.

Rosario Cruz-Lucero, prominent writer, critic, professor at the University of the Philippines and Palanca awardee, wins in the short story in English category for her Papa’s Field and Other Stories of the Disappeared.

There are no winners in the drama category in any of the Panay languages.

The winners will be given a grant of P250,000.00 gross each to assist them during the writing stage of the project and will be given in four tranches. The grant is good for one year, after which a manuscript of the writing project will be submitted to the NCCA for possible publication.

The biennial award was spearheaded by National Artist for Literature Virgilio Almario when he was executive director of the NCCA. This is in line with NCCA’s mission to “encourage the continuing development of a pluralistic culture by the people themselves,” will be creating the opportunity to have a direct hand in the development of Filipino literature. With this grant, the NCCA Writers’ Prize, writers will be freed from the demands of their work and shall be able to focus on the writing of the project for one year.

For the awarding ceremony on July 25, Dr. Ricardo de Ungria, commissioner of the Subcommission on the Arts and head of the Committee on Literary Arts, will be the guest speaker. The NCCA is at the 635 General Luna Street, Intramuros, Manila.

from the ncca...