64th Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards Now Accepting Entries, Facilitates Submission

Now on its 64th year, the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature (the Palanca Awards), the most prestigious and longest-running literary competition in the Philippines, is now accepting entries for its annual literary tilt.

This year, the Palanca Awards has enhanced­­­ its submission system to facilitate the submission of entries, particularly for aspiring and professional literary artists who wish to join the competition but are based in the provinces or overseas. Contestants will no longer be required to submit hard copies of entries, which saves on printing and courier service costs.

Online submission to the 64th Palanca Awards may be done through the official website, www.palancaawards.com.ph, where the contest documents may be downloaded. The accomplished forms and entries may then be uploaded and submitted through the website. To complete the submission process, hard copies of the notarized contest documents must be submitted to any of the following addresses: (1) Unit 603, 6th Floor Park Trade Centre Bldg., 1716 Investment Drive Madrigal Business Park, Ayala Alabang, Muntinlupa City; or (2) Unit 3G, OPL Bldg., 100 C. Palanca St., Legaspi Village, Makati City. The contest rules are also posted on the Palanca Awards Facebook page at www.facebook.com/palancaawards.

Organized and sponsored by the Carlos Palanca Foundation, Inc., the 64th Palanca Awards is accepting entries in the following categories:

·         English Division – Short Story, Short Story for Children, Essay, Poetry, Poetry Written for Children, One-act Play, and Full-length Play;

·         Filipino Division – Maikling Kuwento, Maikling Kuwentong Pambata, Sanaysay, Tula, Tula para sa mga Bata, Dulang May Isang Yugto, Dulang Ganap ang Haba, at Dulang Pampelikula;

·         Regional Languages Division – Short Story-Cebuano, Short Story-Hiligaynon, and Short Story-Iluko.

In addition, the Palanca Awards welcomes submissions for the Kabataan Division, which specifically caters to young writers below 18 years old as of 30 April 2014. This year’s Kabataan Division theme is, “How can the youth help in natural disaster preparedness in the country?” for the English category and “Paano makatutulong ang mga kabataan sa paghahanda ng bayan para sa mga kalamidad?” for the Filipino category.

Notably, as the Novel and Nobela categories are only accepting entries every two years, they will be closed for this year’s competition since it was offered in 2013.

Aspiring and professional writers may submit only one entry per category. All entries must be submitted on or before the contest deadline as stated in the contest rules (April 30, 2014). Winners will be awarded at a special ceremony to be held on 1 September 2014.

Established in 1950 to honor the legacy of businessman and philanthropist Don Carlos Palanca, Sr., the Palanca Awards aims to develop Philippine Literature by providing incentives for writers to craft their most outstanding literary works and by being a treasury of these literary gems.