15th Iligan National Writers Workshop

15th ILIGAN NATIONAL WRITERS WORKSHOP

The 15th Iligan National Writers workshop capped this year’s event with the Jimmy Y. Balacuit Awards to the following fellows:

FICTION:
First: Sara Jane Domingo Sebastian (Luzon, fiction, Filipino) -- "Amahinasyon"
Second: Efmer E. Agustin (Visayas-Cebuano) - "Kasayuran ug Borloloy"
Third: Samantha Echavez - (Luzon-Fiction English) " The Whore Fairy"

POETRY:
First: Erick Dasig Aguilar (Luzon- poetry Filipino) "Baseco, Baseco II, Baseco III"
Second: Leonilo P. Lopido( Visayas-Waray poetry) - "Pagliay-liay, Alugan, Hi Pititay"
Special Prize for Individual Poem - Nino Manaog (Visayas-English poem) -"Encanto"
Honorable Mention for Individual Poem - Luciano L. Abia (Visayas-Waray poem) - "Lagatob han dughan hin batan-on nga mangirisda"

The 1st Manuel Buenafe Writing Fellow Award was presented to Yakan fellow Marion Guerrero. This endowment named after poet-fictionist Buenafe who grew up in Lanao and later became UN-FAO representative is awarded by the Buenafe heirs to ensure an additional Mindanao slot in the competitive workshop. Next year, historian Ricardo Jorge Caluen will award his bursary.

Complementing the awards ceremonies during the closing program was the launch of Fire and Faith in Writing (Christine Godinez-Ortega, ed.), published proceedings of the workshop last year. [The Iligan workshop publishes its proceedings every year to document the creative writing process.]

The fellows also read their poems and those of last year’s in a concert entitled “Kape, Lipstik, ug Balak Gikan sa Malipayong Kinabuhi.“

Panelists include Ortega, the workshop director, keynote speaker Antonio Enriquez, Ralph Semino Galan, Victor Sugbo, Chari Cruz-Lucero, German Gervacio, Leo Deriada, and Steven P.C. Fernandez.

The Iligan workshop is one of three institutionalized national workshops in the country today. It is supported by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and conducted by the Mindanao Creative Writers Group, Inc. and the MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology Media --- of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension.

Note: This article was written by Steven P.C. Fernandez.