ON September 22 the 2011 Nick Joaquin Literary Awards (NJLA) honoring the three best short stories in English to be published in the Philippines Graphic magazine was a gem put in a finely wrought filigree setting: The stories were sublimely limned with an inner fire, the winning authors and distinguished judges are accomplished wordsmiths and they were feted in one of the loveliest spaces in the historic Manila Hotel amid plush décor, fairy lights, a sumptuous buffet dinner by an audience of people all fully appreciative of the significance of the evening.
Honored
The top prize in the award named after the late Graphic editor in chief and National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin went to Thomas David Chavez for the story How the Marruecos Sisters Came to Speak French. David Chavez took home P50,000 plus a top-of-the-line eMachines laptop, an iPod shuffle music player, accident insurance from PruLife of UK and a set of colorful Dong-A marker pens. Charmaine Carreon took second place with Birds, and her prizes included P30,000, an iPod shuffle, accident insurance, Kaspersky Internet Security (KIS) 2012 anti-virus software and marker pens. The third prize was awarded to Alex Almario for the tale Dogma, for which Almario received P20,000, an iPod shuffle, KIS anti-virus software, accident insurance and marker pens.
Notably, the NJLA Lifetime Achievement Award was conferred by Graphic publisher Anton Cabangon upon writer and painter Gilda Cordero-Fernando, whose work in the arts has spanned over five decades of documenting the myriad aspects of Filipiniana and immortalizing these tales and pictures for generations of Filipinos to come.
Bigger, better
The NJLA seeks to do more than reward Filipino short-fiction writers in English for excellence in their craft, but also works to enable its partners to actively show support and appreciation for the wordsmiths who keep the momentum of Philippine letters moving forward. This year, the NJLA was honored to partner with insurance specialist PruLife of UK, the Manila Hotel, Acer Philippines, Power Mac Center, Kaspersky Lab and Dong-A.
Some of the luminaries of the Philippine literary world graced the damask-bedecked tables at the Manila Hotel: National Artist for Literature F. Sionil Jose sat with Fernando, while the NJLA judges, led by Chairman and Gawad Balagtas Awardee Alfred Yuson, Charlson Ong and Susan Lara, sat near the stage beside Unyon ng Manunulat ng Pilipinas President Abdon Balde.
Tough call
The judging of the entries—those stories that had been published weekly in the literary pages of the Graphic over the year before the NJLA—was a tough one. Lara noted: “The winning stories were all very, very good. It was particularly tough to choose between the first and second-place winners.” Yuson, Ong and Lara all belong to the acclaimed Manila Critics’ Circle, which has the last say on the best books by Filipino authors each year.
Just getting a story published in the Graphic, Editor In Chief Joel Pablo Salud said, “is a challenge. We use the same meticulous process that Nick Joaquin himself used when considering literary submissions sent to Graphic for publication. We read the works thoroughly, consider their artistry and craftsmanship and whether these works will resonate with our readers. Whenever we go over each story and poem we receive, we ask ourselves: ‘Will Nick love this?’ If the answer is yes, then these pieces see print in our pages.”
Excerpts of the winning works were read to the audience by the judges themselves and representatives from Acer, Kaspersky Lab and Power Mac Center were on hand to award the prizes to the winners. Visibly thrilled to be at the awards night, Agnes Neria-Espino said with a wide smile that “We at Acer are very, very happy to be given this rare opportunity to show our support for the Filipino writer. It is so good to be able to cheer on our own wonderful fictionists and tell them personally that we believe in them, because Filipinos do love a good story. We are proud to be among the sponsors who express this sentiment. It is our hope that winners tonight will be inspired to keep writing and reaping awards for Inang Bayan both here and overseas.”
The NJLA is the first literary award in the country to provide material prizes, as well as cash, for the winners. “We want to show unequivocal support for the Filipino writer,” Cabangon said. “We want to amplify the message that we at the Graphic are continuing the tradition of support and mentorship that is as much a part of the magazine’s role in nation-building as our reportage and analysis of current events is. This is the legacy of Nick Joaquin and my father, Ambassador Antonio Cabangon Chua, with whom [Joaquin] revived the Graphic as we know it today.”
