The 62nd Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature is now open

Now on its 62^nd year of encouraging excellence in literary writing, the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature (Palanca Awards) is currently accepting entries for this year’s contest. Deadline for submission is at 12:00 m.n. of 30 April 2012.
The Palanca Awards, the country’s most prestigious and longest-running literary competition, welcomes submissions under the following regular categories:
English Division – Short Story, Short Story for Children, Essay, Poetry, Poetry for Children, One-act Play, and Full-length Play; Filipino Division – Maikling Kuwento, Maikling Kuwentong Pambata, Sanaysay, Tula, Tulang Pambata, Dulang May Isang Yugto, Dulang Ganap ang Haba, and Dulang Pampelikula; Regional Languages Division – Short Story-Cebuano, Short Story-Hiligaynon and Short Story-Iluko.
Each contestant may submit only one entry per category.
The Palanca Awards saw a significant boost in the participation of young writers over the years. To further encourage the youth to hone their literary talents, writers below 18 years old may submit essays under the Kabataan Division. This year's theme for the Kabataan Essay is “In the advent of e-books, do I still consider printed books to be an important part of education?” The theme for the Kabataan Sanaysay is “Sa paglaganap ng e-books, maituturing ko pa bang mahalagang bahagi ng edukasyon ang mga nakalimbag na aklat?”
The literary contest is open to all Filipino (or former Filipino) citizens, except current officers and employees of its organizing body, the Carlos Palanca Foundation, Inc. Contest rules and official entry forms are available at the Foundation's office at 6^th Floor, One World Square Building, No.10 Upper McKinley Road, McKinley Town Center, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City and at the Palanca Awards official website, www.palancaawards.com.ph.
Entries with complete requirements may be submitted at the Foundation’s office or through the official website.
Winners will be announced on 1 September 2012.
Established in 1950 in honor of Don Carlos Palanca Sr., the Palanca Awards aims to help develop Philippine literature by providing incentives for writers to craft their most outstanding literary works, to serve as a treasury of Philippine literary gems and assist in its dissemination to the public, particularly the students.
To date, the Palanca Awards has a collection of 2,052 winning works. Of these, 898 are in English, 1,020 in Filipino and 134 in Regional Languages. The collection includes 527 short stories, 366 collections of poetry, 208 essays, 344 one-act plays, 182 full-length plays, 60 teleplays, 54 screenplays, 148 stories for children, 34 futuristic fiction stories, 77 Kabataan essays, 36 novels, and 16 collections of poetry for children.
For further information, please email the administrator at cpawards@palancaawards.com.ph or call telephone number 856-0808 loc. 33.