Vitug’s ‘Hour Before Dawn’ wins Nat’l Book Award

MANILA, Philippines – A book on the Supreme Court authored by Rappler editor-at-large Marites Dañguilan Vitug won the Best Book of Non-fiction Prose in English in the 32^nd National Book Awards.

Given by the National Book Development Board (NBDB) and the Manila Critics Circle (MCC), the awards honored the best literary and non-literary works published in 2012.

Vitug’s Hour Before Dawn: The Fall and Uncertain Rise of the Philippine Supreme Court (published by Cleverheads Publishing and designed by Ige Ramos) “takes the reader to what might have been the darkest hour of the Philippine Supreme Court” – the time when Chief Justice Renato Corona was impeached, and the tribunal committed “a series of highly irregular reversals of its own rulings.”

It is a sequel to her bestselling Shadow of Doubt, and “reveals a Court seemingly subject to political pressure, disbursing funds for questionable purposes, and abetting plagiarism by one of its own members, and yet placing itself beyond criticism even by the country’s top lawyers and academics.” 

The National Book Award has two divisions: Literary, which has 12 categories; and Non-Literary, which has 5 categories.

Rappler CEO Maria Ressa’s 10 Days, 10 Years: From Bin Laden to Facebook (Anvil Publishing) was among the 5 finalists in the Social Sciences category.

The complete list of winners, as announced by the NBDB in October:

JUAN C. LAYA PRIZE FOR BEST NOVEL IN A PHILIPPINE LANGUAGE

Sa Kasunod ng 909, by Edgar Calabia Samar (University of Santo Tomas Publishing House)

 

JUAN C. LAYA PRIZE FOR BEST NOVEL IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Margosatubig: The Story of Salagunting by Ma. Cecilia Locsin-Nava, translated from Margosatubig (1946), by Ramon L. Muzones (Ateneo de Manila University Press)

 

CIRILO F. BAUTISTA PRIZE FOR BEST BOOK OF SHORT FICTION IN ENGLISH 

After the Body Displaces Water, by Daryll Delgado (University of Santo Tomas Publishing House)

 

BEST BOOK OF NONFICTION PROSE IN ENGLISH

Hour Before Dawn: The Fall and Uncertain Rise of the Philippine Supreme Court, by Marites Dañguilan Vitug (Cleverheads Publishing)

 

BEST BOOK OF NONFICTION PROSE IN FILIPINO

Mga Angst ng Isang Di-mahapayang Gatang, by Resty Mendoza Ceña (Visprint)

 

BEST BOOK OF NONFICTION PROSE IN KAPAMPANGAN 

Gálè at Gósu: Para Karing Mal A Patulunan, by Crispin Nacpil Cadiang (Center for Kapampangan Studies of Holy Angel University)

 

BEST ANTHOLOGY IN ENGLISH

Hoard of Thunder: Philippine Short Stories in English, 1990 to 2008, 2 volumes, edited by Gémino H. Abad (University of the Philippines Press)

 

PHILIPPINE LITERARY ARTS COUNCIL PRIZE FOR BEST BOOK OF POETRY IN ENGLISH

Pictures as Poems & Other (Re)Visions, by Marne Kilates (University of Santo Tomas Publishing House)

 

BEST BOOK OF POETRY IN FILIPINO

Isa Lang ang Pangalan: Mga Tula, by Rebecca T. Añonuevo (University of Santo Tomas Publishing House)

 

BEST BOOK OF POETRY IN KAPAMPANGAN 

Kawatásan: Obrang Poeta Laureado, by Joel Pabustan Mallari (Center for Kapampangan Studies of Holy Angel University)

ISAGANI R. CRUZ PRIZE FOR BEST BOOK OF LITERARY CRITICISM OR LITERARY HISTORY IN A PHILIPPINE LANGUAGE 

Halos Isang Buhay: Ang Manananggal sa Pagsusulat ng Nobela, by Edgar Calabia Samar (University of Santo Tomas Publishing House)

 

BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL IN ENGLISH

Trese 5: Midnight Tribunal, by Ferdinand Benedict G. Tan and Jonathan A. Baldisimo (Visprint)

 

BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL IN FILIPINO

Zsazsa Zaturnnah sa Kalakhang Maynila #1, by Carlo Vergara (Visprint)

 

ALFONSO T. ONGPIN PRIZE FOR BEST BOOK ON ART

Sacrificial Bodies: The Oblation and the Political Aesthetics of Masculine Representations in Philippine Visual Cultures, by Reuben Ramas Cañete (University of the Philippines Press)

Walking through Philippine Theater, 3 volumes, by Basilio Esteban S. Villaruz (University of Santo Tomas Publishing House)

 

BEST BOOK ON THE PROFESSIONS

The Political Supreme Court, by Pacifico A. Agabin (University of the Philippines Press)

 

ELFREN S. CRUZ PRIZE FOR BEST BOOK IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES 

Perspectives on Philippine Languages: Five Centuries of European Scholarship, by Marlies S. Salazar (Ateneo de Manila University Press)

 

BEST BOOK IN SCIENCE

Shades of Majesty: 88 Philippine Native Trees, by Pastor Malabrigo Jr. and James LaFrankie Jr. (Wide Angle Media and Project Brio Media House)

 

BEST BOOK OF LEISURE

Savor the Word: Ten Years of the Doreen Gamboa Fernandez Food Writing Award, edited by Michaela Fenix, Maya Besa Roxas, and Felice Prudente Sta. Maria (Anvil Publishing)

 

BEST DESIGN

The Magic Circle, designed by Ani V. Habúlan and Ibarra Crisostomo (Anvil Publishing)

 

PUBLISHER OF THE YEAR

University of Santo Tomas Publishing House       

 

KOMISYON NG WIKANG FILIPINO SPECIAL PRIZE FOR BEST TRANSLATED BOOK

IBALOY: Dictionary, Phonology, Grammar, Morphophon

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