No winner for the Short Story for Children category at the Palancas

MANILA, Philippines – “If there’s anything that shocked me about this year’s Palanca Awards, it’s that NO ONE won in the Short Story for Children category. As in. No prize-worthy entries at all?” asked journalist Alvin Dacanay on his Facebook wall.

In a message via Messenger to this writer, multi-awarded and prolific book author Grace Chong, who was a judge in the said contest this year wrote, “Well, I am just as shocked.”

Chong shared with Rappler the joint statement she made with fellow judges Tarie Lozano Sabido, President of Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY); and Yna Reyes, Publications Director of OMF Literature: “The entries shared a lack of respect for writing for children and the Palanca Awards. The writers obviously did not invest the time and effort that children’s literature and the Palanca Awards deserve.”

Chong, who has judged in this category at the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature a few times before, said there were many deserving entries then. “This is the first time – and I grieve as I say this – that the harvest has not been outstanding.  I think some writers have the wrong impression that it is easy to write for children.” On the contrary, Ms. Chong shared, “I was told by Beulah Taguiwalo and Jun Matias that out of over 100 entries in the Maikling Kwentong Pambata category, almost 3/4 deserved to be winners.”

“Could it be the combination of language and story?” she asked.

Sabido noted the lack of understanding of – and respect for – children’s literature, and the lack of competence in English. Chong remarked that on the whole, most entries seemed like first draft entries. “A lot more work was needed. There were good ideas but they were not developed into a story. And we were mandated to judge short story for children – not simply ideas for short story – or a first draft for a short story,” she added.

“I cry as I say this,” Chong said. “In fact, the three judges were crying while judging. We had almost 50 entries, but they all seemed to be haphazardly written. We had a hard time choosing at least 3 – but after 2 meetings, we just couldn’t lower our standards. Yna and Tarrie had a choice for third prize, because it tried to tell a good story. I disagreed because even if the story was good, it had so many grammatical errors and faulty syntax,” Chong added.

Reyes and Chong also agreed on a 3rd place, “But Tarrie was adamant – because of the racist and discriminatory undertones in the story.”

“We didn’t want to set a precedent in making a mediocre entry get a prize. Hindi pwede ang pwede na,” Ms. Reyes explained. “In sum, we didn’t want to compromise the integrity of Palanca,” Chong said.

In the end, Chong concluded, “It was a choice between being perceived as ‘snooty’ or declaring winners that people will judge as, ‘this is a Palanca winner?’” – Rappler.com