The night of October 12, 2018 showered well-deserved awards as The Malate Literary Folio and event participants celebrated The 33rd DLSU Annual Awards for Literature (LitAw) and The 8th Annual Awards for Visual Arts (VisAw) Awarding Ceremony at the William Shaw Little Theater.
The LitAw VisAw is centered on recognizing and praising student writers and artists. This year the awards had two major category divisions for written and visual works. There was a total of eight categories open for entries, exclusive of the dissolved photography category.
Past the doorstep
To say I felt the funky and quintessential vibe of a speakeasy would be an understatement. As soon as I entered the theater, I was greeted by a raspy, New Yorker accent accompanied by the distinct melodies of funk. All factors succeeding to hit me right in my interest for vintage.
The event participants were submerged in a subtle yellowish hue–courtesy of the venu’s projector screens. I eventually sat myself down comfortably on the little theater’s plush red chairs. Adorned in semi-formal attire, members of The Malate Literary Folio organization chatted animatedly amongst themselves of the possible first place winners. It was only when the hosts of the event — two lovely ladies who are members of The Malate Literary Folio’s poetry section — stepped onstage that the chatter died down. The program had officially begun.
On the typewriter: The first round of awards
Ira Katrina Mendez addressed the fellow artists, writers, friends, and colleagues who came to the awarding ceremony. Mendez hailed the number of submissions, a beam of pride in her voice as she acknowledged the list of students who were brave enough to submit their work. Although the photography category was dissolved due to the lack of participants, Mendez happily remarked that this year had the most entries compared to previous years.
The first category was “Maikling Kwento” wherein submissions were written works in the Filipino language. Leann Bernadette Padilla won third place with her piece “Kinulang sa Tamis” about two sisters who drifted apart since the stage of early childhood to late adulthood. Receiving an honorable mention position is the work “Bantay Salakay” by Fernando Belloza revolving around Filipino traditions. The judges here were Emmanuel Barrameda and John Iremil Teodoro.
The next was the “Short Story” category, featuring student written pieces in the English language graded by judges Erika Carreon and Gabriela Lee. Francis D’Angelo Mina wins third place with his work “Profanity” while Stephen Amiel Argente’s work titled “Almira” wins honorable mention. “Almira” is the story of a mother who sells her child to the human trafficking industry out of extreme poverty. Moving on to the next category “Sanaysay”, the piece “Ang Sigaw ng Inang Bayan” by David John Delima wins second place and April Rose Magpantay’s “Pelikula ni Juan Pasan Ang Criz XVI” wins third place. The judges in this category were Maynard Manansala and Michael Francis Andrada.
Having a total of three entries, the second place of the Essay category included both “An Insight by Two Sides of the World” by Gerik Raffertee Tan and “We’re Gonna Die Anyway: Making Meaning in a Meaningless World” by Jeremy Dale Coronia. David Delima’s essay “The Construct of Philippine Sociopolitical Drama” about wrongly chosen presidents received third place. The essays were critiqued by judges Jessel Duque and Clarissa Militante.
Between the strokes: Second round of awards
After an intermission by Archers Network, it wasn’t long before the program resumed with the category of “Tula” with first place going to “Banghay-Aralin” by Fernando Belloza. Christine Autor receives second place with “Pag-alala” and David Delima receives third place with “Subyang”. The judges here were Mesandel Virtuso Arguelles and Faye Cura. Also, with the approval of judges Allan Popa and Vijae Alquiseda, “Male Gaze” by Jemimah Tan and “Everywhere held” by Gerik Mantuano both win second place for the “Poetry” category.
The program moved on to the VisAw portion, recognizing the works of various student artists. For the category of traditional art, “Transcendence” by Luis Pastoriza won second place under the critique of judges Sabrina Gloria and Alfred Galura. On the other hand, the digital art category gives it second place to “Mambabarang” by Luigi Shirvani. The judges in this last category were Ysabell Bondoc and Karren Barcita.
The awarding ceremony ended in closing remarks led by Ira Mendez and a closing prayer. A beautiful night, it truly captured the artistic spirit thriving in the hearts of our students.
