By PR | 05:50 PM January 03, 2024
A new breed of Boholano writers emerged in the 2023 Tagik: Tigi sa Pagtagik og Balak and the 2023 Kinalitkalit Flash Fiction Writing Competition held last month.
Luigi Miguel Jacaban of Loon clinched the top prize in the Tagik: Tigi sa Pagtagik og Balak for his poem titled “Mga Tunob sa Lapyahan.”
The four runners-up in the balak-writing competition were Ariel Logroño of Inabanga for the poem “Si Papa,” Jovanie Garay of Alburquerque for “Kaka,” Angelli Clemeña Closas of Panglao for “Kaymito,” and James Sayao Japos of San Miguel for “Bol-anong Hoyohoy.”
Jacaban received P5,000 as grand prize winner while each of the runners-up get P2,000. The judges for Tagik were writers Rene Eune Ponte, Ludwig Bon Quirog, and 2020 Tagik grand prize winner John Harvey Reforial.
Meanwhile, Ian-Jhel T. Galan of Tagbilaran City and Manuel M. Avenido, Jr. of Inabanga emerged winners in the 2023 Kinalitkalit flash fiction writing competition.
In this contest, participants must submit a piece of flash fiction or sugilakbit in Binisaya, which is a complete story written in 300-500 words.
Galan was the grand prize winner in the Binisaya category his story titled “Manok” while Avenido topped the English category for his story “Just Like Atlantis.”
Avenido was one of two runners-up in the Binisaya category for “Ang Konkretong Isla sa Dalan Colon.” The other runner-up was Shawn Michael Mutia of Loboc for “Sigbin Ilibin.”
Runners-up in the English category are both from Baclayon, Jan Lemuel Galero for his story “Underneath Down Below” and Genne Grace Abing for her story “Arci and Sandy”.
Just like in the “Tagik”, the grand prize winners received P5,000 in cash while the runner-ups settled for P2,500 in both categories.
The judges for Kinalitkalit were writer Procopio Resabal Jr. and the two Kinalitkalit grand prize winners in 2020, Gio Bernaldez and Ammiel Balagot Maestrado.
Nick Joaquin Literary Award’s 2023 Poet of the Year F. Jordan Carnice, who served as the project coordinator of the two contests and is the founder of the Kinalitkalit flash fiction writing competitions, said the works of the winners and runners-up will be published in the second volume of Pinanlinan: An Anthology of Selected Works from Tagik and Kinalitkalit Writing Competitions, to be released sometime in 2024.
“When I first came up with the activity [Kinalitkalit contest] back in 2020, one of my goals was for our province’s writers to produce literary works, to have an opportunity to showcase these works, and to bring these works to a wider audience,” Carnice recalled.
Now, Carnice said he believes a new goal must be added, and this is “to produce works that speak of our community’s stories, to reflect and even critique the moods and changes of our times.”
“I think this year’s crop of winners has accomplished that,” Carnice added.
He expressed hope that there will be room for another Tagik and Kinalitkalit in 2024, “for the benefit of Bohol’s growing community of writers.”
The grand prize winners and runners-up in both the Tagik and the Kinalitkalit flash fiction writing competition were announced on New Year’s Day, Jan. 1.
Kinalitkalit was made possible with the help of the Provincial Government of Bohol’s Center for Culture and Arts Development, through the Bohol Arts and Cultural Heritage Council–Literary Arts Committee (BACH-LAC), in cooperation with Kaliwat ni Karyapa, a writers collective based in Bohol.
More details about the two writing competitions and Bohol’s literary activities can be found on Kaliwat ni Karyapa’s Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts. (By BACH-LAC)
