A TWO time Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards awardee in literary and former Baguio resident now based in Santa Maria, California, USA has launched a writing contest with the hope to inspire more writers and encourage the creation of “Pinoy-based” short stories in English.
Dr. Clarito Garcia De Francia, a recipient of the prestigious award in 2003 and 2005 said that there are many talented Pinoy short story writers all over the world whose writing potentials deserve further appreciation by a bigger number of readers. For this reason, he introduced the Global Pinoy Short Story Writing Contest with his wife Rosemarie Calisen-De Francia of The De Francia Realty Group, their own company.
The contest which is in partnership with Mt. Carmel Day Care Center owned by Rockwell and Jesusa Ocab of Los Angeles, California; NP Elvira Dela Pena of Marian Hospital, Santa Maria, California; and the TMIF (Timpuyog Dagiti Mannurat Nga Ilocano Iti Filipinas) led by its president Franklin P. Macugay, aims to challenge writers in capturing, documenting and writing about Filipino life in the local, national or global settings, preferably portraying Filipino values, culture and heritage.
The goal is also to produce, inspire and hone students, amateurs and professionals in the short story writing field and to impart to the global community about Filipinos’ talents, skills, experiences, failures, challenges, as well as excellence, thinking, spirit, and wit following the theme on Filipino life success or victory where the readers could absorb an inspiration or moral lesson out of the piece.
The contest which started on April 1, 2016 and end on January 31, 2017 at12:00 midnight (Philippine time), is open to all Filipinos, born or naturalized with Filipino bloodline, students, amateur and professional writers, wherever they are, and has not won first prize in English short story writing. Only one entry is allowed per participant.
The winners will receive a certificate of recognition and cash money of P10,000 for 1st Place, P6,000 2nd place; 3rd P4,000, 4th P3,000, and 5th 2,000. The awarding ceremonies will be held during the TMIF Annual Convention on April 2017. Submission of entries and questions on the contest may be sent through the email address claritodefrancia@yahoo.com and franklin_macugay@yahoo.com.
It is always good to know that there are writers like De Francia who never stop on inspiring other writers to keep on pursuing their passion in writing and to write more. Such undertaking opened by his team will also serve as an opportunity for upcoming Filipino writers to shine and a very good motivation for them to continue on their pursuit for a writing career.
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