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Two female first-timers won the big prizes at the 65th Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature. The winner for the Filipino novel is 20-year-old Charmaine Mercader Lasar, while Victorette Joy Campilan won the English category. Both are bi-annual categories.
There is something to be learned from 20-year-old Charmaine winning the prestigious Palanca. She said all she did was try.
“Yung mga kakilala ko lang po sa Wattpad yung nag-introduce sa akin sa Palanca. Nag-try lang po ako,” she tells Coconuts Manila during the awarding ceremony at the Rigodon Ballroom of Manila Peninsula Tuesday night.
She’s only been writing for two years, mostly on Wattpad, a social platform for writers who want to share their stories. The accounting graduate from Lyceum Laguna finished her winning novel in just a month.
“Nahirapan po ako sa ending, kasi it’s based on a true story. Eh hindi pa po tapos ang nangyayari sa totoong buhay. So, paano ko i-e-end ang isang kwento na hindi pa naman nagtatapos?” she tells us of her struggle.
Palanca award winner for Novel (Filipino), Charmaine Mercader Lasar
Victorette Joy Campilan, meanwhile says that her winning novel, “All My Lonely Islands” actually started as a writing exercise. “It grew into my thesis for MFA Creative Writing at La Salle, and then I submitted a chapter of it to Likhaan Journal last year,” the Campilan shares.
She worked on it for another four months, before finally submitting to the Palanca Awards this year.
It’s a coming-of-age story that spans a decade of a third-culture child. “Thirty percent of the story is about me,” she says. Campilan lived in Bangladesh for four years during her adolescent years.
She says she cannot believe she won. “When I heard there were 895 entries, I said this must have been divine intervention.”
The awards were handed out Tuesday night. In attendance were rock stars of Philippine Literature with National Artist for Literature F. Sionil Jose leading the pack. Gemino Abad, who won the Gawad Dangal ng Lahi, gave a speec. Ricky Davao was the master of ceremonies.
Congratulations, girls!
Victorette Joy Campilan receiving her award
Photos: Jilson Tiu
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