Palanca Awards


The Palanca Awards or Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature are a set of literary awards for Filipino writers. Usually referred to as the "Pulitzer Prize" of the Philippines, it is the country's highest literary honor in terms of prestige. Winning works are entered in the competition either as previously published pieces or in manuscript form. The Palanca Awards, organized by the Carlos Palanca Foundation, is one of the Philippines' longest-running awards programs.

History

The Palanca Awards was established in 1950 to inspire and recognize Filipino writers, including poets, playwrights and screenwriters, and writers for children. In the 1960s, the Palanca Awards Committee started to fund the publication of Palanca Award-winning plays, and production funds were committed in 1975. In 2009, it added a category for poetry for children, in both Filipino and English.

Categories

Starting on the 60th awards year, for which the call for submissions opened on March 1, 2010, contestants could submit one entry each in the following categories:
English Division
Filipino Division
Regional Languages Division
Kabataan Division
The Palanca Hall of Fame honors was established in 1995 and is presented to a Palanca awardee who already won five first prizes in the regular categories.