The Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs (OVPAA) and the UP Diliman Department of English and Comparative Literature (DECL) will recognize the inaugural winner and finalists of the Gémino Abad Awards for Poetry and Literary Criticism at an awards ceremony tomorrow, 11 November 2016, at the Executive House in UP Diliman.
Thomas David Chaves, DECL assistant professor and MA student of creative writing, won in the poetry category for his collection “Imelda and Catullus: Two Sequences.” He will receive a certificate and P10,000.
Ronn Andrew Angeles (MA Creative Writing), Jade Katherine Emily Castro (BS Materials Engineering) and Benedict Parfan (PhD Creative Writing) penned the other poetry collections that vied for the top prize. As finalists, they will each get a certificate and P2,500.
There is no winner in the critical essay category but Chaves will receive a special citation for his entry “The Poet as Ethnographer: An Imaginary Interview with Alfred A. Yuson.”
The jury, headed by DECL assistant professor Dr. Paolo Manalo, included DECL professor and UP Press director Dr. Jose Neil Garcia, and Assistant Professor Danilo Francisco Reyes of the Loyola School of Humanities at the Ateneo de Manila University.
The Gémino Abad Awards were established in 2015 with support from an anonymous donor. They aim to honor University Professor Emeritus Gémino Abad for his lifetime work in the humanities, especially in the fields of poetry and literary criticism.
Abad was the first Filipino to win the Premio Feronia in Rome, Italy under the foreign author category. Last year, he received the Gawad Dangal ng Lahi from the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for his significant contribution to Filipino literature and scholarship.
In addition to his long involvement in the DECL as professor of English, comparative literature and creative writing, Abad served as Secretary of the University and the Board of Regents, Vice President for Academic Affairs, and director of Likhaan: the UP Creative Writing Center.
Photos from the event may be viewed here.
(Last updated: 29 April 2019, 2.34 PM)
