Poet-author Nery enters Palanca Hall of Fame

MANILA, Philippines – Poet and author Peter Solis Nery joined the esteemed roster of the Palanca Hall of Fame awardees last Saturday after clinching his fifth first prize at the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature.

Solis won his first Palanca in 1998 for his short story “Lirio,” which was written in Hiligaynon. In 2007, he again won for his Hilgaynon short story “Candido.”

In 2008, Solis won for the full-length play “The Passion of Jovita Fuentes,” and last year, he again won for a Hiligaynon short story “Donato Bugtot.”

This year, Solis won for his poetry collection “Punctuation” under the Poetry for Children category.

Now on its 62nd year, the Palanca Awards received a total of 1,077 entries in 20 categories. Out of these submissions, 59 winning works were selected from 58 writers; half or 29 authors are first-time winners.

During the gala ceremonies, the Gawad Dangal ng Lahi was also conferred on Tourism Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez Jr., who is considered one of the pillars of Philippine advertising before joining the government.

The Palanca Awards, the country’s most prestigious and longest-running literary competition, was established in 1950 in honor of Don Carlos Palanca Sr. It aims to help develop Philippine literature by providing incentives for writers to craft their most outstanding literary works.