Dr. Aurelio Solver Agcaoili of the University of Hawaii at Manoa was one of the judges of the Ilokano short story category of the 2014 Palanca Award for Literature in the Philippines. The others were Dr. Adel Lucero who does not write in the language, and Leonardo Belen, one-time film director whose Ilokano writing probably faded since time immemorial.
Dr. Agcaoili's comments on the 16 short stories submitted for the Palanca are disturbing and need the attention of all Ilokano writers:
1. The lot, 16 of them did not do justice to the ability of the Ilokano writers to write a good story. It looks like this year's entry is a rehash of the same pieces that did not win in previous Palanca contests or in other contests for that matter.
2. The language, generally, is not the best that I expected. It lacks creativity, restraint, elegance, and, that capacity to suggest a symbolic meaning. We don't have there in these entries.
3. NOTE BENE: I don't think any of these entries deserve a first prize. A first prize indicates capability, quality of the work, and a clarity of vision and insight. I did not see this in any of the works here.
4. We must demand more from our Ilokano fictionists. What we have is the same format we have seen since time immemorial, the same soap-opera like stories, the same age-old issues that could be solved by using the magic wand or uttering abracadabra.
5. When not awarding a first prize, we are suggesting to our writers this: "Hey, you shape up. We don't award you the first prize because you came in first in the ranking. We are awarding the first prize because that first prize meets all the criteria of the first prize, of the highest prize.
Amen. But what will they do with the first prize money? Will it go back to Palanca and added to the prize money for the 2015 Ilokano short story category of the annual literary award?
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| Dr. Agcaoili (sitted) and the blogger in a San Fernando City, La Union restaurant |
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