AWARDS
Faculty member Ruth Mabanglo receives Philippine Centennial Literary Award August 19
UH Associate Professor of Filipino and Philippine Literature
Ruth Elynia S. Mabanglo won third prize in the recently concluded Republic of the Philippines National Centennial Commissions Literary Prize event. The literary contest, the biggest in Philippine literary history, was open to writers of Filipino and English in five genres: novel, epic, essay, drama andscreenplay. Winners in each category were awarded P1,000,000 for first prize, P750,000 for second prizeand P500,000 for third prize. The awarding ceremony will take place at the Manila Hotel on August 19 with President Joseph Estrada as guest. Mabanglo won third prize in the epic category in Filipino. She wrote Kundiman ng Katipunan (Lovesong of the Katipunan): Andres at Oryang. Roughly, it is a poetic novel composed of 12 cantos. This is Mabanglo's first attempt in the epic genre.
Poetry, however, has always been her forte. She has received numerous awards for her poetry, including (in 1995) the Hall of Fame Award in the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature. This award is given only to writers who have already won five first prizes in the contest; Mabanglo had won two first prizes in play writing and three first prizes in poetry.
She was also Makata ng Taon (Poet of the Year) of the Commission on Filipino in 1992.
Her other literary awards came from the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the Samahang Balagtas (an association of members of the Philippine Senate and the House of Representatives).
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