25 publishers, 182 books compete in the 31st National Book Awards

MANILA, Philippines - The National Book Development Board (NBDB) and the Manila Critics’ Circle (MCC) are gearing up to choose the best books published in 2011.

To accomplish the gargantuan task of selecting the best books in the various categories, this year’s Board of Judges will be comprised of seventeen (17) NBDB-appointed experts and five (5) members of the Manila Critics’ Circle. Winners will be selected by Oct. 15, 2012; the awards will be distributed on Nov. 10, 2012 at the National Museum.  

This year’s awards are different in that they include in the Literary Division books written in the Ilocano language. Works published up to three years prior to the year of the awards are eligible for nomination. Thus, literary works in the Ilocano language published from 2009 to 2011 will be accepted.

Last year, literary works in Cebuano were included. Every year, a regional language is chosen and the various categories (fiction, poetry, etc.) of the Literary Division are opened for its participation.

The National Book Awards are given to authors of the best books published in the previous year, while the publisher with the most finalists/winners is usually chosen as publisher of the year. Last year, the recipient of the Publisher of the Year Award was the UST Publishing House.

For 2012, there are a total of 106 books in the eight categories of the Literary Division: 10 in Fiction (Novel), 21 in Short Fiction; 26 in Nonfiction Prose; 15 in Anthology; 6 in Literary Criticism/Literary History; 17 in Poetry; seven in Graphic Literature and four in Ilocano. On the other hand, there are 76 titles in the six categories of the Non-Literary Division:   eleven are in Art; nine are in the Professions; 34 in Social Science; four in Science; 14 in Leisure; and four are electronic books.  

No more than five titles per category will be selected by the Prescreening Committee all of which are automatically considered finalists.  

Aside from the category awards, print books also compete in the Design category. There are also Special Awards, such as the Juan C. Laya prize, the Alfonso T. Ongpin prize, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas prize, and the Isagani R. Cruz prize, which will be given to titles selected from among the winners of the National Book Award. 

This is the fifth year that the National Book Development Board has been administering the National Book Awards in partnership with the Manila Critics Circle.   Also, since 2008, the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA) has been a regular sponsor of the NBA through a grant given to the NBDB to support the promotion of Philippine works on culture and the literary arts.