Poetry reading & laughter at My Favorite Book Awards 2008

MANILA, Philippines - Butch Dalisay echoed our sentiments when he said that in the eight years we have been holding My Favorite Book Awards, this awarding is the best so far. He meant both the quality of entries and the awarding party arranged by the stylish, elegant and ever-happy Tita Virgie Ramos of Gift Gate. Last year was pretty hard to top, what with Tita Virgie even bringing a string ensemble for live music and Young Star columnist Reggie Belmonte doing a Rihanna. 

But Butch knows whereof he speaks — being a Palanca Hall of Famer (16 awards in five different categories!) and a gourmand — and when he says that the lunch by Le Souffle chef Jessie Sincioco was great and that he had a hard time choosing the winners from the 2008 batch, well, we couldn’t agree more.

March is always our favorite time of the year because of this lunchtime pow wow. The staff makes sure to clear their calendars so we can take a breather from presswork and just enjoy the day with our columnists. To top it all, we get to celebrate our love of books with fellow bibliophiles, and hear from our bosses at The Philippine STAR, president and CEO Miguel Belmonte, editor in chief Isaac Belmonte, and Lifestyle editor Millet Mananquil; from our partners at National Book Store, founder and general manager Nanay Socorro Ramos and vice president for purchasing Cecilia “Bak” Licauco; and from Globe, head of corporate communications Menchie Cruz and joining us for the first time, head of corporate and regulatory affairs Atty. Carrie Gonzales. We especially love hearing Nanay speak — she is everybody’s favorite nanay and our most popular columnist for her practical advice in “Ask Nanay.”

This year’s awards were held on March 10 at Le Souffle in Rockwell Center, Makati. Another treat this time was a poetry reading by Palanca Hall of Famer and STAR columnist Krip Yuson. He’s never done poetry reading during the unromantic hour of lunch before, he said, but for us, he did. Krip read National Artist for Literature Edith L. Tiempo’s “Rain in Granite Country.” Krip pointed out that Edith is the only female national artist we have — so far. But, wait, 30 years from now…well, there’s STAR columnist Jessica Zafra sitting across Krip at the table.

STAR Lifestyle’s Supreme creative director and editor Tim Yap and YS columnist Reggie Belmonte pumped up the awarding with their lively banter. The hosts asked what the presenters’ favorite books are, and assistant editor Ching Alano said it was the Bible “because it’s the only book older than me” and also a book on Alzheimer’s but “I don’t remember the title.” 

Other presenters were NBS vice president Presy Ramos and NBS Foundation chairman Trina Alindogan, National Book Express president Miguel Ramos, Crossings Department Store and The Ramp GM Xandra Ramos-Padilla, On the Radar editor Cecile Van Straten and the Supreme crew of Raya Mananquil, Paolo Lorenzana and resident book reviewer Jan Vincent Ong. Of course, the entire Lifestyle staff was there: assistant editors Ching Alano, Therese Jamora-Garceau and myself, sub-editors Kathy Moran and Igan D’Bayan, desk editor Scott Garceau, and staffwriter Lai Reyes.

As Bak said, “How time flies.” It’s been eight years since Millet and Bak conceptualized the awards to encourage people to read more — and perchance write something brilliant about the books they love. Every year, the contest entries prove that books are here to stay. 

In this time of global recession, when people are tightening their belts until they’re blue in the face, it’s good to hear Butch affirm our love of books by saying that “the great thing about a book is that it never loses its value,” that it is as valuable when the first reader reads it, passes it to another reader and up till the fifth, the tenth or the twentieth reader.

This year’s winners are also one of the most diverse batches we’ve had so far — we have a high school student, a literature teacher, a senior citizen, a former seaman, and a TV scriptwriter.

Here they are:

Grand prize: Dinah Roman Sianturi, who wrote about The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. Dinah teaches literature at her alma mater, De La Salle University. In 1993, she left for Japan on a Monbusho scholarship where she earned her MA in Comparative Literature, and on her return joined the faculty of La Salle.

Clarissa Estuar, who wrote about Through the Shadowlands: The Love Story of C. S. Lewis and Joy Davidman by Brian Sibley, was a finalist in last year’s batch of winners. This year, she won second prize. She won her first Palanca Award when she was 19 and so far has 10 awards!

Third-prize winner Jaime Dianzon wrote about Istanbul: Memories and the City by Orhan Pamuk. He is a freelance tutor in Latin, English, Filipino, math, chemistry and physics. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to attend the awards.

The five honorable-mention winners for 2008 are 16-year-old Michi Ferreol (19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult), who studies at International School Manila; Agapito Tabao (Dekada 70 by Lualhati Bautista, the only Filipino novel in last year’s top 8 winners), a business development manager of AT3 Event Planning and Concepts Inc., a philatelist, and an advocate of cause-oriented groups; Ma. Karla Abigail Pangilinan (The Stranger by Albert Camus), who graduated magna cum laude from UP-Diliman last year with a degree in political science; Salem Bacol (All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy), a former seaman and now a full-time online writer; and Ma. Paula Luz Pamintuan-Riva (A Collection of Beauties by Whitney Otto), a mother and student activist at UP Baguio.

The judges for My Favorite Book 2008 were Millet, Nanay, Butch, Krip, Tanya, Ching, Scott, Jessica, NBS PR officer Karla Tricia Magno, and Buensalido and Associates president Joy Buensalido.

We can’t wait for March to come around again for another party with old friends, new winners, and to toast great literature and writing.