National Book Awards

The 28th National Book Awards will be handed out on Saturday, Nov. 14, at the Ayala Museum by the Manila Critics Circle (MCC) and the National Book Development Board (NBDB).

Here are the finalists:

ARTS (ALFONSO T. ONGPIN PRIZE): The Shared Voice: Chanted and Spoken Narratives from the Philippines by Grace Nono (Anvil and Fundacion Santiago).

AUTOBIOGRAPHY/BIOGRAPHY: The Cinema of Manuel Conde by Nicanor G. Tiongson (UST Publishing House); Afro-Asia in Upheaval: A Memoir of Front-line Reporting by Amando Doronila (Anvil); and A Country Not Even His Own by Steve E. Psinakis (Anvil).

DESIGN: Kulinarya: A Guidebook to Philippine Cuisine, designed by Guillermo Ramos (Anvil); Elsewhere Held and Lingered, designed by Adam David and Oliver Ortega (High Chair); Herencia: A Legacy of Art and Progress: Appreciating Art Through the BPI Art Collection, designed by Dopy Doplon (BPI Foundation); Everyday Warriors: The Faces and Stories of Breast Cancer, designed by Rachel and Sheree Ti (UST Publishing House); and The Philippines Through European Lenses: Late 19th Century Photographs from the Meekamp Van Embden Collection, designed by Karl Frederick M. Castro (ADMU Press).

FICTION (JUAN C. LAYA PRIZE): The Trail of the Chop-Chop Lady of Makati by Wilfredo Garrido (Giraffe Books); Awit ni Kadunung by Abdon M. Balde Jr. (UST Publishing House); Soledad’s Sister by Jose Y. Dalisay Jr. (Anvil); and Stories From Another Time by Benjamin Bautista (ADMU Press).

GENERAL NONFICTION: Everyday Warriors: The Faces and Stories of Breast Cancer, edited by Cathy Paras-Lara and Jay Lara (UST Publishing House); Ah, Wilderness! A Journey Through Sacred Time by Simeon Dumdum Jr. (ADMU Press); A Taste of Home: Pinay Expats and Food Memories, edited by Edgar B. Maranan and Len S. Maranan-Goldstein (Anvil); Belonging: Stories of Relationships, edited by Erlinda Enriquez Panlilio (Anvil); and The Flip Reader: Being a Greatest Hits Anthology from Flip, the Official Guide to World Domination, edited Jessica Zafra (Anvil).

GRAPHIC LITERATURE: Trese: Unreported Murders by Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo (Visual Print).

LEISURE: Café by the Ruins: Memories and Recipes by Lia Llamado, Adelaida Lim, and Feliz Perez (Anvil); and Kulinarya: A Guidebook to Philippine Cuisine, edited by Michaela Fenix (Anvil).

LITERARY CRITICISM / LITERARY HISTORY: From Globalization to National Liberation: Essays of Three Decades by Epifanio San Juan Jr. (UP Press); Our Scene So Fair: Filipino Poetry in English, 1905 to 1955 by Gémino H. Abad (UP Press); Tagalog Bestsellers of the Twentieth Century: A History of the Book in the Philippines by Patricia May B. Jurilla (ADMU Press); and The Promise of the Nation: Gender, History and Nationalism in Contemporary Ilokano Literature by Roderick G. Galam (ADMU Press).

POETRY: Kalahati at Umpisa: Mga Tula by Rebecca T. Añonuevo (UST Publishing House); Chiaroscuro: Poems by Joel M. Toledo (UST Publishing House); The Gods We Worship Live Next Door by Bino A Realuyo (Anvil); and The Proxy Eros by Mookie Katigbak (Anvil).

PROFESSIONS (BANGKO SENTRAL NG PILIPINAS PRIZE): Sine Gabay: A Film Study Guide by Nick Deocampo and the Center for New Cinema (Anvil); Running A Bureaucracy: A Guidebook for Local Government Unit Administrators, Other Public Managers, and Elected Officials by Ma. Gladys Cruz-Sta. Rita (Center for Local & Regional Governance and UP); and Becoming A Guru: An Introduction to Advanced Research by Ramon K. Katigbak (Anvil).

SCIENCES: Diabetes is BitterSweet: A Guide to Understanding Diabetes, edited by Estrellita V. Fernando-Lopez (SweetStar); Solid Waste Management: Principles and Practices by Filemon A. Uriarte Jr. (UP Press); and Selected Essays on Science and Technology for Securing a Better Philippines, edited by Gisela P. Padilla-Concepcion, Eduardo A. Padlan, and Caesar A. Saloma (UP Press).

SOCIAL SCIENCES: American Empire and The Politics of Meaning: Elite Political Cultures in the Philippines and Puerto Rico during U.S. Colonialism by Julian Go (ADMU Press); Competing Views and Strategies on Agrarian Reform, Volume I: International Perspective and Volume II: Philippine Perspective by Saturnino M. Borras Jr. (ADMU Press); A Lemery Archaeological Sequence by Cecilia Y. Locsin, Maria Isabel G. Ongpin, and Socorro Paz P. Paterno (ADMU Press); People of the Middle Ground: A Century of Conflict and Accommodation in Central Mindanao, 1880s-1980 by Ronald K. Edgerton (ADMU Press); and Halo-Halo, Hardware and Others: The Story of the Japanese Commercial Community of Manila 1900-1945 by Augusto V. De Viana (UST Publishing House).

The books were shortlisted by several cooperating universities and organizations, including Ateneo School of Government, Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health, Bienvenido N. Santos Creative Writing Center of De La Salle University, Center for Culinary Arts, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Film Academy of the Philippines, Likhaan, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Philippine Center of International PEN, Philippine Literary Arts Council, Philippine Social Science Council, Semiconductor and Electronic Industries of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas, and University of the Philippines.

The board of judges consisted of the members of the Manila Critics Circle and experts appointed by the NBDB – Gemino H. Abad, Emily A. Abrera, Alex B. Brillantes, John Marin Flores, J. Neil C. Garcia, Grace Gorospe-Jamon, Eileen Legaspi-Ramirez, Zosimo E. Lee, Priscelina P. Legasto, Charlson Ong, Dinah Roma-Sianturi, Merle Tan, Carlo Vergara, and Joselito Zulueta.

The awards are administered by the NBDB, under Chair Dennis T. Gonzalez and Executive Director Andrea Pasion-Flores, and the MCC, under Chair Ophelia A. Dimalanta.