The Premio Rafael Palma 2022 Is Now Open

This article is available in Spanish.

MANILA, Philippines — The fourth Premio Rafael Palma, a Spanish-language youth writing contest, is now accepting entries.

The said awards competition, which was launched in 2019, aims to target young Filipino students enrolled in Philippine universities and colleges. It seeks to promote “the study, practice and use of Spanish and the awareness of Hispanic-Filipino literature among the youth of the country.” The awards competition was also created to celebrate the Filipino writer Rafael Palma (1874–1939), the fourth president of the University of the Philippines.

Full contest rules can be found on the website of the literary journal Revista Filipina, and they are accepting entries until Feb. 22.

Winners will have the opportunity to get their works published in the Cuaderno Palmiano section of Revista Filipina. Each will also receive a diploma from the University of the Philippines — College of Arts and Letters; a book deal from the Consejería de Educación; and a cash prize from Revista Filipina in the following amounts: PH₱2,000 for the first runner-up, PH₱1,700 for the runner-up and PH₱1,500 for the third-place winner.

The winners will be awarded on April 23.

“We wish to encourage young Filipinos to cultivate the Spanish language and reading in that language; the hope is that they will become aware that a large sector of the national literature has been expressed in Spanish and that this cultural legacy must be kept alive and current. In fact, we have students who have participated in more than one edition of the Premio Palma and who continue to be interested, writing and reading,” Revista Filipina editor, Andrea Gallo, told La Jornada Filipina last year.

The said awards competition is organized by the Spanish section of the Department of European Languages of the College of Arts and Letters, University of the Philippines — Diliman; Revista Filipina; Asociación Filipina de Enseñanza del Español lengua extranjera; Círculo Hispánico, UP Student Council; and the Embassy of Spain in Manila.

Check out last year’s winners.