Three of this year’s fellows to the reputable 17th Iligan National Writers Workshop are students of the MSU-IIT. English major Gratian Paul Tidor, recent BSEd graduate Hermenigildo Dico, and IDS graduate Robert Klemente R. Timonera were awarded fellowships in the poetry category.
The Iligan workshop, one of only three institutionalized writing workshops in the country today, is organized by the Institute-based Mindanao Creative Writers Group, Inc. Workshop Director is Dr. Christine Godinez-Ortega, faculty member of the Dept. of English and Director of the Multi-Media Information and Dissemination Unit.
Ortega, with Dr. Jaime An Lim and Dr. Anthony Tan, three of the more notable creative writers today, founded the workshop 17 years ago. Since then, the workshop has produced some of the biggest names in Philippine Literature today.
Fellow Tidor was recognized with the Jimmy Y. Balacuit award for his Sebuano poem “Tigulang nga nagkugos og puya.”
The annual Balacuit Awards recognizes the best works of the fellows. It is funded by the Balacuit family for the memory of the late Vice Chancellor for Research who was instrumental in revitalizing the workshop by supporting the program as part of his office’s commitment.
Other 2010 Balacuit winners were:
| Poetry | Pag-inusara JONA B. BERING (Cebuano) Special Award Waray traditional poetry NEMESIO BALDESCO |
| Fiction | An Uprooting KYRA CAMILLE BALLESTEROS (English) Datu Bulawan JAYSON E. PARBA Special Award Ang Lingganay sa San Agustin FR. REYNALSO VILLANOY |
Besides Ortega, other MSU-IIT faculty members who mentored the fellows were poet German V. Gervacio and playwright Steven Patrick C. Fernandez. Gervacio and Fernandez joined Merle Alunan, Leo Deriada, Victor Sugbo, and keynote speaker Larry Ypil, all eminent writers, in the panel that critiqued the works of the fellows.