Deadline has been extended from May 15th to June 30th.The Gawad Panitikang Pangkalusugan is a NATIONWIDE Children’s Storybook Writing Competition with HEALTH as its main theme. Entries written in English, for eventual translation to Filipino, are principally geared to bring into light health issues and concepts to Filipino children aged five to ten years old. All Filipino citizens who are of legal age, and are not published authors of children’s books, are eligible to participate.
This project not only seeks to raise relevant health concerns to the national consciousness, it also carries an advocacy for literacy and education, even as it celebrates Filipino ingenuity and culture. This project is the first of its kind in the country.
The project seeks to separate itself from current mainstream literature on children's health by opening up this niche to writers who may explore other methods, literary forms (prose or poetry), genres (i.e. comedy, horror, science fiction, fantasy), and approaches in presenting an otherwise serious and scientific topic. It challenges participants to break away from a clinical, straightforward, and sanitized presentation of health, and to mold it in a form that is enjoyable and of interest for its young audience.
In its pilot year, the competition carries the theme: "Tabi-tabi: Exploring Philippine Health Myths". Entries must tackle health myths corresponding to any one of seven categories, namely: Lungs (ex. tuberculosis, pneumonia, cough, colds); Stomach (ex. diarrhea, intestinal worms); Skin/Bones (ex. wounds, lice, warts, scabies, fracture); Brain/Behavior (ex. epilepsy, psychiatric disorders, child development); Fever/Infections (ex. measles, mumps, chicken pox, otitis media, conjunctivitis, dental caries); Vaccination; and Nutrition (ex. childhood obesity). One winning entry from each category will comprise the set of stories which will be published into a series of full-colored picture books.
VISIT www.gawadpanitikan.com or email info@gawadpanitikan.com.
