THIS Saturday, The Peter Solis Nery Foundation starts accepting entries to the 2023 Peter’s Prize for three categories: Pandemic Literature Chapbook, Hiligaynon Love Poetry, and 3-minute Silent Film.
Submission deadline is June 30, Friday, midnight, Philippine time.
The submission email to remember is: 500tinaga@gmail.com —which harks back to the 500-word story contest of the first Peter’s Prize in 2013.
***
I am always excited about submissions to the Peter’s Prize.
It tells me how relevant we are in the literary and arts community.
The age brackets of participants clue me in whether to continue the Prize or not.
The geographical origins of entries give me hints on how much we matter in the whole Philippines.
***
The conduct of the Peter’s Prize, or at least the choices of the categories to open, is not all about my whim.
Well, maybe it is.
But my decision is always influenced by my experience of the first years of the Prize, and the valued opinions of friends that I consult.
***
For the longest time (and I think it may even be on our first year), I wanted an essay contest about Me, and my effect on people, not necessarily on the Filipino writers.
I was thinking in the line of high school essays with the themes “My Best Friend”, “My Favorite Teacher”, “The Person I Admire Most”.
If students write about things like those in high school, how hard can it be to write about “the” Peter Solis Nery?
But I held back for ten years.
Ten long years!
***
Last year, I decided to go with it because it was the tenth year of the Peter’s Prize.
Some malicious people pointed out that it is a most egotistical category on my part.
I did not deny it.
Although I think it is only egotistical on the part of the writer; the theme being “What I Learned from Peter Solis Nery”.
Anyway, I suffered a backlash.
***
Only six entries were submitted.
Three were virtual love letters, and an attempt to write my biography in 5,000 words.
Luckily for me, three were outstanding pieces, competently written with literature and literary writing in mind.
Those three became eventual winners.
***
If it were just whim, this year, I would have opened another essay category on the theme “What I Did Not Learn from Peter Solis Nery”. Haha.
Here’s my thing: Judging from the essay entries that I received on the theme What I Learned from Peter Solis Nery, there is no essay culture in the region.
The second prize winner is from Luzon.
The third prize winner is the only entry in Hiligaynon.
(The contest was open in Hiligaynon, English, and Filipino; and most submissions were in English.)
***
Do I want another essay category in the Peter’s Prize?
Not in another ten years. Haha.
Or maybe in five years, if it becomes my whim. Haha.
So, what do I say to those malicious people who campaigned about the essay contest that had me for a theme?
Your loss, not mine!
I survived your cancel culture.
A worthy winner was chosen, and I dare you to write a better essay than that. Haha.
***
This year, we have the third edition of the Film Prize.
We had it first in 2019, and decided early on that it was going to be biennial.
Despite the pandemic, we continued it in 2021.
And so, we do it again this year.
***
The rules are simple, and it will serve you well to commit these to memory if you are a filmmaker wanting to win a Peter’s Prize for Film in the future, if not this year:
Three minutes long, best between 160 to 180 seconds; not a second shorter, not a second longer including all opening and closing credits!
Silent: no dialogues, no voice over narration; may use ambient or atmospheric sounds; may use sound effects (like gunshots, crashing glass, knocks on doors, creaking floors, et cetera); may use instrumental music (but mind the copyright, obtain permission; I really suggest original scoring).
Submit in mp4 format to: 500tinaga@gmail.com on June 24-30, 2023. (In the succeeding years, note that this is usually a weeklong submission until the deadline).
***
Qualified films automatically become Official Selections to The Peter Solis Nery Foundation International Film Festival—ThePSNFIFF.
Official Selections will be awarded ThePSNFIFF laurels.
Meaning, you will be required to submit a poster with the laurel in 16” x 18” format, portrait orientation (as opposed to landscape mode); plus maybe its social media size for easy sharing across socmed platforms. Hehe./PN
