The Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, popularly known as the Palanca Awards, are a set of literary awards for Philippine writers. Usually referred to as the "Pulitzer Prize of the Philippines," it is the country's highest literary honor in terms of prestige. It was named after Carlos Palanca Sr., the Chinese Filipino businessman and philanthropist.
Bienvenido L. Lumbera was a Filipino poet, critic and dramatist. Lumbera is known for his nationalist writing and for his leading role in the Filipinization movement in Philippine literature in the 1960s, which resulted in his being one of the many writers and academics jailed during Ferdinand Marcos' Martial Law regime. He received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communications in 1993, and was proclaimed a National Artist of the Philippines for literature in 2006. As an academic, he is recognized for his key role in elevating the field of study which would become known as Philippine Studies.
J. Neil Carmelo Garcia is a Filipino writer, professor, and cultural critic. He is currently a professor of English, Creative Writing, and Comparative Literature at the University of the Philippines Diliman and is known for his works on queer studies and gay culture in the Philippines.
Gémino Henson Abad is an educator, writer, and literary critic from Cebu, Philippines. He is a National Artist for Literature of the Philippines.
Jose Y. Dalisay Jr. is a Filipino writer. He has won numerous awards and prizes for fiction, poetry, drama, non-fiction and screenwriting, including 16 Palanca Awards.
Cirilo F. Bautista was a Filipino poet, critic and writer of nonfiction. A National Artist of the Philippines award was conferred on him in 2014.
Alfred A. Yuson, also known as Krip Yuson, is a Filipino author of novels, poetry and short stories.
Bienvenido Nuqui Santos was a Filipino-American fiction, poetry and nonfiction writer. He was born and raised in Tondo, Manila. His family roots are originally from Lubao, Pampanga, Philippines. He lived in the United States for many years where he is widely credited as a pioneering Asian-American writer.
Néstor Vicente Madali González was a Filipino novelist, short story writer, essayist and, poet. Conferred as the National Artist of the Philippines for Literature in 1997.
Lakambini A. Sitoy is a Filipino author, journalist and teacher. Her novel Sweet Haven was published in French translation by Albin Michel as Les filles de Sweethaven in October 2011, in the original English by the New York Review of Books in 2014, and by Anvil Publishing Inc. in 2015. She received the David T.K. Wong fellowship from the University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom, in 2003.
Merlinda Bobis is a contemporary Filipina-Australian writer and academic.
Isagani R. Cruz is a Filipino writer and literary critic.
Leoncio P. Deriada was a Filipino writer and professor emeritus of creative writing and literature at the University of the Philippines in the Visayas in Iloilo.
Luisa A. Igloria is a Filipina American poet and author of various award-winning collections, and is the most recent Poet Laureate of Virginia (2020-2022).
Amado Angelo Rodriguez Lacuesta is a Filipino writer, and winner of several awards for his short stories, including the Philippine Graphic Award, the Palanca Memorial Award and the NVM Gonzalez Awards.
Rodolfo R. Lana Jr., known professionally as Jun Robles Lana, is a Filipino filmmaker. The winner of 11 Palanca Awards for Literature, he became the youngest member of the Palanca Hall of Fame in 2006. In 2015, he directed the actual one-shot film, Shadow Behind The Moon, which won the Best Director, NETPAC and FIPRESCI awards at the 13th Pacific Meridian Film Festival. At the 20th International Film Festival of Kerala, he won the Best Director award for the same film.
Edgar Calabia Samar is a poet and novelist from San Pablo City, Philippines. He has received the Philippine National Book Awards for his novels and book of criticism, and the Palanca Awards for his poetry collections and short fiction. His novels Sa Kasunod ng 909, Si Janus Silang at ang Tiyanak ng Tabon and Si Janus Silang at ang Labanang Manananggal-Mambabarang all won the Philippine National Book Awards for Best Novel in a Philippine Language in 2012, 2015, and 2016, respectively. He has been awarded the PBBY-Salanga Writer's Prize, the NCCA Writer's Prize for the Novel, the Gantimpalang Collantes sa Sanaysay and the Gawad Surian sa Tula.
Vincent Abenojar De Jesus is a Filipino composer, librettist, musical scorer, and musical director for theater, television, and film. He is also a writer, lyricist, actor, singer, and educator. He attended the University of the Philippines Diliman College of Music, and majored in piano and voice. He was a member of the Philippine Educational Theater Association from 1983 to 2020.
Danton Relato Remoto is a Filipino writer, essayist, reporter, editor, columnist, and professor. Remoto received the first prize at the ASEAN Letter-Writing Contest for Young People. The award earned Remoto a scholarship at the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines. As a professor, Remoto taught English and Journalism at the Ateneo de Manila University. Remoto is the chairman emeritus of Ang Ladlad, a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) political party in the Philippines.
Luis H. Francia is a Filipino American poet, playwright, journalist, and nonfiction writer. His memoir, Eye of the Fish: A Personal Archipelago, won both the 2002 PEN Open Book and the 2002 Asian American Literary Awards.
