Free Press Awards

Congratulations to the winners of the 2008 Free Press Awards:

Short Story

1st- FH Batacan

2nd - Celeste Coscolluela

3rd - Mads Bajarias

Poetry

1st - Cesar Ruiz Aquino

2nd - Marjorie Evasco

3rd - Lourd de Veyra

Essay

1st - Wilfredo Pascual
2nd - Larry Ypil
3rd - Lakambini Sitoy



I was one of the judges for the Short Story and Essay categories (along with Vince Groyon and Kimi Tuvera) and this year brought many strong contenders.



After the awards, the LitCritters went out for dinner with Ichi Batacan and her sister, Coke - and, as is the case when writers get together, we ended up talking shop.





Many thanks to Kenneth Yu for the pictures!

(updated: sorry, got mixed up with the winners and categories when I posted early this morning!)